NAS North East
Team Members
- Gary Green – Regional Co-ordinator (gary.green@hartlepool.gov.uk)
- Dave Coston – Training Officer
- Sarah Scarlet – Tutor
- Diane Marlborough – Asst. Tutor
- Jenny Hillier – Volunteer
- Claire Green – Volunteer
- Shona Carnall – Volunteer
- Claire Munroe – Volunteer
Background
The NAS NE was formally established in 2004, based within the office space of Tees Archaeology, in Hartlepool on the North-East coast of England.
The original team of three, Gary Green, Dave Coston and Sarah Scarlet, have latterly been joined by Assistant Tutor Diane Marlborough and a ‘regular’ core of volunteers.
Uniquely among NAS Regional Groups, the NAS NE Co-ordinator is also a full-time employee of Tees Archaeology, the Local Authority Archaeology unit (formerly the Cleveland County Archaeology Section), a situation which confers a number of significant benefits to both parties.
One of these key benefits is to allow access to a wide range of grants which require professional partnerships (a circumstance that also works in reverse for the professionals).
This has in recent years, become one of NAS NE’s major strengths. Between 2004 and 2009, NAS NE has played a leading role in four major projects, ‘For the Record’, ‘Dig, Dive and Discover’, ‘North-East of England Maritime Archaeology Research Archive’ and ‘Hartlepool-built: Ships, Crews and Community’, securing grant funding of over £75,000.
Operating from its base within the offices of Tees Archaeology in Hartlepool, NAS NE is able to:
- provide a convenient and accessible regional NAS presence
- draw on the professional expertise, financial and logistical support of the archaeology unit, specifically minimising costs in running NAS Training courses and fieldwork projects, and giving access to computers, telephones, publicity/display material, stationery and other sundries
- provide an effective and active link between professional terrestrial and maritime archaeologists (in particular Local Government Archaeology Officers responsible for County SMRs), and the wider diving community
- take an active role in local/regional maritime archaeology, for example, through the ‘North East Maritime Archaeology Forum.
- establish stronger links with a broad range of maritime-related organisations, in particular with grant funding bodies such as English Heritage and the National Lottery
- develop stronger links with various Local Authority Departments, including Museum and Library Services, together with regional Learning & Access Officers
- enhance and promote the Society’s public and professional profile
Projects
NAS NE are launching a new project for 2010 - “Ship-Shape and Hartlepool Fashion’ accessible and enjoyable maritime research for all.
For more information on this project and how you can become more involved please Click here
“For the Record” - 2004
 With the award of a generous grant from the English Heritage Regional Capacity Building Scheme, ‘For the Record’ was a pilot project that aimed to assess the range, type and quantity of material recovered by a number of North-East dive clubs.
By recording these ‘small finds’, it was hoped to build up a series of typologies,
for example on the ubiquitous porthole, that could provide maritime archaeologists and divers alike with the key information necessary to positively identify some of the enormous number of ‘modern’ wrecks off the UK.
Three long-established BSAC branches, Hartlepool, Teesmouth and Scarborough, very kindly agreed to allow the project team to photograph and catalogue material on display in their Clubhouses and over three hundred artifacts were recorded.
Although more research is required, the information collected so far is a significant step forward in providing maritime archaeologists and divers alike with the key information necessary to positively identify shipwreck sites.
“Saltburn Rutway Survey” 2005 - current
 Started in 2005 as a rather low-key investigation into a series of rock-cut tracks, or rutways, on the foreshore around Saltburn Cliffs, this project has developed into a regular yearly event.
In partnership with Tees Archaeology and volunteers from the Teesside Archaeological Society, with additional support from English Heritage, these week-long surveys have mapped a significant network of rutways, believed to be associated with the important 17th-19th century Alum and Ironstone industries along this stretch of the North Yorkshire coast.
The surveys generally take place in August of each year to coincide with the best period of low Spring tides, which allows a five or six-hour working window each day. Such is the extent of the rutway network, that it is very likely these surveys will continue for a number of years to come.
“Dig, Dive & Discover” - 2006
With a generous grant of nearly £25,000 from the Heritage Lottery ‘Young Roots’ scheme, this project brought together five organisations not ordinarily regarded as ‘partners’, to create an exciting and innovative project.
The project focused on four of the partners providing a broad range of maritime archaeology-related activities to a group of fourteen Sea Cadets, aged 12-20 years, based at Hartlepool on the North-East coast of England.
In addition to ultimately acquiring a broad range of new skills and experiences, each Cadet was working towards the award of an ASDAN qualification, itself a brand new pilot scheme being run for the first time in the ‘Dig, Dive & Discover’ Project.
The Project was launched on board the Napoleonic frigate ‘HMS Trincomalee’, with a full buffet, displays from each of the partners, tours of the ship and even a drum tattoo provided by the Sea Cadets Band on the quayside.
For the Cadets themselves, the project really began when they started scuba-diving training provided by Hartlepool Divers, the local Branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club. Even before this training had been completed, the Cadets were tasked with exploring and documenting the histories of twelve locally-built ships, through a series of maritime research sessions provided by Hartlepool Borough Council’s Reference Library Service.
