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Newsletter No 14 Spring 2013
Our spring meeting, on 9 March, was hosted by the Poppleton History Society. 25 members of the following 15 groups attended (* indicates that a verbal report was given by that group): Bilbrough; Bilton-in-Ainsty with Bickerton*; Bishopthorpe*; Clement's Hall/South Bank; Dringhouses*; Fishergate, Fulford and Heslington; Haxby and Wigginton; Holgate Windmill*; North Duffield*; Pocklington*; Poppleton; South Ainsty*; Stillingfleet Chroniclers; Strensall; York Walls*. We were pleased to see representatives of Clement's Hall and Friends of York Walls for the first time. The meeting was attended also by Jon Kenny (Community Archaeologist), two visitors, and Caroline Emery and Katie Keefe from Onsite Archaeology. Jon reported on his current projects which include the creation of a community team to help groups with archaeological investigations and working with a group of young people to produce a play set in the 1340s incorporating the story of the ghost of the Grey Lady at St Leonard's Hospital. Hannah Baxter (Jon's associate) is working on the Plotting Allotments project, a study involving the community of the history of York's allotments; test pits may be dug in the allotment area next to Walmgate Stray.
After refreshments, there was a PowerPoint presentation of Onsite Archaeology's work on the Poppleton Park and Ride site. The heavy rainfall caused very difficult conditions and relatively few discoveries were made, but the large number of volunteers were introduced to all aspects of such a dig and learnt a lot!
Bilbrough History & Archaeology Group
The group have no plans at the moment for any open days. Roger will be spending a lot of 2013 helping other groups with archaeological surveys and digs as well as work on his own sites. Fiona is also doing a lot of voluntary work for various groups in York.
Contact: Roger Weatherill 01937 830204 or Fiona Pearson 01904 289728.
Bilton-in-Ainsty with Bickerton LHG
The Bilton-in-Ainsty with Bickerton Local History group regrets to announce that the open day at St Helen's Church planned for 6th July is cancelled. However, the church will be open on Saturday 13th July to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation on this festival weekend. We hope that any associate groups who are interested in church architecture will take this opportunity to join us between 10am and 4pm. Prepare to be inspired by this little church with its corbels, heraldic shields, Saxon window and cross and its Mass Dial, with (last but not least) our female effigy in the north aisle. Pevsner dated her as early 14th century and. more recently. it has been suggested she could be the last abbess of Sinningthwaite Priory, 1534. If you know better, we shall be delighted to hear from you. To add to the mystery we have a friendly lady resident who has been seen walking from the chancel aisle towards the altar and we have named her, affectionately, 'the Grey Lady'. She is reluctant to converse and bears a striking resemblance to our female effigy! You are all most welcome to join our celebrations on the 13th and reflect on this mystery over some light refreshments.
Contact: Susie Pilling - email: [email protected]
Bishopthorpe Local History Society
The programme of open meetings for the year will be posted on our website. Everyone is welcome to attend. The cost is £3 payable at the door. Our archive room in the Village Hall, Main Street, is open every Monday (except Bank Holidays) from 2.30 to 5pm.
Contact: Linda Haywood 01904 704584 or e-mail: [email protected]. More details on our website which is www.historygroupbishopthorpe.net/mt/history
Dringhouses Local History Group
We continue to respond to enquiries from far and near and our talks and visits programme is well supported. Our archive grows with donations of books, photos and ephemera. Archaeological work on the Knavesmire feature has been suspended for months due to the rainfall and the length of grass. Our “Treasures of Dringhouses” project attracted over 40 nominations from members, resulting in a huge variety of interesting features and a valuable record of Dringhouses in 2012. Dorothy Reed is now co-ordinating a history of the shops in Dringhouses and, again, this project depends on contributions. Anyone with memories of the Dringhouses shops, before the advent of Tesco, is invited to contact us.
We have made a donation towards the cost of the re-installation of some Barlow family memorials in St Edward’s Church. Members of this family owned the Manor of Dringhouses and Frances Barlow was instrumental in the creation of the present church and a village school (now the library) and attached dwellings.
We are hoping to organise a commemorative event for the hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of WW1 and a photographic record of the different building types that existed in our area.
