Places to Visit
Yorkshire has a variety of vernacular buildings which are open to the public. Just a few suggestions (not wholly vernacular!) are listed below, arranged by traditional Riding, but the interiors of many more can be visited as shops, pubs, cafes, B&Bs, youth hostels, bunk barns and other establishments.
York and East Riding of Yorkshire
- Barley Hall, York. A reconstruction of a complex of two medieval timber-framed buildings.
- Merchant Adventurers Hall, York. Medieval timber-framed guildhall, built in 1357-61.
- Jacob's Well, York. A medieval building usually open for coffee on Wednesday mornings.
- Hornsea Museum, Burns Farm, 11 Newbegin, Hornsea, East Yorkshire. Folk museum sited in an 18th century farmhouse.
- Beverley Youth Hostel, Friar's Lane, Beverley, East Yorkshire. A restored Dominican friary with wall paintings. Now used as a Youth Hostel, but also open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays 2pm to 4pm from Easter to end of September.
- Maister House, Hull. 18th century merchant's house, owned by the National Trust. Access to hall and staircase only.
North Riding of Yorkshire
- Braithwaite Hall. 17th century farmhouse in Coverdale owned by the National Trust, with some fine original features including fireplaces, panelling and oak staircase.
- Moulton Hall, Moulton, Richmond. 17th century manor house owned by the National Trust.
- Nunnington Hall, Nunnington. Stone-built manor house owned by the National Trust.
- Ryedale Folk Museum. Open air museum at Hutton-le-Hole housing several vernacular buildings from the North York Moors.
- Spout House, Bilsdale. A 16th century cruck-framed house, located 8 miles north of Helmsley on the B1257. Open to the public daily, Easter to 31 October, 10am to 4pm (except Thursdays), courtesy of the North York Moors National Park Authority.
- Tocketts Mill, Guisborough. A restored water-driven corn mill.
West Riding of Yorkshire
- The Ark, Tadcaster. Timber-framed house dating from the 15th century, now used as Council offices but open during office hours.
- Markenfield Hall, near Ripon. Moated and fortified 14th century manor house.
- Bishop's House, Norton Lees Lane, Sheffield. Built in about 1500, the oldest surviving timber-framed house in Sheffield.
- Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, Sheffield. Former steel-working site, now a museum, with industrial buildings and workers' housing. Other museums of the Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust are also accessible from this site.
- Wortley Top Forge Industrial Museum. A seventeenth century iron forge with ancillary buildings.
- Worsborough Mill, near Barnsley. A 17th century water-powered corn mill.
- Rotherham. Various town trails are available.
- Oakwell Hall, Nutter Lane, Birstall, Batley, West Yorkshire. Stone manor house built in 1583 and furnished as a family home of the 1690s. The roof construction is visible from inside the house.
- Clarke Hall, Aberford Road, Wakefield. Sixteenth century brick house, with seventeenth century remodelling. Used as an education centre during term-time but open to the public on Open Days and for other events.
- Colne Valley Museum, Cliffe Ash, Golcar, West Yorkshire. Three weavers' cottages exhibiting the life and work of the 19th century in restored period rooms: the loom chamber with working hand-looms and a spinning jenny, weaver's living room, gaslit clogger's shop.
- The Counting House, Swales Yard, Pontefract. 15th/16th century timber-framed building, now a public house. Worth asking to see upstairs, if the upstairs room isn't open.
- Shibden Hall, Halifax. 15th century house, with barn and folk museum.
- East Riddlesden Hall, Keighley. National Trust property comprising seventeenth century manor house and aisled barn.
- Longley Old Hall. Timber-framed manor house, now encased in stone, near Huddersfield. Open to groups by arrangement.
- Townhead Barn, Malham. National Trust interpretative centre with exhibitions on farming in the Dales, explaining the layout of field barns and how they were used. Barn contains features such as boskins, skelbuse and hay mew.
- A Walk around Kettlewell. A walk looking at the buildings of this village in Upper Wharfedale.
- Slaidburn Village Trail. A walk around the buildings of Slaidburn, a village which is now in Lancashire but was formerly part of the West Riding.