Vernacular Architecture Group

🕰️ Join us online on Tues, 24 Feb 2026, from 6–7 pm for a talk with Chris Skidmore on Quaker meeting house architecture. Discover how these seemingly simple buildings feature unique elements and evolving styles as Friends adopted mainstream designs.

🔗 Register: hbap.org.uk/online-talk-...

The Squatter’s Cottage at Blists Hill was built around 1830 by miner Michael Corbett on waste land. Such cottages were common in the Coalbrookdale Coalfield. They stood on unregulated commons, with families paying a 30 shilling yearly encroachment fine for up to 60 years to be allowed to stay.

Porch at Old Edge, Heptonstall.

1676 dated doorhead at Old Edge, Heptonstall, with inscription 'PEACE BE WITHIN THY GATES'.

Closer view of porch at Old Edge, Heptonstall.

#AdoorableThursday Customer: 'But it was supposed to say 'GATES' not 'GATE'. Stonemason: 'No problem - easily fixed!'. Old Edge, Colden, Heptonstall.

The courtyard at Woodsome Hall near Huddersfield.

A recording of a recent YVBSG talk by Philip Sands on the history of Woodsome Hall near Huddersfield can now be viewed at youtu.be/2PGeqLuA0jg?.... Philip takes us on a virtual tour of the building which has a complicated and fascinating history and has been dendro-dated to 1462.

Interested in a free place at the VAG Winter Conference? The topic is 'Vernacular buildings in urban contexts: the study of urban building types and integration with urban studies', 10-11 Jan 2026 in Nottingham. Bursaries are available - more info at www.vag.org.uk/conferences.....

Visited the Ancient High House in Stafford today. I was particularly taken with the juxtaposition of apotropaic burn mark, fire extinguisher, and fire safety sign 😁🔥🕯🧯

More on burn marks in historic buildings here:
triskeleheritage.triskelepublishing.com/mediaeval-my...

Tewkesbury.

We are looking at large room showing a section of oak timber framing.

We all like to do a bit of showing off and those working on the Hall in the 14th century were no exception.

The carpenters were given the resources (money and beer, so say our archives) to embellish and generally do some woodwork showboating as can be seen here.

Ed Lorch will tell us the story of local man James Quantock, an 18th century polymath who specialised in what we today call surveying. There will be details on how his intricate 100-page notebook was found which gives instructions and data on surveying, carpentry, husbandry, building costs and more.

Oxfordshire vol. XXII - Chadlington and Area This volume will cover a swathe of west Oxfordshire rural parishes from Chastleton on the west through to Spelsbury, Enstone, and Kiddington on the east

New *draft* text from @vch-oxon.bsky.social, which completes the draft for their 22nd (and penultimate, for the historic county) volume which covers the area around #Chadlington.

The new drafts are for #Chilson, with Shorthampton and Walcot.

All comments, corrections, etc., gratefully received. 🗃️

Pen and watercolour sketch of a late 17th century theatre with a tall cupola on the roof.

Pencil and watercolour sketch of four storey town houses framed by trees.

Sketched on my way to a series of talks organised by @varchgroup.bsky.social & Oxford University in 2019 on recording historic urban buildings. The Sheldonian Theatre & townhouses on St Giles.

#ArchitecturalIllustration
#sketchbook #drawing

Picture shows a mud and stud smokehood exposed when the thatch was removed. It is made of timber and earth walling, but has been cut off below the ridge line. It originally served two fireplaces. The rafters and ridge-piece are much altered, but bits of the reed under-lining of the ceiling within survive

Really looking forward to speaking at the 'Counting Chimneys - The Hearth Tax in Lincolnshire' conference on the 25th. Everyone is welcome, book in now! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/counting-c...

Barn door at Sherford, Devon, with planks partly cut out to create a window for cattle peeping out.

#AdoorableThursday Barn door at Sherford, Devon.

