Yorkshire Vernacular Buildings Study Group

Cover of YVBSG Newsletter No 122 February 2026.

Our February Newsletter is hot off the press! Catch up with all our latest news, including info about events, publications and of course buildings! www.yvbsg.org.uk/newsheets/fe...

Archaeology often challenges assumptions about listed buildings. This Leicestershire house was thought to be 17th century until a survey revealed evidence that it was mediaeval.

On 26 Feb I'll be speaking online about Reinterpreting Listed Buildings:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reinterpre...

Higher Kinders, 1-5 Kinders Lane, Greenfield, Saddleworth, Gtr Manchester is a group of cottages largely dating from the mid 18th century to early 19th century, though there is a datestone with "1642" on it. Built in hammer dressed stone, partly watershot with a graduated /1

Our latest blogpost features the changing fortunes of Micklegate House in York. Built by the #Bourchier family, visited by #AnneLister, painted by #MaryEllenBest, then became a chemical factory. Later housed first @uoylibrary.bsky.social @balhnews.bsky.social @yorkfhs.bsky.social shorturl.at/0Pwpm

Ooh, lovely one! Will have to look for that next time I visit.

Heart-shaped label stop.

Heart on voussoir, Clapham, North Yorkshire.

Heart in decorative brickwork, Northern France.

Heart embedded in stone wall, Cumbria.

Happy #ValentinesDay! It's time to bring out the annual 'hearts on buildings' again. If you know of more examples, do post them below.

Watercolored drawing of the Merchant Adventurer's Hall in York

I started this sketch of the @merchantshallyork.org during a visit seven years ago today, found it, and realized I should probably finish and scan it, so here we go!

Chapel Fold, Wibsey.

Datestone at 52 Chapel Street, Wibsey.

Bollands Buildings, Low Moor.

10-14 Upper George Street, Wibsey.

'Reflections on Wibsey and Low Moor' - a talk by David Cant on the varied buildings of these #Bradford suburbs is now available to watch on our YouTube channel at youtu.be/W46qSnMpqrs?....

The next Triskele Heritage online talk is Reinterpreting Listed Buildings. It looks at why buildings were listed, what conditions were like for listing investigators, why many listings were short & inaccurate, plus how new research is pushing back dating.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reinterpre...

Yorkshire North Riding 1673: I’ve just counted the total of large houses (20 hearths and over), and it’s only a dozen, in such a large area. Two of them were in Whitby, including the largest, Sir Hugh Cholmley’s 39-er, presumably a manor house.

We are looking at a section of the Great Hall - a large oak framed roof and fireplace at one end with teal coloured panelling. A series of Georgian sash windows light up patches of the pine floor boards.

News!

After a spit* and polish we are open once again!

Join us for history, the most beautiful roof in the world and to top it off...homemade cake!

*Before anyone comes for us we didn't actually spit on the Hall - that is not a technique in the museum cleaning handbook.

From Sexhow to Crackpot: North Yorkshire's place name origins Archivist Alexandra Medcalf explains North Yorkshire's plethora of peculiar place names.

BBC News - From Sexhow to Crackpot: North Yorkshire's place name origins - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Bay Horse pub, 55 Blossom Street, York dates back to the 17th century when it belonged to Joseph Denton when it was possibly a small farmhouse. By 1727 it was described as having a kiln, barn & stable. In 1748 it belonged to innholder Matthew Spence. Originally a 2 storey house with attics it /1

Pen and watercolour sketch of a timber framed building. The doorway to the left has an ogee-arched head. The bay window to the right had a display of parts for vacuum cleaners.

A more colourful offering for #ADoorableThursday. 5 Colliergate, York is a 15th century timber framed building with a fine carved door head.

#ArchitecturalIllustration
#drawing #sketchbook
#ArtYear

Thornton Rust, Wensleydale.

'Vernacular Architecture of the Yorkshire Dales' - YVBSG day school held in conjunction with Upper Wharfedale Heritage Group on 28 Feb 2026 in Skipton Town Hall. Do join us for an excellent programme of talks exploring the wonderful traditional buildings of the Dales! www.yvbsg.org.uk/events.html

The image is of The Ark, a historic, timber-framed building located on Kirkgate in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England. This Grade II* listed building dates from the late 15th century and is the only timber-framed structure in the town. The building features a distinctive black and white half-timbered exterior with whitewashed infill panels and a pantile roof. It has a hall and cross-wing plan, with the first floor of the gabled wing projecting slightly on corbels, which are reputed to be carved figures of Noah and his wife. The ground floor of the wing has large bow windows flanking a central door. The building has served many purposes over the centuries, including a post office, an inn, a museum, and is now the home of the Tadcaster Town Council offices.

