2013 PROGRAMME OF EVENTS

JAN 8 ‘Jeremiah Dixon: Revered in America, Forgotten at Home’,
The Mason-Dixon Line founder by his descendant, John Dixon,

FEB 12 ‘Hunting in the Middle Ages’, Richard Almond

MAR 12 Members’ Presentation: ‘Tannery Buildings in Northallerton’,
Katherine Lart

APR 9 ‘The Inglebys of Ripley Castle’, Sir Thomas Ingleby

MAY 14 ‘The Limestone Industry of North Yorkshire’, Dr David Johnson

JUNE 11 ‘Looking for Anglo-Saxon Deira’, Dr David Petts

JULY 13 Members-only private guided tour of Gilling Castle & Ampleforth College, day visit (Saturday) with lunch included for £15pp

AUG 13 Open Guided tour of historic Masham

SEPT 10 'The Rutsons of Newby Wiske & Nunnington Hall', Colin Wells

OCT 8 ‘Thornton-le-Moor’s History’, DVD presented by Brian Forbes; followed by the Annual General Meeting for members

NOV 12 ‘Traditional Windmills’, Peter Morgan

DEC 10 President’s Evening: ‘Northallerton: the Evolution of a County Town’,
Jennifer Allison, Town Historian

The presentations start at 7.00 pm in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church Hall, Thirsk Road, Northallerton, while the visit on August 13th will also start at 7.00pm
on-site. Members booking for the July 13th visit will receive timings nearer the day.

Further details from Mike Sanders (01609-774662), heritage@sandison.me.uk

To join the Society, contact John Sheehan on 01609-771878

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ROMAN ROADS PROJECT


The main routes of the Roman road system through North Yorkshire are well known. They comprise the western route from York via Aldborough (Isurium Brigantum) and Catterick (Cataractonium) crossing the Tees at Piercebridge and thence proceeding via the Durham forts to the Tyne at Corbridge (Dere Street). The lesser eastern route is considered to emanate in the Stamford Bridge area to the east of York and proceeds through Thirsk to the Tees in the vicinity of Middleton St George and thence to the east of Durham via Chester le Street to the Tyne at Gateshead (known as Cades road after the Durham antiquarian).

This project will look at the eastern road particularly in the area of Thornton le Street between Thirsk and Northallerton where the immediate route north over the flood plain of the Cod Beck is uncertain and where the antiquarians postulated a branch proceeding across country to join with the western route to the north of the Swale at what is now known as Catterick Bridge. The line of the main eastern route is clear on Ordnance Survey maps, but the link to the western route has never been identified. The project will attempt to determine the immediate routes north of Thornton le Street both of the known road and that suggested by the antiquarians.

The current phase of the project was initiated by Brian Forbes of Thornton le Moor who has conducted extensive research on the subject. His initial interest was in determining a possible route in the vicinity of Thornton le Moor from Thornton le Street heading north in the direction of Northallerton and subsequently to Catterick Bridge, but this has led him to looking at the wider implications of the location of the road at Thornton le Street and the more well known route from there leading to the Tees at Middleton St George (known as Margary 80a). And indeed whether there was any topographical or territorial reason for the choice of Thornton le Street as an important junction in the Roman road system

Brian has made wide use of the Heritage Environment Record held at County Hall, the aerial photographic archive held at the County Record Office (both in Northallerton), and the Morris archive held at the Yorkshire Archaeological Society premises in Leeds. This research will be developed further, but the next phase of the project is to carry out investigative work on the ground, ideally using in the first instance non-invasive techniques. Various professional bodies have been approached for advice on this work and an application for Heritage Lottery funding is being considered. The local community will be encouraged to participate in the project.

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LATIN STUDIES

We have been studying Latin and Palaeography as a Society for some time now. Initially by way of a course set up by the County Record Office (CRO) and subsequently through our own endeavours. The Society is very fortunate in having a very good Latinist as a member, John Henderson, and he supervises our work. There is a wide spread of ability in the group from those who have not studied Latin previously through to others with a good level of skill.

On a Wednesday we meet at the CRO in Malpas Road between 5.00 to 7.00 pm, when participants are free to work on text of their own choosing. We encourage people to select their own material, although the Society’s main interest is naturally in our own estate, that of Allertonshire. Several members of the group are working on Elizabethan Rental records, which were obtained from the Public Record Office at Kew. Others are working on early Quarter Session records held at the CRO.

On a Friday we use the Park Room at the CRO all day from 9.00 am to 4.15 pm, for research involving a wide range of Local History projects. A small group of Latinists are transcribing and translating selected Manorial rolls for Allertonshire, which are available at the CRO. These records are particularly difficult to translate because of the period script and the extensive use of Latin abbreviation. This group generally start about 10.00 am and finish at a time of their own choosing, usually sometime after lunch.

As will be recognised, the main problems with all of this work are that of obtaining fair copy of old documents which is of course greatly improved by the use of computers, the difficulty of reading a variety of hands, and the often greatly reduced Latin. This work is giving us interesting insights into medieval life in a small country town with surprising evidence of the continuity of families and land ownership through to the present day. It is particularly interesting in that Allertonshire is not a typical Manor, being part of the Bishopric of Durham from medieval to modern times.

We welcome new members to either group, although if someone is coming to the field for the first time they will find the Wednesday grouping an easier induction. At this stage it would be very beneficial to have some knowledge of Latin, although a keen interest in the subject is the main attribute. John Henderson may be prepared to help people through his earlier course by way of an introduction. Both groups are directly supervised by John and we charge £2 per session which goes towards the cost of the accommodation.
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Northallerton and District Local History Society


‘The Medieval Towns of North Yorkshire’
A new taught course to take place in the Spring Term of 2013


Tutor: John Lee BA MA PhD

John Lee studied history at the universities of Durham and Cambridge and has taught continuing education classes at York and Cambridge. He has published Cambridge and its economic region, 1450-1560 and a range of articles on medieval towns and markets in academic journals. He is currently undertaking several continuing education classes on the medieval period with the University of York.

Purpose:

To encourage research into the history of the county and to promote the use of relevant archival resources.

To provide a framework for the study of the Local History of the county.

The course will provide an introduction to a series on individual towns of the county during the Summer Term.

Location:

NYCC Record Office

Timings:

Wednesday evenings 7.00 - 8.00 pm for ten weeks commencing 9th January

Cost:

£4 per attendance for non-members, £2 for members

Registration:

Will take place on the first night, but prior booking required

Scheme:

The castles, churches, markets and street patterns in many Yorkshire towns point to their medieval origins. Between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries, towns across the county developed as centres for markets, trade and industry, justice, and religion. The class will look at extracts from documents (in English translation) to explore how townspeople worked, traded, and governed themselves. It will also interpret why some towns prospered while others declined.

Topics:

Towns in Domesday Book

New towns and growing towns: Domesday Book to the Black Death

Urban growth and decline after the Black Death

Town life

Self-Government

Markets, trade and industry
The Church
Small towns
Towns and the countryside
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