Doctor became a devoted champion of city's heritage

A GP who became a champion of Bath's local history has died at the age of 79.

Dr Malcolm Aylett was one of the driving forces behind the Combe Down Heritage Society (CDHS) and in work to safeguard a graveyard in that area of the city. Dr Aylett became secretary of both the society and the Friends of Bath Jewish Burial Ground, after a career as a GP which took him to Hong Kong, East Africa, Indonesia, Northumbria, the Midlands and Corsham. He retired to Combe Down where he was able to develop his interest in archaeology.

He helped to develop what was the Combe Down Heritage Group into a formal society and then a registered charity.

Dr Aylett led a partnership between the CDHS and the Jewish community to form the Friends group and start a restoration programme at the graveyard in Bradford Road.

He persuaded the Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society to investigate the old Kingham Quarry on the edge of Combe Down for signs of a railway to Tucking Mill, and to look for unmarked graves at the Jewish cemetery.

He wrote a booklet about a Roman villa at Combe Down in 2005, was convenor of the University of the Third Age Archaeological Group and enjoyed visiting important sites around the Mediterranean and further afield.

The CDHS is now involved in setting up a heritage centre celebrating the role of stone mining in Bath's history.

Chairwoman Rosemary Simmons said: "His enthusiasm and determination to follow a project through will be hard to match, especially at a time when the CDHS moves to share the heritage of Combe Down with a wider audience through the Combe Down stone legacy and its forthcoming centre."

His wife Hazel died before him but he leaves his children Tim, Clementine, Polly and Rebecca and his grandchildren Amy, Sasha and Billy.

His funeral will take place at 2.30pm on Thursday, January 26 at Haycombe Cemetery, with a wake afterwards at the Forester and Flower pub in Combe Down.