YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
SUMMER LECTURE SERIES AUGUST 2024
The Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society has arranged another short series of summer lectures to be held online via Zoom during August. The lectures are free and open to all but require individual booking in advance. Details of each lecture is given below, with the booking information. The Zoom links for the lectures will be sent to all registrants a day or two before the event takes place.
Lecture 1
Thursday 1st August 2024 at 7.30 pm
Beyond 1190: the Jewish communities and their role in York's history
Dr Louise Hampson
If the history of the Jewish community in York is mentioned at all, it is usually in rightly hushed tones around the horror of the 1190 massacre at Clifford's Tower. But the stories of the community both before that fateful day and crucially after 1190, when a community was resettled here from Lincoln in the early 13th century, are much richer and more nuanced than just that one event and they deserve their place in the mainstream narrative of York's history. From the writings of international scholars of the 1180s based here in York, to the fashioning of York itself as the second city, the Jewish communities are right there at the heart of things. New research is uncovering more about the role of the community pre and post-1190,
their cultural heritage and their centrality to York's story.
Dr Louise Hampson was head of Collections at York Minster for fourteen years where her interest in York's medieval Jewish community was sparked through their archival and material links with the Minster in the thirteenth-century. An archivist and medievalist by training, specialising in ecclesiastical heritage, and with a doctorate in Art History, Louise's career has spanned record offices, a cathedral and the University of York, where she is now deputy Director of The Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture in the History Department. Her current interest in the Jewish community was reignited by the recent Streetlife project where the Coney Street story proved to have a rich seam (see https://www.streetlifeyork.uk/ ).
To register for lecture 1 of the YAHS Summer Lecture Series please book here.
Lecture 2
Thursday 8th August 2024 at 7.30 pm
Forty Sites covering forty decades over Forty Years
Dr Steve Sherlock
This talk is about the history and archaeology of North East England, based upon the speaker's experience as a professional archaeologist since 1979. It is not a dry academic account of excavations, but a personal view of forty excavations that cover the geographic area of North Yorkshire and South Durham. The sites range from a Mesolithic Forest found on the beach at Redcar in 2018, visited by thousands of people in 2018, moving on to encompass Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman sites, the excavation of an Anglo-Saxon Princess, Medieval Castles and peasant houses, through to nineteenth century workers' houses, and a 20th-century art deco building. This was Dr Sherlock's "covid project", incorporating sites published as monographs, in county or period journals, as well as some sites that sit in the eternal "grey literature" of a Heritage Environment Record.
Dr Steve Sherlock, a member of the YAS/YAHS since 1990, has worked as an archaeologist in local government in the North East and subsequently on road schemes since 2003. Over the last ten years he has worked as a consultant and heritage advisor on major road schemes including the A14, A47, A428 and now the Lower Thames Crossing. Steve has excavated sites in the North East of all periods from Neolithic to post medieval, and he still undertakes fieldwork at Street House in North East Yorkshire each summer. He is a co-investigator of the Environments of Change project at Waterloo University in Canada. Steve is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, Vice President of the Royal Archaeological Institute and a
committee member of Tees Heritage Trust.
To register for lecture 2 of the YAHS Summer Lecture Series please book here.
Lecture 3
Thursday 15th August 2024 at 7.30 pm
When the American War of Independence came to the Yorkshire Coast
James and Kim Hodgson
The famous Battle of Flamborough Head took place off the Yorkshire Coast on 23rd September 1779 and is one of the most celebrated naval actions in US history despite its relatively small size. For over 100 years the Americans have been winning the propaganda war, claiming their hero, John Paul Jones - "father of the US Navy" - was the clear winner. However the British, despite losing both escort ships, saved the convoy from being captured by the enemy. Newspapers at the time reported their actions were, “with the utmost courage and spirit and with that dogged tenacity which has always been the characteristic of the British sea man”. So mission accomplished.
James and Kim Hodgson, members of Yorkshire Coast 1779, residents of Filey and lovers of local history, will explain what was happening in the world then, how the battle unfolded and its aftermath. And then you can decide if there is more nuance to this battle than previously thought!
To register for lecture 3 of the YAHS Summer Lecture Series please book here.
Lecture 4
Thursday 22nd August 2024 at 7.30 pm
Remembering The Vikings: Select Histories From 'Forgotten Vikings', - A New Study of the Viking Age
Alex Harvey
Forgotten Vikings presents a new approach to the Viking Age that blends historical theory, archaeological fact, and mythological musings together, highlighting some unexplored and obscured histories of such a popular topic. Shedding their raiding, trading, invading, and crusading skins, this lecture aims to highlight a few choice elements about the Vikings that have evaded inclusion in popular history books; including but not limited to; the 'Viking' legacy of the Roman Empire, the discovery of Madeira and the Azores, and a saga that may or may not describe Mexico. Forgotten Vikings will be introduced and briefly explored in this talk.
Alex Harvey has a BA in Historical Archaeology and MA in Medieval Archaeology from the University of York. He has presented papers on the Early Medieval North Sea to Leeds International Medieval Congress and the Fourth Dorestad Congress. He works across multiple museums including York Museums Trust, and is the Collections Manager for the Pocklington District Heritage Trust. His specialism is the Viking Age and the North Sea, about which he has written two books: 'Riddles Of The Isle: History of the Isle of Axholme from the Romans to the Normans' (2023) and 'Forgotten Vikings: New Approaches to the Viking Age' (2024). (Look out soon for a chance to buy Alex's latest book at a discount.)
To register for lecture 4 of the YAHS Summer Lecture Series please book here.
Lecture 5
Thursday 29th August 2024 at 7.30 pm
Historic Building Mythbusting - Uncovering Folklore, History and Archaeology
Dr James Wright
Go to any ancient building and there will be interesting, exciting, and romantic stories presented to the visitor. They are commonly believed and widely repeated – but are they really true? These stories include those of secret passages linking ancient buildings, spiral staircases in castles giving advantage to right-handed defenders, ship timbers used in the construction of buildings on land, blocked doors in churches which are thought to keep the Devil out and claims to be the oldest pub in the country. Dr James Wright will explain the development of such myths and investigate the underlying truths behind them. Sometimes the realities hiding behind the stories are even more interesting, romantic, and exciting than the myth itself ...
Dr James Wright FSA is a buildings archaeologist and a conservation stonemason who has worked for Nottinghamshire County Council, Museum of London Archaeology (where he was part of the team that won Best Project at the British Archaeological Awards for his work at Knole (Kent). James' principle interest is buildings archaeology and he has worked on properties from the eleventh to twentieth century including castles, great houses, ecclesiastical sites, civic structures, industrial and vernacular architecture. He has been running Triskele Heritage
( https://triskeleheritage.triskelepublishing.com/ ) since 2016. His recent book, Historic Building Mythbusting, was published earlier this year.
To register for lecture 5 of the YAHS Summer Lecture Series please book here.