A HUGE lottery grant has been awarded to a village near Selby to fund research in to the rich archaeological landscape of the area.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has handed £25,700 to North Duffield Conservation And History Society to help “fill in the gaps” in what is known of the history of the village going back to the Iron Age.

Brian Elsey, co-ordinator of Archaeology North Duffield, a branch of the society, said: “This is a really exciting time. Nobody has done any archaeology in this area before, so we are breaking new ground.

“We will be working with Dr Jon Kenny, of York Archaeological Trust, hoping to answer some important archaeological questions that may have considerable national relevance.”