Discover 700 years of history in York's Hidden Ancient Hall
From creative workshops and atmospheric concerts to exceptional dining experiences that celebrate local flavours, our events offer something special for every visitor. Set within the walls of our beautifully preserved medieval hall, each occasion is a chance to connect with culture and community.
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Celebrate the coming of lighter nights and warmer weather with York’s very own Celtic Bard. Olivia Graham serenades to the strains of harp and harmonium in this sweet ode to the month of May. From the ancient fires of Irish Beltane to a merry medieval May Day in Sherwood Forest, this is a magical trip through time and tradition with a glorious acoustic Celtic soundtrack.
This talk will explore the history of the renowned Pevsner Architectural Guides and the process of revising a Pevsner volume. Dr. Jane Grenville will also examine a range of smaller medieval buildings comparable to Bedern Hall, from converted structures to agricultural and storage buildings, as well as medieval halls that were incorporated into later dwellings.
Grenville’s early career was as a digging archaeologist. Early on, she encountered Harold Taylor (author of Anglo-Saxon Architecture) and developed an interest in the application of stratigraphic techniques to the study of standing buildings. This led to a diversion into architectural history and conservation, with a stint on the 1980s Re-Survey of Listed Buildings in North Yorkshire, followed by a few years as casework officer for the Council for British Archaeology. In 1991 she joined the Archaeology Department at the University of York, where she developed the MA in the Archaeology of Buildings and for several years led the MA in Conservation Studies (Historic Buildings). She then spent seven years in senior management, retiring as Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2015. In retirement she returned to her listing patch to revise Pevsner’s North Riding volume – unequivocally the best job so far in a generally fortunate career. Pevsner’s North Riding volume did not receive a thorough desk-top edit in the ’70s or ’80s as many volumes did; this is the first hard look since 1966.
We’re delighted to welcome Dr. Jeremy Goldberg to Bedern Hall for a fascinating talk on York’s medieval mystery plays. A cultural and social historian of later medieval England, Dr. Goldberg taught at the University of York for 35 years and has published widely on everyday life in the Middle Ages, from work and family to drama and community. He is now an emeritus reader and, intriguingly, is currently writing a cultural history of medieval cows.
In this talk, Jeremy explores the origins and development of York’s famous street drama, created in the late 14th century to bring the story of the Passion to life. He will look at who performed the plays, how they evolved over the following century and a half, and how York’s tradition fits into a wider landscape of performance across northern England and Western Europe. Approaching the mystery plays through the lens of cultural history rather than theatre studies, this promises to be a rich and engaging perspective on a defining part of York’s heritage.