Clement’s Hall Local History Group

Clement’s Hall Local History Group is based at our community hall, opposite Scarcroft Primary School in York, although we also meet at the Slip Inn. Our common interest in Clementhorpe, Scarcroft and South Bank has led us to research the history of the local shops in Bishopthorpe Road, the corner shops in South Bank and the effects of WW1 on the home front. In July we'll be exhibiting at the Bishopthorpe Road Traders’ Street Party for Le Grand Depart of the Tour de France. For more information visit http://www.clementshallhistorygroup.wordpress.com or see us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/clementshallhistorygroup.

Dringhouses Local History Group

We are continuing our usual round of activities. We have now produced a fifth leaflet about our local heritage; this one is entitled A Terry Trail and is available (with the other four) on our website; we shall be distributing it to local hotels and libraries and giving copies to Visit York.

We have recently produced a booklet for our members featuring a huge variety of Treasures of Dringhouses nominated by them during 2012; this full-colour publication has been very well received! Our Shops Project is progressing well, but we still need photos... We continue to respond to requests for information and to give talks locally, and our programme of talks, walks and outings is well supported by our 160 members. Our coach outing to Brodsworth Hall last summer was so successful that we are organising another trip this year, to Nostell Priory and the nearby Wragby church, where one of our members will be on hand to help us appreciate the collection of mostly Swiss stained glass.

We took a keen interest when a new electricity cable was put in just before Christmas across the Knavesmire and Little Hob Moor; we now await the archaeological report about finds near Tyburn.

Contact: telephone 01904 703970 or 708700; website: dlhg.weebly.co

Fishergate, Fulford & Heslington Local History Society

Our Fulford members are working on a social history of Main Street, gathering family histories from past and present residents and building a deep understanding of life in the village over recent centuries.  Our stall at Fulford Show brought many new contributions and we will repeat the exercise this August bank holiday.

We have won a grant from the Western Front Association to support publication of a pamphlet on the men listed on the WW1 memorials in Heslington and Fulford.  As well as their military service, the pamphlet will include information about their working lives and family circumstances. This project dovetails well with the work on Fulford Main Street.

Following on from publication of our Fishergate History Walk, we are organising a conference on Anglian Fishergate and Pre-Viking York.  This is on 7th June and will be held on the site of Anglian Eoforwic, discovered when the Novotel was built in the 1980s. Chaired by Dr Peter Addyman, we have top-notch speakers from the University and the York Archaeological Trust, including Ailsa Mainman, Katy Cubitt and Terry O'Connor, and also Cecily Spall from Field Archaeology Specialists, who worked on the Blue Bridge Lane excavations and wrote much of the excellent website describing the finds:- http://www.archaeologicalplanningconsultancy.co.uk/mono/001/

In March, we held our second AGM, with John Oxley as guest speaker. Monthly lectures and walks continue through the year.

Contact: ffhyork.localhistory@gmail.com

Holgate Windmill Preservation Society

An exhibition called COGS, which links mills, bikes and all things mechanical, starts at Easter. We'll celebrate the Grand Depart with bunting from sail tip to sail tip on the mill, and a banner with others on the City Walls.   National Mills weekend 10/11 May has a theme of Mills in Art; you can create your own piece of art in salt dough.   Eliza's Yard Sale (Eliza was the owner of the mill until 1930) will be on Sunday 1 June, 10am to 4pm - come and pick up a bargain and enjoy a great community day.  We hope to give a better picture of life and the mill with a mural depicting the agricultural year in the 17th and 18th centuries, producing grain with horse and manpower.  We are seeking CYC approval.

www.holgatewindmill.org

Contact: Jen Hay on 01904 792638; website: www.holgatewindmill.org

Poppleton History Society.  

The Group continues with its monthly meetings and presentations in the Community Centre. In the coming year the accent will be on the commemoration of the start of WW1 and one project will bring together students from  Manor C of E Academy and members of the Society as they present reminiscences of the servicemen who are commemorated on the War Memorials in the village.

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 and our website at Poppleton.net/history society

North Duffield Conservation and Local History Society 

The last 6 months have been a time for planning future events and finalising all the bureaucracy for last year’s events. The Report for the dig in 2013 is now almost ready; all the plans have been digitised and the loose ends tied up. During the course of the dig we recovered quite a few sherds of late Iron Age calcite gritted pottery confirming the date of the features we excavated. We also found one worked flint hinting at earlier prehistoric events. One of the items recovered from the ring-ditch has been confirmed as being an Iron Age iron implement, possibly a tool - not the socketed spear-head I thought it looked like. We also recovered several pieces of iron working slag of which we are awaiting identification.

Following a grant from the Parish Council of £500 we are now having made Iron Age type costumes to complement the work we are doing with North Duffield primary school and our reconstructed roundhouse.

Our decision to form a branch of the Young Archaeologists Club has been put on hold as we have been told that we would be part of the York Branch. We are awaiting a meeting with them to discuss how this would work.

We have given quite a few presentations to establish emerging history and archaeology groups over the last 6 months. In particular, new groups have been directed to us by the HLF due to our success with our own project.

Tony has been making weaponry for use by the children in mock battles for the Viking Festival in the village in June.

We have carried out experimental iron working and leather tanning which are going extremely well.

Ongoing repairs to the roundhouse due to the inclement weather are  likely to have been what our ancestors were required to do on a regular basis - experimental archaeology at its best.

