Bishopthorpe Local History Group

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Bishopthorpe Local History Group

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Bishopthorpe Local History Group, Community Service, Main Street, Bishopthorpe.

We research, record and promote the history of Bishopthorpe, and maintain a Community Archive which is open to the public on Mondays 2.30-5pm (excluding bank holidays) in Bishopthorpe Village Hall.

29/04/2026

As we are aware, had Queen Elizabeth lived a short while longer, she would have reached her centenary on the 21st April 2026. This provided us with the incentive to search the Community Archive to unearth photographs of the two visits she made to Bishopthorpe. The first occasion was when she was still Princess Elizabeth – does this count – we think so! Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh had been married for less than two years when they visited Archbishop Garbett at Bishopthorpe Palace on 28 July 1949. This was the last engagement of their three-day tour of Yorkshire and tea was taken ‘quietly’ in the drawing room with the Archbishop and his sister.

Outside, the villagers were gathering and allowed into the grounds, but only as far as the old gateway. Former resident, Jill Black and her friend, were ten-years-old at the time and used a Box Brownie camera to capture the moment when Princess Elizabeth took her leave of the Archbishop. Jill remembers that, although the photograph was taken from a long way off, they did catch a closer glimpse of the royal party as the car passed them by.

Jump in time to June 2005 when Royal Ascot was held at York because of the extensive refurbishment being carried out at the famous racecourse in Berkshire. The Queen and her entourage took over the Palace in Bishopthorpe. (There was no Archbishop in residence at the time as Dr. Hope had resigned and a new Archbishop had yet to be appointed.) She entertained various guests to lunch on all five days before riding in her carriage to the Knavesmire.

On this occasion, no one could enter the grounds beyond the main gate with the exception of the lucky Bishopthorpe Infants. They were allowed to line the driveway between the Palace gateway and the road and enjoyed a grand view of the Queen and all her royal guests.

17/03/2026

Field 84 has been in the spotlight recently, and we thought people would be interested to know more about its history. Maybe you can help us fill in the gaps!

You may well have walked through Field 84 many times. This field is the one just past Bosun’s campsite, along the riverside path. Today it is one of the few wooded areas around Bishopthorpe.

The field’s boundaries go back to the Enclosure Award of 1760 when Bishopthorpe Ings were ‘enclosed’, or divided into parcels under private ownership. Field 84 was glebe land, which was land owned by the parish church to provide an income for the vicar. Back then, like the rest of the Ings, it was managed as hay meadow, providing a reliable annual income (‘ings’ is a Norse word meaning damp meadows). 84 refers to the number it was assigned on Ordnance Survey maps, but some residents still know it as the ‘Glebe Field’.

We don’t know when the field was sold by the church, but it was referred to as Field 84 by 1982. We know that in the 1980s the field was owned by Acaster Malbis Boat Club who ran their club from a barge on the moorings. We understand that the barge sank, and by 1987 the field had been transferred to Bishopthorpe Parish Council.

In the 1990s, Bishopthorpe Scouts planted the boundary trees, and a few years later there was a community project to plant “Millennium Trees” as part of the national “Trees of Time and Space” initiative. Villagers were encouraged to grow their own trees in pots. During the winter of 1999-2000 twenty-two families planted dozens of trees including apple, oak, holly, ash, beech and chestnut. The vision from the community effort was to create “a lasting legacy, for our villagers to enjoy well after the early millennium years,” and many of those trees are still there today.

If you have any photos or information about the history of Field 84, we would love to hear from you.

04/03/2026

If you have been enjoying the daffodils in the village, then spare a thought for the Bishopthorpe Guides and Brownies who planted some of them way back in 1991. In that year, a huge number of daffodil bulbs were donated to the Brownies and Guides of this district. Mrs. Sylvia Overfield, who helped with the Bishopthorpe Brownies at that time, suggested it would be a good idea to plant them round the base of trees and posts in the Maple Avenue and Vernon Close area. The girls agreed and thought it would add spring-time colour to an area where many elderly people lived.
This was thought to be such a good idea that the Chairman of Selby District Council and the Guides’ Divisional Council attended a special planting ceremony. Unfortunately, the ground was too hard for the girls to dig the holes but, luckily, Mr. Ardash Melemendjian was on hand to help and so the bulbs were successfully planted. The following year, when the flowers bloomed, the girls were photographed looking very proud at their efforts.
And, thirty-five years later, we are still enjoying those daffodils. In Bishopthorpe – even the flowers have a history!

