Yorkshire Towns through the Ages
On 10th October 2026, the Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society (YAHS), in association with the Historic Towns Trust, organised the ‘Yorkshire Towns through the Ages’ conference at Friends Meeting House in York.
The conference set out to explore how Yorkshire’s towns and cities have changed across the centuries, and how different types of maps and other visual sources help us understand, interpret and research the stories of different places.
The day began with a welcome from Dr David Buck, the President of the society. The Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society works to preserve historical documents, publishes books on Yorkshire’s history and archaeology, and supports research within these areas.
The other opening contributor was the Historic Towns Trust, an educational charity which creates historical maps and atlases of Britain’s towns and cities to demonstrate how they have changed over time and for use in public engagement. Professor Sarah Rees Jones introduced the Trust’s extensive work, explaining which Yorkshire towns and cities they have published so far and the European roots of the charity. Giles Darkes, the Trust’s cartographer, then explained how he creates maps, using 1:2500 Ordnance Survey maps for the base map alongside archaeological evidence and other primary data.
Some of the talks looked at early towns and cities in Britain, from Roman times to the medieval period. Dr Peter Halkon and Dr Pete Wilson, the Chair and Vice-Chair of the YAHS Roman Section, asked to what extent Roman settlements in Yorkshire can really be called towns – challenging the stereotype of the Roman town. Focusing on East and North Yorkshire, particularly Malton and Norton, and Brough on Humber, they looked at how these settlements have developed and what archaeological findings have revealed urban form and everyday life.
Dr Adele Sykes’s talk, ‘Priests, property and pleasure: the reality of life as a vicar choral in fifteenth-century York’, drew on maps and the Dean and Chapter’s act book (1387–1494) to uncover the far from quiet life of vicars in this period. In Bedern, where many choral vicars spent their time, they were recorded socialising and drinking. Their growth in wealth and lack of financial responsibilities coincided with a rise in immorality cases involving sex workers. There was a male dominance in the economic environment, especially in Minster-owned properties, and sex workers developed strategies in which to work in these environments.
Moving from medieval to the post-medieval period, Chris Hall of the Scarborough Archaeological & Historical Society used maps, photographs and contemporary illustrations to show how Scarborough grew from a declining town in the sixteenth century, into a flourishing shipbuilding centre, helped by the discovery of medicinal spring water in 1629 and the development of a spa. In his talk, Chris used John Cossins’ ‘A new & exact plan’ from 1725, and later the plan of 1845 which showed how the seaside resort made room for the railways and industrialization. As one of the oldest seaside resorts in England, in close competition with Margate, Scarborough is also the subject of a forthcoming map being developed by the Historic Towns Trust, to showcase the rich history of this town.
Later in the conference, two talks were given on two modern cities: Sheffield and Leeds. Ashley Tuck, from Wessex Archaeology, in his talk ‘Sheffield’s “Heart of the City” area: from rural fringe to city centre’ looked at archaeological excavations and desk-based research carried out on the city centre between 2017 and 2024. In particular, Ashley shared much historical and visual information on Sheffield’s rich industrial heritage, specifically with the cutlery and steel industries. This included artefacts relating to steelmaking and waterways.
Where Tuck used excavation, Professor Shane Ewen turned to fire insurance plans produced by Charles E. Goad Ltd in the late nineteenth century, in his talk ‘Using the Goad plans to research Leeds’ fire history’. He explained that each Goad plan is unique and, as working documents, they record change over time, with extensive use of revisions from the original survey in 1886 to 1971. Using the plans held in different local and national collections, he interpreted the shift from industrialisation to deindustrialisation and the city’s fire history. He examined two case studies, the fire beneath Leeds Station in the Dark Arches in 1892 and the Wellington Street warehouse and hotel fire in 1906, which offered granular details and understanding of whose lives were at risk, and what precautions can be taken.
Altogether, the talks brilliantly showed how towns and cities vary in appearance as well as function, through a variety of sources and methodologies. Moving from Roman settlements to modern Leeds, the day demonstrated how towns and cities have changed and how we interact with them today.
Brodie Ashton, Leeds Beckett University
