A group of volunteer archaeologists have made a surprising discovery at a dig in the grounds of their village church in the Yorkshire Dales.

Two years ago the Diocese of Leeds sold St Michael and All Angels in Hudswell, near Richmond, to the Hudswell Community Charity, whose trustees have now applied for permission to convert the Grade II-listed church, built in 1884, into a hostel aimed at walkers and cyclists.

Ahead of work beginning, the charity invited residents to an excavation in the graveyard to try and determine whether the remains of an ancient church that pre-dated the current building could be found.

Old maps show a 13th-century church on the same site, but as the village was recorded in the Domesday Book, historians suspected there may have been a Saxon chapel too.

St Michael and All Angels Church in Hudswell, near Richmond, closed in 2017 and has now been formally deconsecrated

Yet after local archaeologists Stuart and Cath Ross identified an area of land in front of the cemetery which appeared to show evidence of an old building below ground level, the 45 volunteers they recruited for the community dig made an unexpected find.

The stonework they exposed at first appeared to support the pre-Norman church theory, but further investigations revealed it was actually part of a bell pit associated with lead mining and dated from the 17th or 18th century.

Lead mining was an important industry in the Dales during this period, and buildings can still be seen today, including the Old Gang smelting mill near Reeth in Swaledale, which was in operation from 1790 until 1899, and its nearby mine shop. The chimney is still intact and there is rusting machinery.

The geology of upland areas of Britain - where the movement of fault lines causes limestone beds to crack - creates deposits of lead ore. The mineral has been mined since Roman times, when it was even sent back to Rome and used in building projects.

Two local archaeologists spotted evidence of an old building in the cemetery and a dig took place in July

By the 18th century, Britain was the biggest lead producer in the world, and prospecting in the Dales reached fever pitch. Most of the labour was manual and miners bargained with landowners for access to the lead ore deposits.

The end of the industry came at the start of the 20th century, when foreign competition began to undercut prices. The last lead mine in the Dales closed in 1912.

The community excavation uncovered several other historic objects, including a clay pipe with the mark of Isaac Cary of York, made in the early 1600s, and a silver penny from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I minted in the 1560s.

Yorkshire Dales villagers dig up evidence of lost 17th-century lead mine in the grounds of their church