Contact Elizabeth Smith on 01904 703970, or 708770. Our website is http://dlhg.weebly.com
Fishergate, Fulford and Heslington Local History Society
Since the initial meeting held in St Oswald’s Church last September we have made slow but steady progress. In January we received the first subscriptions from 30 members but we are also formulating an appeal for financial assistance.
Our monthly meetings have been attended by an average of 25 people and they tend to be social events forming part of our aim of social interaction with the community. In addition to a “bring and show” family history day, our topics have included vernacular buildings and a visit to Lingcroft Farm – the site of evidence of Mesolithic roundhouses. We are currently working on projects including the buildings of our area - one of the Heslington houses dates from at least the 16th century. One of our members has completed, and is seeking to publish, a pamphlet of a walk around historic Fishergate. We shall be inaugurating this walk in our April meeting.
Our plans for the year include talks on our research into the families of the persons named on the local war memorials, the archaeology of Heslington, a visit to the Fulford Community Orchard and a visit from our colleagues in the North Duffield Archaeology Group.
Located in the Designer Outlet is a display on the archaeology of Walmgate Stray.
Contact: John Hurd at [email protected]
Friends of York Walls
The Friends of York Walls is a voluntary non-profit-making group. We aim to help promote, manage and develop York’s historic defences for the benefit of local residents and visitors. We organise and undertake practical work and organise public events in co-operation with the City of York Council and other like-minded groups or individuals. We seek to establish York Walls as a major worldwide attraction, one that the residents of York can take pride in, and residents and visitors can enjoy to the full.
One of our projects is to open Fishergate Postern Tower for the community and visitors. We plan to open the Tower during the summer months and give guided tours of all the four floors by using the quirky spiral staircase. Masons’ marks, trip steps and a garderobe are some of the features you might find of interest.
We will be open daily for the Council for British Archaeology Festival, a UK-wide event that aims to make archaeology accessible to people of all ages and abilities; 13th to 28th July, 10am to 4pm daily.
Venue: Medieval Fishergate Postern Tower, Piccadilly, York. YO1 1PL.
We are seeking volunteers to guide and assist in this venture.
Contact: [email protected] or visit our website at http://yorkwalls.org.uk for more information.
Chris Dowell (Secretary, Friends of York Walls)
Holgate Windmill Preservation Society
2012 was our most successful Christmas with 313 children visiting Santa. The 460 visitors on “Residents First Sunday” were enthusiastic and generous. Grants have helped complete the health and safety requirements and we have now passed our inspection from the Executive and can sell our flour.
In February we celebrated the completion of restoration and the use of many types of timber in the mill by joining with “Treemendous” and the City of York Council as they planted 10 mature trees along Poppleton Road. This line of trees (dating back to 1840) was formerly part of a boundary of the Gutch Estate – the donor of the mill to the City.
An exhibition, by Anna Cook, entitled “Our Daily Bread” will be on display from Easter. Anna has also won a Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) competition and her research on the history of Holgate millers will be published.
The mill opens on the first and third weekend of the months from May to October. It is also open on some Thursdays to Saturdays when the miller is working
Contact: Jen Hay on 01904 792638; website: www.holgatewindmill.org
Pocklington and District Local History Group
Pocklington is very much a local history group with an active core of interested participants. We do not have a formal membership or subscription; we make our revenue from charging £2 on the door of our meetings. We were left a donation from the outgoing Mayor of Pocklington and we decided to spend it on a permanent feature in the town to help visitors interested in our heritage. A sundial was created based on the original designs of one of Pocklington’s residents, William Watson who was a mapmaker and sundial maker with an amateur interest in astronomy. He died in 1858 and left the town the legacy of his finely drawn maps and sundial designs, with a few surviving still in the district and in his birth village of Seaton Ross. The sundial was erected in September 2012 in George Street,still s ed in our heritage. A S a short distance from the house where he lived in Pocklington. The sign below the sundial reproduces one of his best maps from 1855. Another heritage sign has also been created and placed on the Oak House Arts Centre in Market Place. Our best-attended meeting in November was held in the old railway station (now a school sports centre) when over 120 people attended. The talk was given by the man who locked Pocklington Railway Station for the last time on the night of 27th November 1965.
