What is Belief in the North East?

David Petts is Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology. His main research focus is on the social archaeology of the 1st millennium AD, with a particular interest in the development of Christianity. As part of this he is currently carrying out fieldwork at the site of the early medieval monastery of Lindisfarne. He also has significant research interests in Wales, Scotland and Brittany, as well as the wider North Sea world.

David has written books on the early medieval church in Wales and a more theoretical consideration of the process of conversion in the early medieval world in Britain and elsewhere. Other key interests include the archaeology of the post-medieval and contemporary past, particularly in Britain. He has recently completed an innovative new investigation of the impact of the Great Depression of the 1930s on the landscape of Northern England. David’s interest in the more recent past also extends to using material-studies approaches to better understand vernacular belief and traditions, particularly traditional dance.

A key element of David’s work involves extensive work with local community groups to help them understand their heritage. In 2011 he was chosen as one of the winners of BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) inaugural New Generation Thinkers Scheme. In addition to Belief in the North East, and his work on Lindisfarne, his community work has involved the major involvement of local groups and individuals in excavations at Roman Binchester.

Paul Frodsham is an Honorary Fellow within the Department of Archaeology at Durham University. He attempts to earn a living through his independent consultancy, ORACLE Heritage Services, which he has been running since 2007. Through this, he has helped to develop and deliver numerous community archaeology projects, involving thousands of local people.

After spells working for Cumbria County Council, English Heritage and Berkshire County Council, in 1998 he became the Northumberland National Park Authority’s first archaeologist, setting up and running several successful projects, including Coquetdale Community Archaeology and Discovering our Hillfort Heritage. From 2007 until 2017, in addition to running his consultancy, he worked as Historic Environment Officer for the North Pennines AONB (now the North Pennines National Landscape). This work included planning and managing Altogether Archaeology, originally an HLF-funded project and now a thriving independent community archaeology group that continues to undertake innovative and important fieldwork throughout the North Pennines (altogetherarchaeology.org). Paul also developed (in partnership with Professor Stewart Ainsworth of Chester University) the idea of Lidar Landscapes surveys, enabling local volunteers to complete surveys of extensive landscapes using lidar imagery, leading to the recording of many hundreds of archaeological sites throughout the North East and elsewhere.

Paul is particularly interested in the archaeology of prehistoric religion, especially rock art and stone circles. He has published numerous books and papers on these and other themes. He co-edited the Abstractions Based on Circles volume published for Stan Beckensall as part of the Belief in the North East project. He has undertaken much work at the great Cumbrian stone circle complex of Long Meg and her Daughters, and recently played a lead role in the setting up of the Friends of Long Meg (friendsoflongmeg.com). As a change of scene from his prehistoric work, during lockdown he became increasingly obsessed with the story of Frosterley marble which (as a resident of Frosterley) he believes should be better known throughout the region and further afield.