About us

PontArc (as it is increasingly being called) is now over sixty-five years old, having been formed in 1957.

The Society developed from four members of an evening class, sitting on a tomb-chest in All Saints churchyard Pontefract, into one of the country’s leading town archaeological groups. Thanks to its members, the Society now has a string of awards, publications and even television credits to its name.

The four founders called a public meeting in All Saints Parish Hall which resulted in the Society being officially launched in the spring of 1957. By 1960 there were thirty-five members, and membership peaked at well over a hundred in the 1990's. Currently, the Society has around forty regular/returning members, and would welcome an increase to that number.

The success of any society depends on its members, and PontArc has certainly been lucky in that respect. From the beginning, a number of prominent archaeologists joined the organisation, and several members have gained national recognition in subsequent years.

The first President was C Vincent Bellamy, whose WEA Evening Class had sparked the Society’s birth. The current President is Dr Peter Addyman CBE, founding Director of the York Archaeological Trust, discoverer of Coppergate, and one of the most influential archaeologists of the last half century.

Our Vice-President is Dr Tony Wilmott, who has recently retired as Senior Archaeologist at Historic England and is well known, among other reasons, for his investigations of  Romano-British sites at Birdoswald and Richborough and his television coverage of excavations of the amphitheatre at Chester.

Amongst the group of enthusiasts who joined immediately following the first meeting, was a schoolboy - Eric Houlder. Though primarily a teacher in his adult life, Eric too became a respected archaeology fieldworker and photographer (notably at Sutton Hoo) and he was Society Chairman and Secretary several times until his passing in March 2023. 

For further information please email us at :     enquiries@pontarc.org.uk