Some of our sub-groups include members studying the history of women who have written a book on the subject and another book studying the Pilgrimage of Grace. The group have been awarded a “Leader Grant” to create cycle routes and information signs in the area to explain how the local people fought to save their local monasteries and nunneries such as Warter Priory, Nunburnhome Nunnery and Wilberfoss Priory. The Pilgrims camped on Pocklington common, swearing in further recruits before resuming their march on York. Pocklington Market Place was one of the key places where public proclamations and letters were read out during the rebellion. The school children of Pocklington have been inspired to take part in reconstruction events.
Our website is: http://www.pocklingtonhistory.com
Poppleton History Society
We were disappointed to find that the archaeological excavations at the Poppleton Park and Ride site revealed very little material that added to knowledge of the past activities in the area. There were instances of pre-Roman and Roman artefacts but none in a complete state. However, the excavations had involved a large number of enthusiastic villagers and were a resounding success in community participation.
Our monthly meetings and talks will resume again next September: the schedule of talks can be found on our website: www.poppleton.net then select History Society. All are welcome.
We are members of the OASIS project (University of York) which records the more localised reports on investigations of archaeological sites.
For further details, contact 01904 338610
North Duffield Conservation and Local History Society
We are currently in the process of writing the report for the 2012 Archaeological Dig which found an Iron Age ditch and a hut-circle of the same age with dating pottery. Most recently Jon and Brian processed soil samples for environmental sampling.
8/9th June 2013 10am to 4.30pm daily for your diaries - Celtic Festival A Romano/British re-enactment on the village green featuring Comitatus with new Iron Age costumes and paraphernalia, cavalry and infantry demonstrations, ballista, archery, coracle, pole-lathe work, flour milling, baking, spinning and weaving, falconry and a visit to our roundhouse. Completely free, and a folk evening sing-song round the campfire on Saturday evening if you’ve a mind to.
The roundhouse is 2/3rds thatched now and clay for daub awaits the attentions of the local school and anyone else who is good at mud-slinging. Another date for your diary: 20-26 July 2013 is our annual DIG forming part of the Council of British Archaeology Festival of British Archaeology. Same place as last year plus some more features but we hope to find the centre and entrance of the hut-circle we excavated last year. If you are interested in attending as a volunteer or just for a look-see, please let me know as soon as possible. The number of available diggers will drive my planning. Last year we had 40 people over the week so get your name in early to avoid disappointment.
Anyone interested in viewing our roundhouse should get in touch through our website ndchs.org.uk or our email at [email protected]
We have access to a retired surveyor happy to help any local societies with surveying of sites. Contact Brian Elsey for details. We also have a web-builder (not his proper job) who would be happy to help any society wishing to set up its own website. Terms negotiable but very cheap! Our website is www.ndchs.org.uk
MEETINGS SCHEDULE
Timeline York Plus holds twice-yearly meetings, hosted each time by one of the member groups.
The next meeting is scheduled for 2.00pm on Saturday 07 September 2013 and will be hosted by the North Duffield Conservation and Local History Society. More details will be circulated to groups nearer the date.
THE COMMUNITY ARCHAEOLOGIST
Dr. Jon Kenny is the Greater York Community Archaeologist. Jon continues to support many groups, including TYP member-groups, young offenders, those on mandatory work experience and those with learning difficulties. Hannah Baxter is assisting him: she is also working with homeless people and refugee groups. Jon’s e-mail is: [email protected]. Tel. 01904 663035.
Jon maintains a WIKI website (http://yorkcommunityarchaeology.pbwiki.com) on behalf of Timeline York Plus, giving details of archaeological activities in the Greater York area. It also includes more news and a list of all member Groups.
This newsletter is distributed to member groups and other interested organisations, and to York libraries.
It is included on the Community Archaeologist website http://yorkcommunityarchaeology.pbwiki.com
The newsletter has been edited by Elizabeth Smith and Ted Kendall. Comments and enquiries may be sent to the various Groups’ contacts where given, or to Ted Kendall at: [email protected] or telephone 01904 338610.
