Join us for this free talk by local historians Peter Brears and Michael Rochford about their new book - 'Bucklers' Yorkshire Buildings' -

Yorkshire’s architectural heritage is arguably the finest in Britain. From the Middle Ages it included Europe’s largest medieval cathedral at York, England’s most complete monasteries at Kirkstall and Fountains abbeys, its collegiate churches of Beverley, Howden and Ripon, and great Norman keeps at Richmond, Conisbrough and York’s Clifford’s Tower. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, most major new buildings were domestic. Heath Old Hall, Burton Agnes and Pontefract New Hall were built to sophisticated Elizabethan and Jacobean designs, followed by smaller, provincial halls of the seventeenth century. From about 1700, some of Britain’s finest great houses such as Wentworth Woodhouse and Castle Howard were constructed in Yorkshire.

This great architecture attracted the attention of John Buckler and his son John Chessell Buckler, contemporaries of J.M.W. Turner. Between 1804 and 1820 they made a remarkably comprehensive graphic record of hundreds of the county’s finest and most interesting buildings, many now lost and forgotten, as part of a body of work that took them across England and Wales.

Now, for the first time in more than two hundred years, this book makes a large selection of these drawings readily available, accompanied by an engaging narrative. Bucklers’ Yorkshire Buildings provides an invaluable resource for all those interested in Yorkshire’s architectural legacy. Hardback with dust jacket, extensively illustrated. 416 pages.

The talk is free to attend and open to anyone with an interest in the subject. It will be held in the Kingswood Suite on the first floor of the Town Hall (lift available). We hope to have a supply of the books available on the night to purchase at a discounted price of £30 (full price £35 plus p&p). Payment can be taken in cash or by card/phone app.

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For anyone unable to attend the talk in person, a live stream will be available via Zoom. When booking your ticket(s) , please make you to select either the 'in person' ticket if you are planning to come along to the Town Hall or the 'live stream' ticket if you are going to watch on line.

This talk is part of our contribution to Heritage Open Days 2026.

Description supplied by the event organiser.