This timber framed house in Tadcaster was built in the late 15th century. It was altered in the early 17th century and much work was undertaken in the 1960s using original timbers. It has carvings of two heads on the front of the building, thought to represent the heads 1/3

Wymondley Priory, Hertfordshire.

Much Hadham, Hertfordshire.

Ugford, Wiltshire.

Do you have a research project that would benefit from extra funding? The VAG offers grants for the study and presentation of vernacular architecture and there's still time to submit an application for the current round of Research Grants! Closing date: 28 February. See www.vag.org.uk/grants.htm.

Workshop: Researching the History of your House A hands-on workshop led by Northumberland Archives staff which will introduce the type of documents used in researching house history.

Advance notice on this #OnePlaceWednesday of a Northumberland Archives #HouseHistory Workshop, Researching the History of your House. This will take place on Wednesday March 18th from 9.30am to 11.30am GMT, at County Hall, Morpeth. Follow the link for more info and to book a free place.

Easington Tithe Barn is a complicated building surveyed by the YVBSG in 1997, thought to have been constructed from two completely different timber frames from unknown locations!

Historical maps of Yorkshire towns and cities already published include Hull, Beverley, Ripon and Bradford, with a reprint of York hot off the press. Maps of Scarborough, Leeds and Whitby are in the pipeline. Wonderful resource!

Described as the finest example of a 14th century manor house in the country the present Markenfield (Markingfield) Hall near Ripon dates to around 1310. The estate was bought by John de Markenfield Image: Gordon Hatton / Markenfield Hall / CC BY-SA 2.0

Bollands Buildings, Low Moor. Recorded by the YVBSG in 2025.

'Reflections on Wibsey and Low Moor' - an online talk by David Cant on Thu 22 Jan at 7.30pm, looking at buildings in these suburbs of #Bradford. The bad news - attendance is restricted to YVBSG members. The good news - membership costs just £12 a year! www.yvbsg.org.uk/membership.h....

A sequence of reconstruction drawings depicting a pair of buildings changing over time, beginning with two longhouses that accommodated people and animals under the same roof to a mixture of houses and a single storey workshop and cattle shed.

Reconstruction drawing is two longhouses with accommodation for people and animals under the same roof, entered by a single doorway. Fireplaces were located on one side of an entrance passage as shown by the chimney in each house.

Reconstruction drawing of subtle changes to the two buildings with an additional chimney in the lefthand building and a loft, lit by a low window at the eaves line, in the right-hand building. The parts of the buildings for people have had the walls rebuilt in stone.

Watercolour drawing showing further changes to the buildings. All the walls have been rebuilt in stone. The living accommodation of both houses has been made two storeys high with additional fireplaces, shown by the additional chimneys, and reroofed with tiles. The former animal housing has been replaced on the left by a workshop, on the right it remains a cow shed.

From longhouses to modern houses, shown in a sequence of reconstruction drawings showing 2 buildings becoming cottages between the 16th & late 18th/19th century. Based on houses in Helmsley, North Yorkshire.

@yvbsg.bsky.social @anamca.bsky.social
#ArchitecturalIllustration
#drawing #ArtShare

Everyday Life in Seventeenth-Century Calderdale. A talk by historian and author Peter Brear, hosted by Wakefield Historical Society as the annual joint meeting with Wakefield Civic Society

Wakefield Historical Society meeting Wed 14 January:
'Everyday Life in Seventeenth Century Calderdale' - talk by Peter Brears.
Wakefield Town Hall 7pm.

There will be a live stream of the talk.

Information and booking via Wakefield Civic Society's Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/everyday-l...

Wood Hall, Copley, recorded by the YVBSG in 1991.

Are you a student with an interest in historic buildings? We now offer a reduced membership fee for students - for just £8 a year, you get a copy of our annual journal, discount on events, online access to building reports, practical recording experience and more! www.yvbsg.org.uk/membership.h...

Christmas reindeer decorations outside a timber-framed house in Sowerby, Thirsk.

Wishing everybody a very Happy Christmas and a new year full of fascinating buildings! Why not join us and explore some of them?

Outbuilding at Woodsome Hall, possibly former dovecote and forge.

Our interactive map showing all buildings recorded by the YVBSG has just been updated! The latest version includes this intriguing little outbuilding at Woodsome Hall. If you're a member, the map also gives you access to the full online reports. Browse at www.yvbsg.org.uk/reports.html.

The algorithms are making it a lot harder to spread the word about these online talks. Although numbers are still reasonable, it would be a great help if folk were able to give the 30 December event a quick share 🙂

Booking available here:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/buildings-...

Two windows at Helmsley Castle, one partially filled in with a variety of materials.

#WindowsOnWednesday Helmsley Castle, North Yorkshire.

🕰️ 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-...