Tickets for our Dales Archaeology Day are now on sale! The Dales Archaeology Day 2026 will take place in Middleham Key Centre (Park Lane, Middleham, Leyburn, DL8 4RA) on the 21st March 2026, with a variety of talks, stalls and displays. More 👇 https://ow.ly/aHcx50YlN2f

What a great dayschool we had yesterday, held in the splendour of Skipton Town Hall with 120 people present. We thank our excellent speakers for sharing their knowledge of #YorkshireDales buildings with us - looking forward now to getting out and exploring some of them!

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

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

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!

'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.

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.

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

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

'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

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

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.

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

'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....

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

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...

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...

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

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-...

#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-...

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

✨Inside the medieval roof timbers at Beverley Minster, Yorkshire, one of the rafters has been dated (c. 921) and was a sapling during the reign of King Æthelstan, before England was an entity. Touch it and you feel a kind of altitude and sense that the past is cheek by jowl.

It looks rather plain from the outside but this innocuous building is the extraordinary Merchant Taylors Hall, Aldwark, York. The Great Hall was built in 1415, the year of the Battle of Agincourt by the Fraternity of St. John the Baptist (an organisation connected to the /1

Save the date - our 2026 day school on Sat 28 Feb in Skipton will focus on the varied vernacular architecture of the #YorkshireDales. We look forward to an enlightening and entertaining day - not to be missed! Details to follow at www.yvbsg.org.uk/events.html.

#WindowsOnWednesday Attic windows at Birthwaite Hall near Barnsley.

Heptonstall Museum, currently closed for restoration and neighbouring buildings illustrates perfectly the largely untouched nature of the village over centuries, which means that they have been preserved in a way that emphasises their individual historical and architectural styles.

Tickets for Shandy Hall Candlelit tours selling fast! www.laurencesternetrust.org.uk/event/shandy...

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.

Our November Newsletter is hot off the press! Catch up with all our latest news, including plans for next year - www.yvbsg.org.uk/newsheet.html.

#AdoorableThursday Former door at Lower Birks, near Todmorden, with 1664 datestone.

Moulton Hall near Richmond was rebuilt on the site of a previous building in the mid 17th century for the Smithson family. Perhaps it's most interesting owner though was Sir Ralph Millbanke who sold it when his daughter made a disastrous marriage to Lord Byron.

#AdoorableThursday Foredale Farm, Helwith Bridge, North Yorkshire.

How cute is this little shop front? Bridlington Old Town right now.

#WindowsOnWednesday Window at Hallbridge Farmhouse, Clayton with Frickley, Doncaster. historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-...

Lovely! Also a chance for us to shamelessly plug our publication 'Doorways in the Dales' - details at www.yvbsg.org.uk/publications....

The gatehouse at Bolton Percy dates back to the late 15th/early 16th century albeit with later alterations and restoration. Tucked away by the former Crown pub it once led to a courtyard with a medieval barn and rectory buildings. Photos © Gordon Hatton (cc-by-sa/2.0) Geograph

You are now entering the twilight zone… …not really…or really? No it’s in fact the topper most part of the Great Hall. It’s not often these timbers get seen so we’re giving them some well deserved attention today. 👏

#WindowsOnWednesday Partly blocked mullion and transom window at North Elmsall Old Hall, South Yorkshire, in wing now used as farm building. The couple of rows of stone slate at the eaves below the pantiles are a local feature. Walling of Magnesian Limestone.

Local stone was quarried and used for construction, creating the characteristic vernacular architecture of villages like Horton in Ribblesdale. The view is across the churchyard next to the village church with the top of Pen y Ghent visible above the roofs of the houses.