A PARTY of Americans called Hungate have gone back to their roots - by visiting the area of York which bears their illustrious name.

Fifteen members of the Hungate Family Historical Society from all over America are currently on a trip to England.

They went to Hungate yesterday, just off Stonebow, where a £100 million scheme is being proposed to regenerate the area.

David Wade, who lives at Shipton-by-Beningbrough and is an honorary member of the society and its UK co-ordinator, said: "When I read about the scheme being planned for the Hungate area, I forwarded information to the States and this sparked a lot of excitement among the membership.

"They were particularly interested to hear about the site's Roman heritage and were looking forward to finding out about the changing face of the area from AD 71 to the present day."

The visitors were all either descendants of or closely connected to the Hungate family, who were prominent in the York, Saxton and Sherburn-in-Elmet areas from the early 1400s to 1749, when the male line of the family in this country came to an end with the death of Sir Charles Hungate.

Two years earlier - in 1747 - the American connection was established when another member of the family, also called Charles, went to live in Virginia.

While the family name died out in this country, it went from strength to strength in America and the society, founded more than 30 years ago, now has members living across the United States.

The party of visitors was interested yesterday to hear details of the Hungate Regeneration Partnerships' proposals for the area, which include more than 700 homes and which are set to be considered by council planners later this year.

Mary Hungate, from Illinois, said: "It's my first visit to England, and I'm really enjoying it."

Updated: 10:51 Thursday, July 31, 2003