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Projects and Activities
Members of the Society are involved in a range of Projects and Activities; listed on this page are the aims and objectives, and current status of some of these initiatives.
Members who would like to be involved in any of these - or who would
like to propose others - are invited to use the Contact
Us form.
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On Wednesday and Thursday the 14th and 15th of January 2009, Members assembled at Helmsley to join Shaun Richardson of Ed Dennison Archaeological Services for two days of excavation in an attempt to find the end of the Abbots Hagg branch of the Rievaulx Watercourse. In return for our labour, Shaun gave us a grounding in basic excavation - laying out of a trench, scraping, measuring, recording and re-instating.
For us novice diggers, although the two trenches revealed little except geology, it was a surprisingly enjoyable couple of days, in spite of cold winds, mist and rain. The sun did make some appearances but it looks as if the track of the watercourse lies under the existing roadway. |
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Thanks to Shaun for his instruction, Mr Peter Teasedale, whose changes to the farm access will disturb no archaeology and Graham Lee for organising the two days. |
28th January 2008 - one of the few sunny, windless days of January - enabled Alastair Oswald and Andrew Burn of English Heritage to carry out an archaeological and topographical survey of the Boltby Scar bronze/iron age hillfort, with the help (or hindrance) of two local volunteers and one from the Society.
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Members of the Society helped out in resistivity measurements on the deserted mediaeval village site at Mowthorpe. The site is visible from the public bridleway but lies mainly under growing crops and has already been surveyed with metal detectors.
Amongst the finds, whilst carrying out the geophysics,
was pottery ranging from Roman to Mediaeval (and, of course, modern).
Richard Myerscough also found some Hildenley limestone and some West
Riding Flag, which indicates a high status building.
We have had only a quick print of the first day's (rain interrupted)
survey, which seemed to show only geological variations. On the second
day, we moved to a building platform in a grass paddock, possibly the
site of the hall for which Anketin Mallorie was granted 8 oaks in 1238.
Thanks to Rod Mackey and the team from the East Riding Archaeological
Society for their time and equipment.
Members of the Society assisted with the clearance and surveying of a "dew" pond at Vicarage Farm, Scawton, on 19th of September 2008.  |
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Here, Tony Wright and Pat & George Donnor, under the direction of Shaun Richardson of Ed Dennison Archaeological Services, can be seen surveying the pond. The previous day, Shaun, three Conservation Volunteers and two folks from the North York Moors National Park had excavated the pond to reveal its stone-lined structure (the pond is on private land, accessible only with the permission of the landowner). |
John Collier Historic Photograph Archive
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During his life he accumulated a large number of illustrations of local events and places, including rare photographs taken towards the end of the 19th century and his slide shows of old Helmsley were much appreciated by the Society. On his death, he bequeathed his entire collection of photographs, slides, negatives and assorted documents to Helmsley Town Council. |
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In 2007 the Town Council made a successful application to the North York Moors National Park Authority for financial help towards scanning and digitising the collection and have received a grant through the CANDO (Cultural and Natural Development Opportunity) Partnership. About 1300 images have been digitised at North Yorkshire County Record Office, Northallerton; a further 2000 items remain at the National Park Authority Office where HAHS members have sorted and catalogued all the images.
More recently, several meetings have been held with local residents to gather and collate information about a further 600 of their own images and, where possible, to identify the people and places shown.
Exhibitions entitled "Helmsley Festivities" and "Rural Life" have been held at The Helmsley Arts Centre and at Helmsley Town Hall respectively; pictures of the latter are shown below:
If you have any interesting photographs
of Helmsley that you are willing to share with us - or if you might
be able to supply information about any ones we already have - please
Contact us!
The Water from the Moors Continuation Project
The Aqueduct carrying the Nawton Course over Bonfield Gill - damaged by the floods of 2005
It may seem strange to be enthusiastic about studying watercourses flowing from the North Yorkshire Moors! After all, there are streams everywhere. Aren't there? However, once anyone has read Isabel McLean's book "Water from the Moors" (published by the North York Moors National Parks Authority in 2005 and available from Helmsley bookshops), they will understand that this project is helping to compile a record of an astonishing engineering feat, altering the lives of many people for the better and supervised by a man whose private life was very irregular, especially as he was a Quaker. Joseph Foord and "his men" made the races which carried water from the higher Moors in the North, where the gritstone rocks keep rainwater on the surface in streams, to the Tabular Hills, where the underlying limestone allows the water to percolate through, so that the surface dries quickly. Until they did this, the only way to alleviate drought in summer was to carry water up hundreds of feet, by foot and by horse-drawn cart. Frequently, cattle died and crops wilted. Yields were low and life was very hard.
Isabel McLean's book not only describes the route of each course and investigates the ways in which they were constructed lined only with a little sand. With this, Foord could say "if it Continue Running one week after it is brought it will Certainly hold to it as the Water Natureally makes its self a Bed to Run on". Some are running still, two hundred and fifty years later and most were stopped deliberately, when council water arrived in the twentieth century. The longest was twelve and three quarter miles long, carrying water from Tripsdale to farms near Helmsley. They crossed steep slopes, bogs, rock, ravines, cols, spoil heaps, streams and farmland using embankments, bridges, stone troughs and a lot of hard work, collecting water from springs and streams along the way, supplying villages and farms, animals and humans. The surveying tools were simple, yet the accuracy was amazing, with very shallow descents over miles of moorland. The courses needed constant maintenance and the book tells of the men who cleared and repaired them as well as recording the words of people who still remember them in use.
The Continuation Project aims to add to Isabel McLean's work by recording
the exact routes of the courses and their condition. There are long
stretches still surviving but they are under constant threat - not from
the local people who know about them and usually take care not to damage
them - but from landslips, from floods, from animals and from the occasional
human carelessness. There are still some mysteries concerning the watercourses:
No one knows how Foord surveyed them (although the Ryedale Folk Museum
has one of his instruments, a self-adapted level). Did he start from
the end or the source? Were they all unlined? The exact routes are not
certain and in places they appear to climb!
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We have several volunteers so far who have realised that this involves gentle walks over the moors, in fine, mainly winter weather, taking notes, sketches and photographs. We will get to know the owners and tenants of the land over which the races pass, many of whom already understand the value of these extraordinary man-made rills, which enabled their forefathers to make a better living from their farms.
The Project is in combination with the CANDO (Cultural
and Natural Development Opportunity) team at the NYMNPA, and
members of the Society will benefit from the training they can provide,
as well as learning about the latest recording techniques and digital
mapping.
If you would like further information, or would like to
be involved with the Project, please contact Tony Wright through the
Contact Us form.