We continued our rewarding relationship with the Monday Club (Tuesday Time Team): adults with learning disabilities who visited the roundhouse and embarked on a session of mud-slinging. We also cooked on the fire for them, bread and sausages - always a popular event.

Dates for your diary

7/8th June 2014: Viking Festival on North Duffield Village Green: re-enactors conducting Viking warfare demonstrations, period crafts such as pottery, coin-making, bread-making, spinning, weaving etc. Likely to be roundhouse tours as well even though it is a little out of the historical time-frame. Entry free.

14th June 2014: North Duffield Village Hall: conference marking the end of our lottery funding, presenting the results of our three-year project. We are fortunate to have obtained the attendance of Dr Melanie Giles, recently seen on TV and an expert in East Yorkshire Iron Age, one of her students who will talk about the Hasholme Log Boat, papers from myself and Tony and from Jon Kenny and Mark Whyman of YAT and Dr Cath Neal from York University, all discussing the implications of Community Archaeology and the archaeological landscape. Not to be missed. Free entry but you need to book a place.

21 June-4 July: Third season of digging on the Iron Age site. Again, it is necessary to book your place.

Saturday 19 July: Open Day at the Iron Age roundhouse as part of the Festival of Archaeology,  Meet at the car park of the playing fields. It would be helpful if parties wishing to attend let us know so that we can ensure there is someone there to meet you. Individuals likewise should give us early warning. Ring either of the numbers below or contact us by email.

To book any of these events, contact Brian Elsey 01757 288939 or Tony Stevens 01757 288941 or email ndchs@talktalk.net

Skelton History Group

Our small group along with Skelton Church and Skelton Village Trust put on a village event "The Skelton Story" in July 2013 which included an exhibition in our beautiful village church.  We produced information and posters about the Manor House, Fairfield Manor, Moorlands Hall, Skelton Schools and the Hotham Cottages built by Sir Richard Hotham in the early 1800s.  We produced an illustrated village walk with a map and photographs and had our leaflets of village history on show along with a complete set of census returns.

At present one member is continuing to work on the history of Church Row and we are researching information on "The Grange"- built in 1685, rebuilt, then demolished in the 1980s.

Contact: Andrea at andrea_howlett@hotmail.com

Strensall Local History Group

Yes, we still exist!! Since the last update, we’ve had our usual mix of meetings, visits and projects. The programme has included delving into the group’s archives, the story of George Hudson as told ‘in role’ by Chris Cade, an update on the Hungate Project by Peter Connelly and two visits: one to the Bar Convent, the other a guided tour around the city centre by the group’s chairman, Harry Punter. The future programme will include a review of York’s oldest profession, a visit to the Postern Tower and a walk conducted by John Oxley ‘in the footsteps of Richard III’. Our projects have been hit by the weather and access to fields (we try to avoid sheep, nasty critters). The ‘Roman road’ geophysical survey recommenced briefly in April 2013, but due to the variable weather and animal grazing we had to wait until December before we could get back to finish off that phase of the survey. We’re about two thirds of the way through the ridge & furrow survey within Strensall & Towthorpe.

Contact: a.j.powell@btinternet.com

Tang Hall Local History Group

The Tang Hall Local History Group is going very well and we have had several new members join us in the last few months.  We have an interesting programme for 2014 and are also planning a display in October which will cover the Layerthorpe area of York so are looking for photos and memories etc.  

We have recently received a grant to pay for a website and are working on that.

Contact: Jane Burrows 01904 345942 and at  tanghallhistory@gmail.com

The Within the Walls and Gateway to History Project:

As some of you know, three of us came to the March meeting where we were introduced as The Heritage Team, and gave a short talk about what our ‘Within the Walls’ project is all about.  Here is a short recap and also an invitation; we’ll try and do more of an activities report next time.

Essentially, the Within the Walls Project comprises three funded PhD students at the University of York who have started their studies in October and January; Ed Freedman, who also works part-time as a building conservation officer at the North York Moors National Park, Victoria Hoyle, part-time City Archivist at the council, and Katrina Foxton, full-time student and social media representative at the Department of Archaeology.

Together we are focusing particularly on how the city of York manages its:

built environment; buried archaeological remains and archived historic documents.

Our work and our research reflects the wider movement in heritage management which strives for inclusivity—both at international and local levels. We are looking for ways in which the management of heritage can better involve and represent York’s communities, to take account of their values (or even question whether this goal is possible!)

We’re working closely with York: Gateway to History which is a Heritage Lottery funded project, rebuilding the York City Archive service to reflect and include the wealth of community activity taking place across York. The Community Collections & Outreach Archivist, Sarah Tester, will be working with a wide variety of community groups to provide practical support and guidance in the creation, storage and use of archive material held across the city.

If you wish to know more, please look out for the next email from Ted, giving a bit more detail about the individual projects—OR—please do come to the next TYP meeting in September at King’s Manor where we shall be giving TYP members an update on our progress.

Contact the Within the Walls team: wtwyork@gmail.co.uk

Contact Sarah Tester:  sarah.tester@york.gov.uk

MEETINGS SCHEDULE

Timeline York Plus holds twice-yearly meetings, usually hosted by one of the member groups.

The next meeting is scheduled to start at 2.00pm on Saturday 13 September 2014 and will be hosted by the PhD students (Within the Walls Gateway to History Project) at King’s Manor. More details will be circulated to groups nearer the date.