Newsletter No 14 Spring 2013
Our spring meeting, on 9 March, was hosted by the Poppleton History Society. 25 members of the following 15 groups attended (* indicates that a verbal report was given by that group): Bilbrough; Bilton-in-Ainsty with Bickerton*; Bishopthorpe*; Clement's Hall/South Bank; Dringhouses*; Fishergate, Fulford and Heslington; Haxby and Wigginton; Holgate Windmill*; North Duffield*; Pocklington*; Poppleton; South Ainsty*; Stillingfleet Chroniclers; Strensall; York Walls*. We were pleased to see representatives of Clement's Hall and Friends of York Walls for the first time. The meeting was attended also by Jon Kenny (Community Archaeologist), two visitors, and Caroline Emery and Katie Keefe from Onsite Archaeology. Jon reported on his current projects which include the creation of a community team to help groups with archaeological investigations and working with a group of young people to produce a play set in the 1340s incorporating the story of the ghost of the Grey Lady at St Leonard's Hospital. Hannah Baxter (Jon's associate) is working on the Plotting Allotments project, a study involving the community of the history of York's allotments; test pits may be dug in the allotment area next to Walmgate Stray.
After refreshments, there was a PowerPoint presentation of Onsite Archaeology's work on the Poppleton Park and Ride site. The heavy rainfall caused very difficult conditions and relatively few discoveries were made, but the large number of volunteers were introduced to all aspects of such a dig and learnt a lot!
Bilbrough History & Archaeology Group
The group have no plans at the moment for any open days. Roger will be spending a lot of 2013 helping other groups with archaeological surveys and digs as well as work on his own sites. Fiona is also doing a lot of voluntary work for various groups in York.
Contact: Roger Weatherill 01937 830204 or Fiona Pearson 01904 289728.
Bilton-in-Ainsty with Bickerton LHG
The Bilton-in-Ainsty with Bickerton Local History group regrets to announce that the open day at St Helen's Church planned for 6th July is cancelled. However, the church will be open on Saturday 13th July to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation on this festival weekend. We hope that any associate groups who are interested in church architecture will take this opportunity to join us between 10am and 4pm. Prepare to be inspired by this little church with its corbels, heraldic shields, Saxon window and cross and its Mass Dial, with (last but not least) our female effigy in the north aisle. Pevsner dated her as early 14th century and. more recently. it has been suggested she could be the last abbess of Sinningthwaite Priory, 1534. If you know better, we shall be delighted to hear from you. To add to the mystery we have a friendly lady resident who has been seen walking from the chancel aisle towards the altar and we have named her, affectionately, 'the Grey Lady'. She is reluctant to converse and bears a striking resemblance to our female effigy! You are all most welcome to join our celebrations on the 13th and reflect on this mystery over some light refreshments.
Contact: Susie Pilling - email: [email protected]
Bishopthorpe Local History Society
The programme of open meetings for the year will be posted on our website. Everyone is welcome to attend. The cost is £3 payable at the door. Our archive room in the Village Hall, Main Street, is open every Monday (except Bank Holidays) from 2.30 to 5pm.
Contact: Linda Haywood 01904 704584 or e-mail: [email protected]. More details on our website which is www.historygroupbishopthorpe.net/mt/history
Dringhouses Local History Group
We continue to respond to enquiries from far and near and our talks and visits programme is well supported. Our archive grows with donations of books, photos and ephemera. Archaeological work on the Knavesmire feature has been suspended for months due to the rainfall and the length of grass. Our “Treasures of Dringhouses” project attracted over 40 nominations from members, resulting in a huge variety of interesting features and a valuable record of Dringhouses in 2012. Dorothy Reed is now co-ordinating a history of the shops in Dringhouses and, again, this project depends on contributions. Anyone with memories of the Dringhouses shops, before the advent of Tesco, is invited to contact us.
We have made a donation towards the cost of the re-installation of some Barlow family memorials in St Edward’s Church. Members of this family owned the Manor of Dringhouses and Frances Barlow was instrumental in the creation of the present church and a village school (now the library) and attached dwellings.
We are hoping to organise a commemorative event for the hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of WW1 and a photographic record of the different building types that existed in our area.
