Events and Activities

Events for 2024 will include those listed below. Other events are being planned and details will be published here when finalised. Do visit our YVBSG YouTube channel where you will find recordings of talks and short videos of previous visits.

  • Shandy Hall bread ovens and Coxwold walkabout

    Thursday 28 March 2024

    Join us on a visit to look at the newly discovered bread oven at Shandy Hall, Coxwold, followed by a walkabout in Coxwold. There is much of interest in this attractive village located eight miles south-east of Thirsk. The Group has recorded one building here: report 911, The Old School or Old Hall.

    • 10.00-10.30 - Arrive at Coxwold. Parking is at the Village Hall, YO61 4BB, where there are also toilets. Allow at least five minutes for the walk to Shandy Hall at the top of the hill. There is also village street parking for a shorter walk to Shandy Hall up Thirsk Bank. Unfortunately the Coxwold Tea Rooms do not open until 11.00.
    • 10.30 - Shandy Hall. Chris Pearson will give a guided tour round the outside of the building to explain what is known of its development (the recently revealed oven is on the outside too) before going inside to look at the bread ovens. She will also show us the wall painting in the parlour downstairs and a picture of the one upstairs.
    • 12.00 - Lunch. Members are advised to book a table at The Fauconberg, or try the Tea Rooms or bring a packed lunch.
    • 13.30 - Gather at St Michael's church for walkabout of Coxwold village with Moira Fulton.
    • 15.30 - Moira has kindly offered tea at her Coxwold home for those wishing to have refreshments before departing. Closing time around 16.00.

    Numbers are limited to 10 members. Please contact David Cook on archivist@yvbsg.org.uk or call 07810 668975 to book a place, first come, first served.

  • Marks, Graffiti, Wall Paintings and Decoration in Yorkshire Buildings

    Saturday 27 April 2024

    We're pleased to resume our annual day schools with an event to be held at York St John University from 9.30am to 5.45pm. The programme comprises:

    • Markings on timber and stone (David Cant)
    • Farm graffiti of the Yorkshire Wolds (Professor Kate Giles and Professor Mel Giles)
    • A farmer's daybook carved in oak: beam carvings at Manor Farm, Upper Midhope (Andrew Bower and Andy Bentham)
    • The painted chamber at Calverley Old Hall (Caroline Stanford)
    • The wall paintings of Pickering Church: their discovery, restoration and meaning (Professor Kate Giles)
    • Painted decoration on plasterwork, carved oak and panelling, and stained glass in West Yorkshire's mid sixteenth and seventeenth vernacular houses (Peter Thornborrow)

    For more information and to book a place, please see the full details. The booking form on its own is also available in Word format. The booking deadline is 14 April 2024 and the day school is open to all.

    The Group's AGM will be held immediately after the talks.

  • Vernacular Buildings of Bridlington

    Friday 10 to Sunday 12 May 2024

    This year's annual recording conference will be held in the seaside town of Bridlington, and we'll be recording buildings in the area including nearby villages. In the evening lectures, David Neave and Richard Myerscough will introduce us to the local architecture and building stones. On the Sunday afternoon we'll have a tour of Bridlington's very interesting Old Town, which has one of the best preserved Georgian streets in the county.

    For full details and to book a place, please see the attached conference leaflet and booking form - the booking deadline is 15 April 2024 and the conference is open to all. Two bursaries are available; for more information and to apply, please see the Bursary Application Form.

  • A walk around Easingwold

    Monday 8 July 2024

    A guided walk looking at vernacular buildings in Easingwold on Monday 8 July. The group has recorded more than a dozen varied buildings in the town, ranging from the timber-framed Tudor House and Cottage in Uppleby to a brick-built dovecote off Long Street. Our leader will be local historian Valerie Taylor. Meet at 11am in the Market Place, and bring a picnic or have lunch in one of several cafes. Maximum number 18. Please book your place by mailing Gunhildwilcock@icloud.com.

  • A visit to Newlaithes Manor House, Horsforth, and Kirkstall Abbey

    - PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED

    Saturday 28 September 2024

    A visit led by Peter Thornborrow. Newlaithes Manor House is a complicated building but in essence is an aisled hall with a rear aisle under a low sloping catslide roof heated by a large segmental-arched stone fireplace set next to the original rear Tudor-arched doorway - probably the kitchen originally. It has a separate housebody with seventeenth century panelled walls. The attached former two-storey parlour wing, now a small cottage, has the remains of timber-framing (wall-plate, corner posts and braces) and a large external chimney stack for fireplaces on both floors.

    Of greatest interest is the four-bay aisle arcade visible at the first floor in a corridor the length of the building with board-and-muntin panelled walls set between jowled posts. The end bay has stone walls and windows on two sides with an angled corner fireplace. Here the timber structure is covered by more plank wall panelling, the styles with reeded edges, incorporating nine panels of Tudor linenfold panelling, very fine and rare carved with a cross design suggesting ecclesiastical origin - perhaps from the Prior's lodging at nearby Kirkstall Abbey which we will visit in the afternoon.

    For more information, please see the further details. To book a place, please ring Peter's mobile on 07304 048049. Confirm: peterthornborrow@gmail.com.

  • Bridlington and Boynton Review

    Saturday 5 October 2024

    After our successful recording conference based in Bridlington we are getting the reports ready in preparation for this follow-up day. In the morning we will meet in the Priory Rooms in Bridlington for presentatons on the buildings recorded. After a buffet lunch we'll travel to Boynton where we have a visit to Boynton Hall, courtesy of the owner, Mrs Marriott. It's a multi-period building and there is much of vernacular interest as well as work by John Carr and Jeffry Wyatville. We will then have a look at the village and the three buildings recorded.

    To book a place, please complete and return the booking form (Word version or pdf version) together with your payment.

Third Thursday Talks

We are continuing to offer a series of occasional online talks which will normally take place by Zoom at 7.30pm on the third Thursday of the month. The talks are open to all (including non-members) and are free of charge. Members are notified by email as soon as booking is open for each talk, and details are also added to this website. When booking for a talk is open, please register by clicking on the 'Book now' button, which will take you to the Eventbrite booking page. Joining instructions with the Zoom link will be sent by email after booking. When possible, the talks will be recorded and published on the YVBSG YouTube channel.

Future talks

  • Bridlington High Street and three recorded buildings

    A talk by David Cant. Thursday 17 October 2024 at 7.30pm.

    The High Street in the old town of Bridlington has been described as one of the best Georgian streets in the UK. Its origins are linked with the Priory and traces of the medieval burgage plots are still present today. We were able to record three of the vernacular buildings in detail at our annual recording conference in May, and the talk will discuss them in their wider context.

    A future Third Thursday Talk will cover three buildings in the nearby village of Boynton which were also recorded during the conference.