01/02/2026

Sundial Terrace
Three women standing outside one of the cottages in Sundial Terrace stare directly at the photographer. They were photographed possibly in the late 1920s; but who were they? Can anyone identify them? We may not have the answers to these questions but we do know more about Sundial Terrace.

The original cottages bore a stone slab with the date 1691 and initials, T.P.M. which, unfortunately, disappeared many years ago. Above that was the sundial which gave the name to the terrace. However, the dial and slab were not connected in any way and the dial was not designed for this building. When expert restorer, Harriet James, restored the sundial in 2005, she explained that the dial had been set too high under the eaves. This would have caused serious overshadowing making its use as a teller-of-time obsolete. Secondly, the dial had been laid out to face due south, and yet the cottages were built facing slightly east of south.

In the early twentieth-century, the four cottages were bought by local builders, Richard and Edward Horner who set about improving them and giving them the decorative and pebble-dashed frontage.

In October 1909, the York Equitable Industrial Society (later, the Co-op) purchased the first two cottages for £480. They first put up a temporary corrugated iron and timber building behind the cottages to use as a shop. The aim, when finances allowed, was to demolish the two cottages and build a new shop in their place. This did not take place until the 1930s. This line of cottages has undergone many alterations in the twentieth-century but, at least the sundial survived.

Further information on the history of the sundial and cottages can be found here:https://www.bishopthorpe.net/bishnet/history/2006/02/14/the-restoration-and-history-of-bishopthorpes-sundial/

20/12/2025

The Bishopthorpe Nativity Mime

In December 1959, a presentation of the Christmas story in mime was given in St. Andrew’s Church. The well-known Bishopthorpe solicitor, Charles Dodsworth, was the producer for this imaginative performance. The mime was accompanied by the reading of biblical stories by the Archbishop’s chaplain, Reverend Cleasby, and Carol Woollcombe. A raised stage was constructed with a concealed upper stage for the presentation of the herald angels. The congregation joined the choir to sing the favourite Christmas carols: The First Noel and O Come all ye Faithful.
Charles Dodsworth also took the photographs shown here. They were taken during rehearsals in the church and afterwards at The Marcia, where many performers turned up still wearing make-up and costumes to slake their thirst.
The Nativity Mime was reported in The Evening Press but it didn’t give much information. One story told by the late Eve Cross was that Brian Oxtoby, who played one of the wise men, swung an incense carrier so enthusiastically that the fumes made everyone's eyes water so much they had to stop!
Not many of the performers have been identified – can you help? Do you have any memories of the mime? There are more photographs on our website here: https://www.bishopthorpe.net/bishnet/history/2025/12/19/the-1959-bishopthorpe-nativity-mime/
Wishing you a happy Christmas!

09/11/2025

Bishopthorpe Soldiers Welcomed Home after WWI

The First World War marked the start of nationwide commemorations to the men and women who lost their lives serving their country. However, it is not widely known that those who served and returned, whether injured or not, were also honoured on a local scale. In Bishopthorpe a ‘Welcome Home’, as it was termed, was held on Wednesday 11 June 1919. Enough money was raised to hold a party and to present the men with framed mementos of the thanksgiving occasion.

The day started with a Thanksgiving Service conducted by the vicar who also read out the names of the Bishopthorpe men who had made the supreme sacrifice. Archbishop Cosmo Gordon Lang, who also addressed the congregation, later threw open the Palace grounds to the village residents. The children performed dances and singing games and, after sports, a tea of ‘pre-war substance’ was provided in marquees.

During the afternoon, Archbishop Lang presented more than 100 handsomely designed and printed certificates on behalf of the parishioners. Each one was personally signed by the Archbishop and individually inscribed with the man’s name, rank, regiment and the place at which he had served. The mementos were then given back to the vicar so they could be framed for the men.

One of the framed mementos, pictured here, has been donated to the Bishopthorpe Community Archive. It was given to fifty-year-old Private Joseph Bulmer of the 3rd Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, for his service in Ireland. Both his sons had also served and received their own mementos.
As Archbishop Lang said, “Wherever they were, they all tried to do their duty. No man could do more, and it was for that, that their fellow parishioners wished to honour them.”

A full account of the above story and a list of all the men can be seen here:
https://www.bishopthorpe.net/bishnet/history/2025/11/08/bishopthorpe-men-welcomed-home-after-first-world-war/

23/10/2025

So, the Wall of Sound in Sim Balk Lane has closed its doors and the building will become part of the dentist’s business next-door. How everything changes!

