Brian Hope-Taylor (b. Surrey, 21 October 1923 –

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, 12 January 2001) was an artist, archaeologist, broadcaster and university lecturer, who made a significant contribution to the understanding of early British history.

Biography

In order to advance himself professionally, Hope-Taylor was permitted in 1958 to register at St John's College, Cambridge, to undertake a PhD thesis concerning the archeology of

Yeavering Yeavering () is a hamlet (place), hamlet in the north-east corner of the civil parish of Kirknewton, Northumberland, Kirknewton in the English county of Northumberland. It is located on the River Glen, Northumberland, River Glen at the northern ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, a seat of governance in Anglo-Saxon Britain, despite not having a first degree, never having been to university. He was awarded his doctorate in 1961, when, encouraged by

Glyn Daniel Glyn Edmund Daniel FBA, FRAI (23 April 1914 – 13 December 1986) was a Welsh scientist and archaeologist who taught at Cambridge University, where he specialised in the European Neolithic period. He was appointed Disney Professor of Archa ...

, he was appointed as a University Assistant Lecturer in Archaeology at Cambridge. His promotion to a full lectureship was followed, in 1967, by election to a

fellowship A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

at University College (now Wolfson College). He became an expert on Yeavering over his years of work there, publishing the excavation report in 1977. During his time at Cambridge, he continued excavating early Anglo-Saxon sites in the North: on Lindisfarne, at Doon Hill (

Dunbar Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and gave its name to an ecc ...

), and at

Bamburgh Castle Bamburgh Castle is a castle on the northeast coast of England, by the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland. It is a Grade I listed building. The site was originally the location of a Celtic Brittonic fort known as ''Din Guarie'' and may have ...

, where he discovered the Bamburgh Sword in 1960. Between the work at Doon Hill and Bamburgh, there came the call (in 1966) to undertake engineering excavations within

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Arch ...

, when it was realised that the great building was threatened by collapse. During the repairs which followed, much of his time was spent on ensuring the completion of the essential archaeological investigations, in his capacity as Director of Research, with a committee chaired by his friend, Sir

Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH CIE MC TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeologist and officer in the British Army. Over the course of his career, he served as Director of both the National Museum of Wales an ...

. Finally, in 1973, he directed a rescue excavation when construction of the A11 required a cutting to be made through the Devil's Dyke in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

. During the 1960s, Hope-Taylor was recruited by

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

to write and present two successful archaeological series, '' Who were the British?'' (1966) and ''

The Lost Centuries ''The Lost Centuries'' was an eight-part television series made in 1968 by Anglia Television, introduced by Professor Glyn Daniel, presented by Dr Brian Hope-Taylor and produced and directed by Forbes Taylor. It focused upon British history betwee ...

'' (1968), the former of which was nominated for a BAFTA award. He also made a one-off special, ''The Fight for York Minster'' (1967), an excursion into the domain of campaigning journalism – in which he emphasised to the British public the historical and cultural value of restoring the Minster. The new medium of television was one which, in the words of his director and producer, Hope-Taylor 'embraced with consummate ease'. Hope-Taylor resigned his position in Cambridge in 1976 and moved up north, to live in

Wooler Wooler ( ) is a small town in Northumberland, England. It lies on the edge of the Northumberland National Park, near the Cheviot Hills. It is a popular base for walkers and is referred to as the "Gateway to the Cheviots". As well as many shops ...

– close to the Yeavering site that had been the subject of his thesis – where he was cared for in ill health by old friends Vera and Lionel Rutherford. Back to health, he returned to Cambridge in 1981, planning to renew old acquaintances and pursue further archeological discoveries.

Publications

References

External links

Hope-Taylor's publications
on the

Archaeology Data Service The Archaeology Data Service (ADS) is an open access digital archive for archaeological research outputs. It is located in The King's Manor, at the University of York. Originally intended to curate digital outputs from archaeological researcher ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hope-Taylor, Brian 1923 births 2001 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of University College, Cambridge Fellows of Wolfson College, Cambridge People from Surrey (before 1965) British television presenters Anglo-Saxon studies scholars 20th-century British historians People from Wooler