A walled of checker board knapped flint

You've got to admire an expert knapped-flint wall - St Mary's Priory Church, 😮 Bungay, #Suffolk

📷 Yesterday

Pencil sketch of a former inn building, in Oxford. Drawn while sheltering from rain under a gateway. To the left is a timber framed building with bay windows. In the background a brick building of two storeys with a parapet, partly obscured on the right by signs hanging from metal brackets.

Courtyard of the Golden Cross, Oxford. An inn with a long history, claimed as 1193 on the wall of Pizza Hut. On the left is a long 16th-17th century timber frame with wall paintings, to the rear an 18th century range. Sketched when I was in town to give a lecture, 2019.

#UrbanSketch
#drawing

Dairy window in Hurstwood, Lancashire.

Dairy window in Old Chamber, West Yorkshire.

Dairy window in Cropton, North Yorkshire.

Dairy window in Eastwood, West Yorkshire.

#WindowsOnWednesday Some workroom windows, including dairies and cheese rooms, were exempt from window tax if clearly labelled as such.

Found this 17th Century farm near in Cumbria last week. Date on the front is 1692. Not listed. Very modified. Changed doors and windows. New roof? No chimneys. I wonder if it’s owned by a water company as it’s close to Thirlmere.

House in Low Moor surveyed by the YVBSG in May 2025.

Join us on Saturday 18 October at our follow-up day to hear about buildings we recorded in the south Bradford area in May. We'll also have a walk around the historic buildings of Wibsey. Everybody welcome! Booking details at www.yvbsg.org.uk/events.html.

A while back Historic England asked for my opinion on which was the oldest pub in London. The result is a new online article that outlines the variables, busts some myths, and points to a couple of genuinely ancient pubs in and around the city...

heritagecalling.com/2025/09/25/w...

An old brown freight door on a brick wall that has been boarded up with two 2x4s in the shape of an X.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekKforKaraoke
#AdoorableThursday
#UrbanGaze
Let My Love Open the Door – Pete Townshend
#PhotographersOfBluesky
#BlueskyPhotography
#Broviravo #Art
#EastCoastKin

Doorway with decorative stone doorhead comprising two protruding cones.

#AdoorableThursday Doorway in the range of farm buildings at Birthwaite Hall, near Barnsley.

Door at the timber-framed Guildhall, Whittlesford, with carved wooden lintel and spandrels.

#AdoorableThursday The Guildhall, Whittlesford, Cambridgeshire.

Window at Overhouse, Tisbury, with the mullions narrower than their heads.

#WindowsOnWednesday Window at Overhouse, Tisbury, with the mullions narrower than their heads.

Should be good - we visited some amazing buildings in Wiltshire!

A Lost Gem: The Demise of Parlwr Mawr

In the heart of Conwy, a building full of history was demolished in the 1950s. Parlwr Mawr, the "Great Parlour," was a magnificent townhouse dating back to the late 16th century.
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Beneath the Surface? An Interview with Dr Timothy Meek The skins of buildings

Worth a read! Alfie Robinson interviewing the brilliant Dr. Tim Meek, @limefinishes.bsky.social - THE expert on lime finishes…

open.substack.com/pub/alfierob...

Doorway with door & window below, but window & former doorway above. Ragstone wall with weatherboarding above.

Vine Cottage, #Looe #Cornwall

18th Century set of buildings. Part of small house & coach house grouping.

#AdoorableThursday #LocalHistory

An old door with a number of old keyholes at Silver Street, Ely

#AdoorableThursday Let's hope the residents of this house in Silver Street, Ely, know which keyhole to use.

A pendant, perhaps? The VAG Glossary is often useful for naming bits and pieces - www.vernacularbuildingglossary.org.uk.

Chancel #StMichaelBrentKnoll #Somerset on #WoodensDay

Pristine roof. Trusses with queen posts, braces and openwork trefoils between post and purlin (also a pub for roofers). If finials extend upwards what do you call something that extends downwards? This has four of them