Events and Activities
An Annual Conference is held over a weekend in spring or early summer. On the first evening there is usually a lecture or training seminar, then the following day is spent in survey teams making plans and drawings of buildings, which are used on the following day to produce an interpretative report. A further lecture, a visit and social events complete the weekend.
An Annual Day School concentrating on a particular topic, with speakers from both Yorkshire and other areas, is held usually in March. Previous day schools have covered 'Features, Fixtures and Fittings', 'Recording Techniques', 'Traditional Buildings of Yorkshire', 'The Roof over Your Head', 'Yorkshire's Traditional Farm Buildings', 'Vernacular Houses and Buildings in Towns', 'Old Mills and Workshops', 'The House and Family History', 'Understanding the Buildings of Estate Villages', 'Vernacular Buildings in the Landscape', 'Brick and Tile in Yorkshire's Vernacular Buildings' and 'Vernacular Buildings on Yorkshire's Borders'. The group's AGM is held immediately after the day school.
Field Recording Days are organised to study buildings in a certain area. Survey teams draw and measure buildings, and the report-writing, drawing-up and interpretation take place at home afterwards.
Walkabout Tours of towns and villages, led by a local expert, introduce members to the architecture of an area.
Training Seminars take place occasionally, with topics ranging from identification and interpretation to measuring and drawing skills.
Programme of Events
New light on some Yorkshire buildings - recent reports and dendro dating
Saturday 26 January 2008
The Tithe Barn at Nether Poppleton, near York, will be the venue for our first event of the new year. We hope you will come along and hear about some of the more significant or unique buildings recorded lately by the Group. In the morning we shall be given a guided tour of the village by members of the Poppleton History Society.
Afternoon presentations should include:
- Neddy House, Grinton, Swaledale - Barry Harrison
- 2 Quay Street, Scarborough, and carved figurines and brattishing on timber framed buildings - Malcolm Birdsall
- Three buildings in Midgley, near Halifax - David Cant
- Brief presentation on Poppleton Tithe Barn - Tony Tolhurst
- Southwood Hall, Cottingham, near Hull - Lorraine Moor, Barry Harrison, Malcolm Birdsall
- Knedlington Old Hall, near Howden - Malcolm Birdsall
- Glebe Farm, Octon, Yorkshire Wolds (a dendro-dated cruck-framed building) - David Cook
- St Agnes Lodge, Ripon (dendrochronology results) - Malcolm Birdsall
To reserve a place, please print, complete and return the booking form, enclosing your fee.
Timber Framed Vernacular Buildings in Yorkshire
Saturday 8 March 2007
At this day school, to be again held jointly with the Yorkshire Archaeological Society at Headingley Campus of Leeds Metropolitan University, we shall take a long overdue look at the historical, constructional and other aspects of Yorkshire's timber-framed vernacular buildings. Talks will include:
- The Study of Timber-Framed Buildings - Colum Giles (English Heritage)
- Before the Black Death: Timber-Framed Construction in Yorkshire circa 1250-1350 - Barry Harrison (YVBSG)
- "Ships Timbers?" - a Look at Reused Timber - Alison C Armstrong (YVBSG)
- Dendrochronology in Yorkshire: where are we now? - Ian Tyers (Dendrochronological Consultancy Limited)
- Case Study - Longley Old Hall - David Cant (YVBSG)
- The Carpenters' System - Scribing the Timbers Together - Joe Thompson (Weald and Downland Open Air Museum)
- York and its Hinterland - a Timber Framing Puzzle - Jane Grenville (University of York Department of Archaeology)
To reserve a place, please print, complete and return the booking form, enclosing your fee.
The YVBSG will hold its AGM immediately after the day school as usual.
Visit to Midgley and Luddenden - FULL
Sunday 13 April 2008
Walking tour to see buildings in Midgley and Luddenden. 10.30am to 4pm. Walking on minor roads and field paths, with some uneven ground. The area has a good selection of 17th, 18th and 19th century vernacular buildings and there will be time afterwards to appreciate the delights of one of two dated hostelries - the Lord Nelson of 1634 (really) or Kershaw House of 1650.
Lunch break at Midgley Community Room - please bring a packed lunch. Tea/coffee/soft drinks will be available (and a loo!) with the shop open when we arrive there.
Cost £5. To book a place email David Cant or send a stamped addressed envelope for details to David Cant, 3 Middle Hathershelf, Halifax HX2 6JQ. Places are limited to 20 - so book soon!
Annual Recording Conference 2008
Friday 16 to Sunday 18 May 2008
This year's recording conference will be based in Burnsall in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. Meals will be at the Red Lion and lectures in the seventeenth century Burnsall School (which we will be recording). We will record buildings in nearby Thorpe as well as in Burnsall. Participants will need to book their own accommodation - early booking is recommended as Burnsall is a very popular place. There will be speakers on Friday and Saturday evenings and a walkabout of Burnsall on the Sunday afternoon.
To reserve a place, please print, complete and return the booking form, enclosing your fee.
A walk around Thornton-le-Dale - FULL
Sunday 22 June 2008
A walk around Thornton-le-Dale, on the southern edge of the North York Moors, led by Barry Harrison. Meet at 10.30am by the village map in the public car park (pay and display) in the centre of the village. Finish around 4.30pm. You'll need to make your own arrangements for lunch - bring a packed lunch, or there are several pubs and cafes. Places are limited and this walk is now fully booked.
Joint Training Day on Recording Buildings
Saturday 19 July 2008
As part of a series of free study days organised by the Greater York Community Archaeology Project, we intend to run an introductory/training day to be held in the York area. The programme for the day will be aimed at those who have little or no experience of recording buildings, with the objective of getting more people actively involved.
Arrangements are not yet finalised but if you would like details when available please contact David Cook or the York Community Archaeologist, Jon Kenny.
Conference Review Day
Sunday 21 September 2008
A meeting to draw together and review the information gathered during this year's recording conference. The morning session will comprise a review of the buildings recorded on 17 May 2008, to be held in Burnsall Grammar School (dated 1602) starting at 10am. Whether or not you attended in May, you are invited to attend in this wonderful vernacular environment!
There was no time at the conference for some of the participants to see the array of seventeenth and eighteenth century buildings in the delightful nearby village of Thorpe. This is to be rectified at the Review Day when there will be the opportunity in the afternoon for a walk round the village to look at the many fascinating buildings there, starting at 2pm.
If you'd like to come, please contact Malcolm Birdsall. Places are limited and there will be a nominal charge to cover the cost of the hire of the school. Further details on times and lunch arrangements to follow.
An Idle Recording Day
Saturday 4 October 2008
Following an enjoyable walk around the village of Idle, near Bradford, in July 2007, we hope to pay a return visit to record some of the buildings seen. The above date is provisional and further details will be confirmed in due course.
Next Committee Meeting
Sunday 9 November 2008
The next full committee meeting will be held on Sunday 9 November 2008, although a 'virtual' meeting is held by email during spring 2008 to consider future events. If you'd like to bring any matter to the attention of the Committee, or if you have any suggestions for future activities, please contact the Secretary, David Crook, before the meeting.
Visit to Rotherham and district
We hope to arrange a visit to the Rotherham area early in 2008, guided by Peter Thornborrow, Conservation and Urban Design Officer for Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. The tour, to an area as yet relatively unexplored by the YVBSG, will show an interesting range of buildings and periods, including, we hope, Whiston Manorial Barn. A date for this event is not yet confirmed and all provisional places have been taken, but if you wish to be added to the waiting list, please contact Malcolm Birdsall, email archivist@yvbsg.org.uk, telephone 01943 830460. There is likely to be a small fee for the day.