James Danter

I spent my childhood in Barley and Barkway and went to the Primary School in the former. My parents ran The Tally Ho in Barkway from the late 1990s until 2014 and I attended school in Puckeridge and Buntingford.

I left home to go to The University of Sheffield to study for a BA in Archaeology. I ended up meeting my future wife here and who is a proud Sheffield native. I stayed in Sheffield for ten years where I went on to complete my MA in Archaeology and then start a career in commercial archaeology. In this role I have worked as a field archaeologist on many types of projects from major infrastructure such as EA1 and HS2, to quarry extensions, housing developments and small jobs in peoples’ gardens. After seven years as a field archaeologist where I worked my way up to leading large projects and supervising teams of people (something which I really enjoyed), I made the sideways move to consultancy and now work from home writing desk-based assessments and managing some fieldwork projects. 

Since August 2023 we have lived in Therfield and have been enjoying the peace and quiet of the village. In my spare time, I passionately enjoy all things family history and have researched my own tree, my wife’s, and several friends. I also love gardening, and few things bring me inner peace like mowing the lawn. I’m currently working on my first book, a non-fiction historical biography of John of Lancaster, duke of Bedford, and which is due to be published in Spring 2028.

I am the liaison with the Highways agency.