HISTORY has given a helping hand to a Tyneside park’s bid for £2.2m in restoration cash.

A medieval building and burials have been uncovered during a community archaeological dig in Northumberland Park, between North Shields and Tynemouth.

The project, which has attracted 130 volunteers, set out to see if the evidence could be found of the medieval hospital of St Leonard’s, relics of which were reported when the land – gifted by the Duke of Northumberland – was laid out as a public park in 1885.

North Tyneside Council is working on an application for £2.2m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the park.

So far the dig has discovered a medieval building with a flagged floor and large ironstone cobbles which served as foundations for the walls.

Several medieval graves have been uncovered and also a mixture of bones which could represent many more burials, which were probably disturbed when what was a hilly mound was leveled by the Victorians in creating the park. The burials have been recorded by dig volunteer Mark Thompson, who is swapping one hospital for another.

While not searching for the medieval St Leonard’s, he is a consultant in the Accident and Emergency department of the QEII hospital in Gateshead.

The bones will be examined by a Newcastle University specialist.