Contact Elizabeth Smith on 01904 703970, or 708770. Our website is http://dlhg.weebly.com
Fishergate, Fulford and Heslington Local History Society
Since the initial meeting held in St Oswald’s Church last September we have made slow but steady progress. In January we received the first subscriptions from 30 members but we are also formulating an appeal for financial assistance.
Our monthly meetings have been attended by an average of 25 people and they tend to be social events forming part of our aim of social interaction with the community. In addition to a “bring and show” family history day, our topics have included vernacular buildings and a visit to Lingcroft Farm – the site of evidence of Mesolithic roundhouses. We are currently working on projects including the buildings of our area - one of the Heslington houses dates from at least the 16th century. One of our members has completed, and is seeking to publish, a pamphlet of a walk around historic Fishergate. We shall be inaugurating this walk in our April meeting.
Our plans for the year include talks on our research into the families of the persons named on the local war memorials, the archaeology of Heslington, a visit to the Fulford Community Orchard and a visit from our colleagues in the North Duffield Archaeology Group.
Located in the Designer Outlet is a display on the archaeology of Walmgate Stray.
Contact: John Hurd at [email protected]
Friends of York Walls
The Friends of York Walls is a voluntary non-profit-making group. We aim to help promote, manage and develop York’s historic defences for the benefit of local residents and visitors. We organise and undertake practical work and organise public events in co-operation with the City of York Council and other like-minded groups or individuals. We seek to establish York Walls as a major worldwide attraction, one that the residents of York can take pride in, and residents and visitors can enjoy to the full.
One of our projects is to open Fishergate Postern Tower for the community and visitors. We plan to open the Tower during the summer months and give guided tours of all the four floors by using the quirky spiral staircase. Masons’ marks, trip steps and a garderobe are some of the features you might find of interest.
We will be open daily for the Council for British Archaeology Festival, a UK-wide event that aims to make archaeology accessible to people of all ages and abilities; 13th to 28th July, 10am to 4pm daily.
Venue: Medieval Fishergate Postern Tower, Piccadilly, York. YO1 1PL.
We are seeking volunteers to guide and assist in this venture.
Contact: [email protected] or visit our website at http://yorkwalls.org.uk for more information.
Chris Dowell (Secretary, Friends of York Walls)
Holgate Windmill Preservation Society
2012 was our most successful Christmas with 313 children visiting Santa. The 460 visitors on “Residents First Sunday” were enthusiastic and generous. Grants have helped complete the health and safety requirements and we have now passed our inspection from the Executive and can sell our flour.
In February we celebrated the completion of restoration and the use of many types of timber in the mill by joining with “Treemendous” and the City of York Council as they planted 10 mature trees along Poppleton Road. This line of trees (dating back to 1840) was formerly part of a boundary of the Gutch Estate – the donor of the mill to the City.
An exhibition, by Anna Cook, entitled “Our Daily Bread” will be on display from Easter. Anna has also won a Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) competition and her research on the history of Holgate millers will be published.
The mill opens on the first and third weekend of the months from May to October. It is also open on some Thursdays to Saturdays when the miller is working
Contact: Jen Hay on 01904 792638; website: www.holgatewindmill.org
Pocklington and District Local History Group
Pocklington is very much a local history group with an active core of interested participants. We do not have a formal membership or subscription; we make our revenue from charging £2 on the door of our meetings. We were left a donation from the outgoing Mayor of Pocklington and we decided to spend it on a permanent feature in the town to help visitors interested in our heritage. A sundial was created based on the original designs of one of Pocklington’s residents, William Watson who was a mapmaker and sundial maker with an amateur interest in astronomy. He died in 1858 and left the town the legacy of his finely drawn maps and sundial designs, with a few surviving still in the district and in his birth village of Seaton Ross. The sundial was erected in September 2012 in George Street,still s ed in our heritage. A S a short distance from the house where he lived in Pocklington. The sign below the sundial reproduces one of his best maps from 1855. Another heritage sign has also been created and placed on the Oak House Arts Centre in Market Place. Our best-attended meeting in November was held in the old railway station (now a school sports centre) when over 120 people attended. The talk was given by the man who locked Pocklington Railway Station for the last time on the night of 27th November 1965.