 Hard on the heels of the research sessions, the Cadets then attended a two-day combined Introduction/Part 1 Training Course run by the Nautical Archaeology Society North-East, followed a couple of weeks later by a five-day fieldschool to record a foreshore shipwreck site, putting into practice all the skills learned earlier.
Drawing all these strands together, the Cadets undertook a number of web-authoring and design sessions provided by Hartlepool PortCities, to create their own webpage hosted by the PortCities site (Hartlepool.Portcitiesetc).
The Project finale centred on a very fine three-course meal and awards ceremony in the prestigious Sir William Gray Suite at ‘Hartlepool’s Maritime Experience’, attended by all those involved in the project, a number of local civic dignitaries, Naval officers and featuring, of course, the Cadets in their full-dress uniforms.
It must also be said that the project was very generously supported by a range of other organisations, including Tees Archaeology, Hartlepool Arts & Museums Service, the HMS Trincomalee Trust, and through various ‘in-kind’ contributions.
But perhaps the most important outcome of the Project is yet to be seen – in giving these young Cadets the opportunity to experience quite distinct, yet inextricably linked activities, a seed has been planted that maritime archaeology can be challenging, rewarding and yes, fun!
“North-East England Maritime Archaeology Research Archive”
(NEEMARA) - 2007
 With generous grant-funding of almost £25,000 from the English Heritage Regional Capacity Building scheme, the NEEMARA Project has created a valuable new regional maritime resource for the North-East of England.
Supported by seven North-East County Archaeology units, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, County Durham, Tees Archaeology, North Yorkshire and the North Yorks Moors National Park, the Archive has drawn together an extensive range of maritime archaeological and historical material.
This material, comprising a wide range of maritime reference material from professional archaeological reports and policy documents, to general shipbuilding and shipping books and magazines, including Lloyd’s Registers, IJNA, Marine News, and Sea Breezes, has been made accessible to a very broad audience of maritime archaeologists, historians, and indeed anyone with an interest in ships and the sea.
One of the Project’s most significant outcomes has been the establishment of an effective maritime information sharing network, comprising NEEMARA, four Local Authority Reference Libraries, Hartlepool Borough Council’s Museums & Heritage Service, Teesside Archives, Hartlepool PortCities and the Teesside branch of the World Ship Society.
In creating this resource, the project has achieved far in excess of its original aims and objectives, and continues to attract high levels of local, regional and international support from a broad cross-section of organisations and individuals.
We have already received many generous donations of journals, books, and magazines, not least of which a very good run of Lloyd’s registers donated by Glasgow University Library. We are always keen to add to our resource, so if any NAS members have any material they think may be suitable and are willing to donate to the Archive, then please contact me at gary.green@hartlepool.gov.uk
or by telephone 01429 523457.
“Hartlepool-built: Ships, Crews and Community” – 2009
With a very generous English Heritage Regional Capacity Building grant of nearly £36,000, this unique project aims to create a new, community-driven maritime heritage website documenting Hartlepool’s ‘modern’ history and tradition of shipbuilding, through the memories, stories and photographs of the people involved.
Hartlepool has a long and distinguished ‘modern’ shipbuilding heritage. Between 1836 and 1963, 11 individual companies built a total of nearly 2,000 ships, with over half coming from just one yard – William Gray & Co. which made over 1,100 ships between 1874 and 1963, when the closure of the yard signalled the end of shipbuilding in the town.
Hartlepool ships travelled - and were lost – across the globe, and there are some fascinating stories about them. Using the NEEMARA resource as a starting point, we aim to create comprehensive ‘sea histories’ for all the vessels involved, including technical data, voyage details, crew lists and of course images/photographs.
We are particularly keen to record the human stories behind these ships and we’d like to hear from anyone who might have worked in one of the shipyards or served on one of the ships or had a relative who did. Perhaps someone with a descendant who emigrated on one of the vessels, or from divers who may have explored and videoed the underwater remains of Hartlepool-built shipwrecks.
On a local level, the project is also running a number of information-gathering ‘Roadshows’, actively encouraging anyone with an interest in Hartlepool’s shipbuilding history to come along for a chat and a cup of tea with project volunteers, to share their personal maritime recollections and to have their photographs and other documentary memorabilia scanned and added to the archive.
‘Hartlepool-built’ is generously supported by a number of organisations and individuals, including Tees Archaeology, Hartlepool Library Service, PortCities Hartlepool, Hartlepool Heritage & Museums Service, Teesside Archives, the Teesside Branch of the World Ship Society, and Renaissance North-East,
We would ask anyone with stories, photographs or mementoes of Hartlepool-built ships to please contact team members:
Gary Green (gary.green@hartlepool.gov.uk; Tel: 01429 523457; Tees Archaeology, Sir William Gray House, Clarence Road, Hartlepool, TS24 8BT), or
Diane Marlborough (diane.marlborough@hartlepool.gov.uk; 01429 263778; Hartlepool Central Library, 124 York Road, Hartlepool, TS26 9DE).
So although not “pure” archaeology, with Hartlepool hosting the 2010 Tall Ships event, and 2012 marking the 50th anniversary of the closure of Gray’s shipyard, the creation of this website will provide a valuable and very personal, internationally important maritime resource freely accessible to a world-wide audience.
Training
Training courses are run on–demand, at Sir William Gray House,Hartlepool, with a minimum requirement of six and a maximum of twelve attending.
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