The Kingsdale Project 
A Community Venture
The IAG are pursuing a dual strategy, incorporating theKingsdale Head Excavation within a broader study of Kingsdale with a long term project extending over a five year programme of investigation. An open meeting in the Village Hall at Lower Westhouse in Thornton-in-Lonsdale Parishon March 24th 2005 reaffirmed the commitment of the local community and the involvement of other local interest groups including the cavingand potholing fraternity, the botanical interests, the sporting estate interests, the mining and quarrying interests and those with an existing interest in historical research.
The Kingsdale Head site is one of a number of sites within the valley of Kingsdale which taken together indicate a range of human activity extending from the Mesolithic to the present. Apart from two working farms and the gated road linking Dentdale with Ingleton, Kingsdale has remained undisturbed for centuries preserving a landscape of enormous potential which the IAG has been investigating actively over a number of years with the support of Robert White,the Senior Archaeological Conservation Officer for the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.
The efforts of the IAG to interpret the site and its relationship to the local environment of the dale and the
surrounding fells have excited the interest of the wider community, particularly following the successful excavation at Broadwood and the enthusiasm generated by the subsequent exhibition.
Kingsdale was an early centre for caving and potholing and the local group are eager to use their archive for research and publication. There is a keen, informed interest in the botany and natural history of the dale and a body of knowledge that requires updating.
Kingsdale has always been a hunting ground, forming part of the Ingleborough Free Chase in the early medieval period and dominated by shooting interests in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The influence of the sporting estate on the social and economic history of the area is a topic of considerable interest to the local field sports enthusiasts. There is also considerable local interest in mining, quarrying and lime-burning activities.
Minority religious groups have flourished in the dales and offer their own distinctive cultural influences.
Various long distance route-ways have been discerned (through aerial photography and field walking,) and are presently under investigation.
A detailed bibliography of antiquarian publications , incorporating details relevant to the dale, its early tourist industry and the background of the authors and artists, is also in hand. A G.P.S. survey recording and mapping linear features in the southern part of the Parish is ongoing. Oral history and linguistic studies have generated interest. Our aim is to co-ordinate all this activity and turn it into a community venture.
In order to enable the different groups to focus on a single objective it was agreed that we should aim to bring our researches together in a public exhibition in the Spring of 2006. At the exhibition each research group presented both its findings and a review,which provided the basic material for the next stage of the Project - a publication designed for the general reader. This publication should be available by the end of 2007. Meanwhile an updated exhibition will be held at Ingleton Community Centre 25th - 27th August 2007.
Whilst the funded part of the project is coming to an end it is clearhat there are several fields of investigation which will continue to be pursued. If you wish to take part in this work please contact IAG.