Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society

10/09/2026

Explore the Thomas More portrait through cutting-edge scanning technology and discover hidden details about its history, creation and condition.

10/09/2026

10/09/2026

𝗣𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲
Saturday 3rd October 2026
Sunday 4th October 2026
Online event

We are delighted to present the agenda for this year’s Pictish Arts Society Conference, held online via Zoom on the afternoons of Saturday the 3rd and Sunday the 4th of October 2026.
This year's conference theme is "What makes Pictish art Pictish?" for Day 1 followed by a day of exciting research updates from the
field.

https://www.ticketsource.com/the-pictish-arts-society/pas-annual-conference-2026/e-zparje

10/09/2026

10/09/2026

10/09/2026

Our next Evening Lecture will be:

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐧 (𝟏𝟕𝟕𝟏-𝟏𝟖𝟑𝟔), ‘𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭’ 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬

This talk will be in-person and online. The talk is FREE but booking is essential:
https://www.thoresby.org.uk/events/

📆Date: Thursday 17 September

🕧Time: 6pm

📍Location: The Leeds Library, 18 Commercial Street, Leeds, LS1 6AL

♿Accessibility: This event will be held on the first floor of the library which can be accessed via a lift from the ground floor entrance, which is at street level. Alternatively, there is a stair lift available from the ground floor foyer, which is also at street level.

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸
In this illustrated talk, Christopher Webster reveals why Watson, once regarded as Yorkshire’s leading architect, deserves to be far better known today.

It was Howard Colvin, probably the country’s most important writer on the British architects of this period, who published the praise for Watson, quoted in the title. Another eminent writer assessed him as having ‘almost a monopoly of architectural work in Yorkshire’. He did, indeed, produce a succession of fine buildings including mansions, public buildings, churches and chapels. In Leeds, his commissions included two outstanding chapels, designs for Lotherton Hall and Parlington Hall, and some important, large-scale, housing schemes. At least one of the detached villas in what is now the University campus can be confidently attributed to him. And some of his designs are of national importance.

Why is he not better known? Watson was quiet and kept out of the limelight. For many years, he had as a partner J.P. Pritchett, a surveyor, who increasingly became the ‘public face’ of the practice. Several writers over the past 75 years have, without any convincing evidence, sought to promote Pritchett’s role in the practice to the extent that Watson has been almost air-brushed from history. The forthcoming book on Watson will re-establish him in his rightful place as the county’s principal architect. It is a remarkable story and a cautionary tale for would-be historians!

10/09/2026