ARCHAEOLOGY experts will meet the owner of Beverley's former Picture Playhouse next week to discuss excavations which could shed new light on 800 years of the town's history.
Businessman David Fletcher, who owns the former cinema, is planning to excavate a basement under the historic building, which he has planning permission to convert for retail use.
But before the redevelopment work gets underway an archaeological e
valuation will be carried out, which experts hope will provide a valuable insight into Beverley's past, perhaps dating back as far as the 11th or 12th centuries.
The archaeological evaluation was a condition of the planning consent and Mr Fletcher will next week discuss how the work should be carried out.
Dave Evans, archaeology manager for the Humber Sites and Monuments office, who will be monitoring the work on behalf of the planning authority, said the excavations may reveal significant information about one of the most important parts of the town.
An archaeological evaluation of the building in Saturday Market is required before any groundwork is carried out on creating the proposed basement area.
Although the Playhouse was built as a corn exchange in the late 19th century, the excavations could provide a rare insight into the much earlier history of the town.
"It is one of the central parts of Beverley and one of the oldest areas," said Mr Evans. "It will be the first opportunity we have had to look at this particular part of Beverley with this type of evaluation."
Because the centre of Beverley is a conservation area, Mr Evans said that most of the sites where development takes place are single properties where the scale of work tends to be quite small. Excavations for the proposed basement could uncover archaeological deposits as early as the 11th or 12th centuries.
He explained that the area around Saturday Market was historically the merchants centre or trading area, but it was not known whether the market place was always the same shape as it is today.
"This gives us a rare opportunity to get a feeling for how the town developed, particularly looking at evidence of when the market place was established and whether it is on top of any medieval or late Saxon buildings and building plots," he said.
The Picture Playhouse, which opened as a cinema in 1911, was the oldest working cinema in the UK when the curtain fell on films in 2002.
It was sold to Mr Fletcher by East Riding Council, which agreed to plough the proceeds of the sale - around £750,000 - into Beverley Memorial Hall.
Mr Fletcher, who revealed plans to restore the Playhouse to its 'former glory' as a trading place, says he is now in the final stages of discussions about leasing the building to a retail tenant.
