CHILDHOOD memories of lazy summer days spent playing in local fields has led to a voyage of historical discovery shedding new light on the past.

The strange features noticed in the landscape near his Boroughbridge home by David Barley during his childhood eventually led to a study of the area, funded by a £10,000 Heritage Lottery grant.

And that in turn has led to the creation of a new heritage trail to be launched next weekend – May 23 and 24 – with an exhibition at the Coronation Hall in the nearby village of Langthorpe.

The Dog Kennel Lane Project was set up by Boroughbridge and District Historical Society and has involved 15 months of research.

The archaeological research project covered a small area in the parishes of Langthorpe and Newby-with-Mulwith north of the River Ure and west of the A1M.

Participants consulted archives, examined maps and aerial photographs, including digital imagery; gathered oral history, and carried out field walking and geophysics.

They discovered Neolithic finds, ancient river crossings, researched Roman remains and properties with historic connections on the Newby Hall Estate – and even found links to the Battle of Culloden in 1745.

Mr Barley, chairman of the study group, said: “I am delighted that an area, which I knew as a boy, has now been researched and that the information we gathered is recorded for future generations.”

The heritage trail – known as the Dog Kennel Lane Circuit after kennels which once stood in the area – is a five-mile walk made possible by a permitted footpath granted by Newby Hall Estates, which links existing rights of way between Langthorpe and Skelton-on-Ure.

A two-and-a-half-hour guided tour will take place on Saturday, May 23, starting from Skelton Road under the A1(M) flyover at 2pm, while the exhibition will be held the following day from 11.15am to 4.30pm.