The Lord Mayor Leeds, Al Garthwaite, has unveiled a series of information boards forming a heritage trail in Cross Flatts Park, Beeston. The trail showcases local history, including the story of local hotelier and benefactor Thomas Watson. [South Leeds Life]
Colin Waters explores Britain’s penmaking industry, particularly associate with Birmingham. Vast fortunes were once made from manufacturing the humble pen nib. For example, Josiah Mason and Joseph Gilliot, from Sheffield, came from poor uneducated backgrounds but went on to make their fortunes in the trade. Mason used his fortune for philanthropic purposes, including founding Birmingham … Read more
The Gittins family were well established in Mostyn, north Wales, where they mined coal. But what would they do when their mine closed? By Rick Kitson. Mining in Mostyn has taken place since 1261, and it has always been a dangerous occupation. As well as the risk of the underground workings collapsing, throughout the last … Read more
Whitby Abbey, the imposing ruin overlooking the North Yorkshire coast, has re-opened to the public following a major £1.6 million re-interpretation project by English Heritage – including a new museum and new interpretation around the historic site. To celebrate the re-opening, and as part of English Heritage’s Telling Tales season, the charity has re-imagined a … Read more
Learn about our industrial past with this Yorkshire museum. By Nell Darby. In 2016, the last deep coal mine in the UK – Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire – closed, bringing to an end our long association with mining. Many of us will have had family members and ancestors who made their living as miners, … Read more
This West Yorkshire city has seen a recent resurgence, and it’s a mecca for shoppers: but what else does it offer the history-lover? Nell Darby explores. It is today a fashionable city, home to an extensive number of high-end shops, and thousands of students studying at one of its three universities. It is also proud … Read more
Being UK City of Culture in 2017 put Hull firmly back on the map – and drew new attention to its history of seafaring and trading. By Nell Darby. Located in the East Riding of Yorkshire, the city of Kingston-upon-Hull, to give it its proper name, lies on the River Hull – hence the name. … Read more
This rugged area may be less populated than other parts of Yorkshire – but it still has a history of textile manufacture, mining and tourism, as Mike Bedford explores. Today, the centres of population in Yorkshire are the industrial conurbations in the modern day counties of South and West Yorkshire. However, the Yorkshire Dales, which … Read more