Some of our sub-groups include members studying the history of women who have written a book on the subject and another book studying the Pilgrimage of Grace. The group have been awarded a “Leader Grant” to create cycle routes and information signs in the area to explain how the local people fought to save their local monasteries and nunneries such as Warter Priory, Nunburnhome Nunnery and Wilberfoss Priory. The Pilgrims camped on Pocklington common, swearing in further recruits before resuming their march on York. Pocklington Market Place was one of the key places where public proclamations and letters were read out during the rebellion. The school children of Pocklington have been inspired to take part in reconstruction events.
Our website is: http://www.pocklingtonhistory.com
Poppleton History Society
We were disappointed to find that the archaeological excavations at the Poppleton Park and Ride site revealed very little material that added to knowledge of the past activities in the area. There were instances of pre-Roman and Roman artefacts but none in a complete state. However, the excavations had involved a large number of enthusiastic villagers and were a resounding success in community participation.
Our monthly meetings and talks will resume again next September: the schedule of talks can be found on our website: www.poppleton.net then select History Society. All are welcome.
We are members of the OASIS project (University of York) which records the more localised reports on investigations of archaeological sites.
For further details, contact 01904 338610
North Duffield Conservation and Local History Society
We are currently in the process of writing the report for the 2012 Archaeological Dig which found an Iron Age ditch and a hut-circle of the same age with dating pottery. Most recently Jon and Brian processed soil samples for environmental sampling.
8/9th June 2013 10am to 4.30pm daily for your diaries - Celtic Festival A Romano/British re-enactment on the village green featuring Comitatus with new Iron Age costumes and paraphernalia, cavalry and infantry demonstrations, ballista, archery, coracle, pole-lathe work, flour milling, baking, spinning and weaving, falconry and a visit to our roundhouse. Completely free, and a folk evening sing-song round the campfire on Saturday evening if you’ve a mind to.
The roundhouse is 2/3rds thatched now and clay for daub awaits the attentions of the local school and anyone else who is good at mud-slinging. Another date for your diary: 20-26 July 2013 is our annual DIG forming part of the Council of British Archaeology Festival of British Archaeology. Same place as last year plus some more features but we hope to find the centre and entrance of the hut-circle we excavated last year. If you are interested in attending as a volunteer or just for a look-see, please let me know as soon as possible. The number of available diggers will drive my planning. Last year we had 40 people over the week so get your name in early to avoid disappointment.
Anyone interested in viewing our roundhouse should get in touch through our website ndchs.org.uk or our email at [email protected]
We have access to a retired surveyor happy to help any local societies with surveying of sites. Contact Brian Elsey for details. We also have a web-builder (not his proper job) who would be happy to help any society wishing to set up its own website. Terms negotiable but very cheap! Our website is www.ndchs.org.uk
MEETINGS SCHEDULE
Timeline York Plus holds twice-yearly meetings, hosted each time by one of the member groups.
The next meeting is scheduled for 2.00pm on Saturday 07 September 2013 and will be hosted by the North Duffield Conservation and Local History Society. More details will be circulated to groups nearer the date.
THE COMMUNITY ARCHAEOLOGIST
Dr. Jon Kenny is the Greater York Community Archaeologist. Jon continues to support many groups, including TYP member-groups, young offenders, those on mandatory work experience and those with learning difficulties. Hannah Baxter is assisting him: she is also working with homeless people and refugee groups. Jon’s e-mail is: [email protected]. Tel. 01904 663035.
Jon maintains a WIKI website (http://yorkcommunityarchaeology.pbwiki.com) on behalf of Timeline York Plus, giving details of archaeological activities in the Greater York area. It also includes more news and a list of all member Groups.
This newsletter is distributed to member groups and other interested organisations, and to York libraries.
It is included on the Community Archaeologist website http://yorkcommunityarchaeology.pbwiki.com
The newsletter has been edited by Elizabeth Smith and Ted Kendall. Comments and enquiries may be sent to the various Groups’ contacts where given, or to Ted Kendall at: [email protected] or telephone 01904 338610.