Medieval longboat discovered by drainage worker in the Yorkshire Dales then destroyed in the Leeds Blitz is restored

The wooden longboat dating back to the 1300s lay beneath the soil of Giggleswick Tarn for 500 years before a worker digging drainage ditches discovered it in 1863.

He donated it to Leeds Museum, then situated on Park Row, and it was part of the collection for decades until 1941, when the building suffered a direct hit in the Leeds Blitz, damaging thousands of priceless historic artefacts.

The medieval boat was shattered into 45 pieces and the remains were wrapped in newspaper and packed in a crate that was not opened in 1974, when they were sent for conservation in London.

Research conducted in the 1970s revealed that the boat was made from ash from a single tree in around 1335, and was propelled with a paddle and probably used to fish in the Tarn or transport materials.

It returned to Leeds in 1988, but the museums service kept it in storage and it is only over the past few months that it has been prepared for display once again at the Leeds Discovery Centre.

Leeds Museums and Galleries curator Kat Baxter said: “This remarkable vessel survived more than half a millennium buried underground before being all but destroyed by an air raid which devastated the museum and its collection.

“To see it today, preserved and reassembled in such incredible condition is a humbling experience which really brings home the centuries of history which are all around us and beneath our feet.

“Once it’s on display, the boat will allow our visitors to find out more about the legacy and craftwork shaped by the hands of our ancestors and to imagine what life was like for the person who once sat inside it centuries ago and fished in the waters of Yorkshire.”

The Leeds Discovery Centre is home to more than a million objects and is used to store parts of the Leeds collection which are not currently on display, which span tens of millions of years of world history. It is free to visit by appointment.