That shop was built in the early 1930s by Mr. G. H. Wallis who named it Wallis’s West End Stores. It provided almost anything and everything. It was the kind of shop that sold loose biscuits in tins that had to be weighed out and tipped into paper bags; it provided teas with Hovis and, after the war, as one resident remembered, “beautiful Ebor ice cream”.

Parcels were collected and delivered by the London & North Eastern Railway Company and you could make use of that rare object, a telephone, as not many people were lucky enough to own one.

Situated outside the shop was a single petrol pump to facilitate Mr. Wallis’s taxi. John Elliott remembered that, “He’d be working in the shop and he’d be off. ‘I’ve got a call’ – and off he’d go, always with his chauffeur’s hat on.” Once, during an incendiary attack on York, he had to drive a woman in labour to the nursing home. Luckily, they arrived safely and the birth went off without a hitch!

Errand boys Paul Seward and Eric Marshall were employed to deliver bread. They used a three-wheeler box bike “with a right big bell on it.” The box was situated at the front and a single wheel at the back. Joan Paver loaded the box up with bread and sent them off all round the village. When they finished the deliveries, one boy used to pedal the bike while the other rode in the box. “Not very ‘ygienic’,” observed Eric.

The like will never be seen again!

Photo: Mr. Wallis with taxi and chauffeur’s hat standing outside Wallis’s West End Stores in Sim Balk Lane. The lady on the left is Joan Gray (nee Paver) who worked in the Stores and loaded up the box bike with bread for delivery.

24/09/2025

The Prize-Winning Onions
Growing your own vegetables is a popular pastime but, several years ago, it was taken much more seriously with a competitive edge to the process.
As a young lad, Peter Catterick, who lived with his family in Beech Avenue, had an allotment in which he grew onions. One year, about 1965, his neighbour Tommy Evans, saw them and thought they were particularly good and worth entering in the local Horticultural Show. Peter wasn’t interested but, unknown to him, Tommy took the onions and entered them into the competition. Tommy’s judgement proved spot on because the onions won first prize.
Later that day, back home in Beech Avenue, a photograph was taken showing that, after all, Peter seemed to be quite content with the result! He was presented with a silver cup and, as this was to be the last Show, he got to keep it.
The trophy is engraved with the information that it was originally presented to the Bishopthorpe & District Horticultural Society by Captain E. A. Raimes (of Acaster Malbis), in 1934. It now has a new home in the Bishopthorpe Community Archive, donated by members of the Catterick family.

12/09/2025

Bishopthorpe Local History Group is looking forward to the Festival on Sunday. Visit our stall and browse old village photographs and maps. Local books and cards will also be on sale, or pick up a chimney pot quiz!
Main Street has changed over the years and it's always interesting to look at early photographs and make comparisons. What would those children have thought if they knew you were looking at them 125 years later?
HELP TO KEEP OUR PAST FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.
Donations to the Bishopthorpe Community Archive are always gratefully received.

15/08/2025

Earlier this year we posted a photograph of schoolchildren country dancing on the cricket field. In answer to our query about the photo, a number of people thought it might have been to do with the opening of the school swimming pool. Further research in the Bishopthorpe Community Archive shows that may well have been the case.

The swimming pool was opened on 17 July 1971 and was heralded by a parade through the village led by the bugles and drums of the Boys’ Brigade. Mrs. Jean Coggan, the Archbishop’s wife, opened the pool followed by head teacher, Mr. Alan Clementson, being unceremoniously thrown in – fully clothed!

Over a three-year period, staff and parents had worked hard to raise the £4,800 needed to build the pool. They did not stop there as they went on to try and raise further funds for changing rooms and a roof. A year later, in 1972, they held a fair which included a swimming gala, a version of, ‘It’s A Knock-out’, and - country dancing.
The colour photographs showing school children enjoying the pool, were taken much later in the mid-1980s by teacher, Mrs. Cath Ostle.

04/08/2025

Prospective members are very welcome to attend the Bishopthorpe Local History Group AGM at 2.30pm on Wednesday, 27th August at Vernon House, Maple Avenue. After the main business we will enjoy light refreshments provided by the Committee. The Annual Subscription is £13.

Address

Main Street
Bishopthorpe
YO23

Website

http://www.bishopthorpe.net/bishnet/local-history/

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