Hilda Elizabeth Jean Le Patourel

Hilda Elizabeth Jean Le Patourel (19 August 191520 January 2011) She graduated in 1938 and studied for a further year for a Diploma in Education. In 1939 she married John Le Patourel, who was a lecturer at University College London. Work there led to Le Patourel leading excavations at Knaresborough Castle.

Le Patourel's husband, John, died on 21 July 1981. She died on 20 January 2011. On the day of her funeral, the flag on the Parkinson Building at the University of Leeds was flown at half-mast.

Selected publications

Kirkstall Abbey Excavations: the Pottery, 1950-4 'A Cistercian Ware Kiln of the Early Sixteenth Century at Potterton, Yorkshire', Antiquity (1966) 'Documentary Evidence and the Medieval Pottery Industry', Medieval Archaeology (1968) 'Four Medieval Pottery-Kilns on Woodhouse Farm, Winksley, near Ripon, W. Riding of Yorkshire', Medieval Archaeology (1970) The Moated Sites of Yorkshire (1973) 'A Select Bibliography of the Publications of John Le Patourel 1935–1975', Northern History (1975) 'Les sites fossoyés (moated sites) et leurs problèmes (l'organisation de la recherche en Grande Bretagne)', Revue du Nord (1976) 'Documentary Evidence', 'The Excavation of Moated Sites' & 'The Significance of Moated Sites', in Medieval Moated Sites (1978) Eds. Hilda Elizabeth Jean Le Patourel, Moira H. Long, May F. Pickles, Yorkshire Boundaries (1993) 'The Dog Collar', in Late Viking Age and Medieval Waterford (1997)

Legacy The British Museum holds a collection of medieval ceramics, donated by Le Patourel, in its collection. These, sometimes fragmentary ceramics, include: an aquamanile from York; bowls, jugs, a kiln fragment, pitchers and skillets from Brandsby; jugs from Shadwell; bowls and jugs from Follifoot; vessels from Wharram Percy; a fragment of and early medieval Otley-type ware vessel from the site of Otley Manor.

Historiography Le Patourel was a significant figure in post-war archaeology, particularly at a time when the field was dominated by men. The Yorkshire Boundaries volume, which she co-edited with an all-woman team, was reviewed as "fascinating to all with an interest in the county".