Writing
in 1736 Francis Drake, author of the first comprehensive history
of York, recorded that ‘what
has been, and is, the chief support of the city, at present, is
the resort to and residence of several country gentlemen with
their families in it….that though other cities and towns in the
kingdom run far beyond us in trade and hurry of business, yet
there is no place, out of London, so polite and elegant to live
in’. The
city’s population of 12,000 in 1700 rose to only 17,000 by 1800
(compared to over 50,000 in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool
and Manchester in 1800) and yet supported such architects and
carvers as William Thornton, John and William Etty, and the famous
John Carr ‘of York’, and the city also published, in 1764, one
of the earliest agreed list of prices for cabinet and chair work.
Private visits to the Treasurer’s House and Fairfax
House, with its interior of 1762 by John Carr for Viscount Fairfax
of Gilling Castle, will show us something of this politeness and
elegance of 17th and 18th century York.
These houses also illustrate the revitalised industrial
life of the city in the 19th century as both houses
contain collections assembled by descendants of 19th
century industrialists: at Treasurer’s House that of Frank
Green, who bought the house in 1897 and restored the house and
collected for it until his retirement from the family business in
1930, at which time he gave the house to the National Trust; and
at Fairfax House the collection of 18th century English
furniture, barometers and clocks assembled between 1918-80 by Noel
G. Terry, great-grandson of the founder of the Terry confectionery
business.
We
will also see evidence for the earlier history of the city.
Strategically positioned at a river crossing, it served as a
fortress and military headquarters from Roman times until the end
of the Civil War. It remained an important army base during the
19th and 20th centuries, with Napoleonic War barracks in Fulford
Road added to in 1861-5, and served as the headquarters for
Northern Command.
York's
existence as a religious centre can be traced back to the 4th
century, and it shares with Canterbury the honour of
archiepiscopal status. The Minster Close and the extramural area
of Bootham, owned by St. Mary's Abbey, remained outside civic
control until the Reformation.
The King's Manor, created from the former abbot's house,
became the headquarters of the Council of the North, which served
as a regional centre of government until its suppression under the
Commonwealth.
The
important inland port at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and
Foss was established by the Roman period, continued under Viking
control when the populous city was part of an industrial and
trading network from the North Atlantic to the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean, and maintained its position during the 13th and
14th centuries, by which time York was England's richest city
after London and the Merchant Adventurers its richest guild,
exporting wool, grain and cloth to Northern Europe. The decline in
river traffic in the 19th century was more than compensated for by
the development of York as a hub in the new railway system.
In
1215 King John gave the city a charter allowing it self-governance
under its own mayor. The first register of Freemen dates to 1272.
York retains its Lord Mayor, whose official home is the Georgian
Mansion House, behind which the expanded City of York Council
operates from a 19th-century Council Chamber attached to the
medieval Guildhall. The
Conference includes private visits to York Minster, which despite
the loss of most of the medieval choir stalls in the fire of 1829
retains much early furniture; to St William's College, established
in 1465-7 as a college of chantry priests at the Minster, but
given to the Stanhope family after the Dissolution and, as with
the Treasurer's House, acquired by Frank Green about 1900; to some
of the city churches,
with medieval and post-Reformation woodwork and furniture; to the
Merchant Adventurer's Hall of 1357-68 to see the guild's furniture
and the fittings of the chapel, which was used for many years by a
Huguenot community; and to St. Anthony's Hall, now a Quilt Museum,
to see some surviving guild tables.
On
Saturday afternoon there will be a presentation on 18th
century marquetry techniques by Jack Metcalfe, freelance
marqueteur and co-author, with John Apps, of The
Marquetry Course. He
has been researching the marquetry techniques and the materials
used by Thomas Chippendale for many years and has recently worked
with Dr Heinrich Piening, a conservator from Schloss Nymphenburg
Museum, Munich, who has developed a method of analyzing the dyes
used and they have also been reproducing 18th century
dye recipes using plant pigments.
The
AGM will be on Sunday morning at 10am at the Monkbar Hotel.
This will be followed by the furniture surgery and lunch.
In the afternoon we will be able to see something of the
medieval cycle of York Mystery Plays as we are most fortunate that
our conference coincides with this performance, which only takes
place every four years. This
was an annual event in the medieval period when up to 48 waggons
were paraded through the streets, each waggon (and play) being
sponsored by one of the City’s guilds.
The plays were banned in 1569, as a result of religious
changes, but revived in the 20th century.
In 2002 the York Guilds once again took over the
sponsorship of the production.
12 waggons now process through the City and the plays are
performed at various locations.
The
conference will be based at the Best Western Monkbar Hotel,
centrally situated in the city and near many of our visits.
The hotel was a 2009 winner of the York Tourism Awards.
The hotel has some free parking but this will be a very
easy conference for those who wish to travel by public transport
as our visits are all in the city. This year single rooms are
limited and there is an additional charge for single rooms.
If you think a friend of yours will also be on the
conference, perhaps you could ask them about sharing a twin room.
The
conference will begin on Friday morning.
As there is so much to see in the city, we are also
planning some additional visits for Thursday afternoon for those
who plan to arrive in York on Thursday.
The hotel is offering special rates for conference members
who wish to stay in the hotel on Thursday and/or Sunday night.
Details of the
Thursday afternoon programme will be included with confirmation of
Conference places.
Ian
and Dorothy Pattison,
Adam Bowett
Cost
from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon:
Residential
: £ 245 per person in twin or double room.
Single room supplement: £50
The
residential rate includes all entrances, lectures and meals from
5pm on Friday until after lunch on Sunday, and bed and breakfast
on Friday and Saturday.
Non-residential:
£ 145 per person. This
includes all entrances, lectures and meals, except breakfasts,
from 5pm on Friday until after lunch on Sunday.
Friday
day is optional, cost £45 per person.
This includes all entrances and lunch.
Please note, the visit to York Minster, where there are
important items of medieval furniture, is on Friday afternoon.
