The Local History Group

The Group

The Bishop Wilton Local History Group was formed in August 2002 and was disbanded in June 2012 following the sad passing of it's founder member Mike Pratt. It had a wide range of interests spanning the recent and the more ancient past. As well as conducting on-going research, they recorded the memories of the current residents, where possible, along with those of the descendents of former residents.

Specific areas of research included: the site of the Archbishop of York’s former Palace; the site of the Manor House; St Edith’s Church; the village as depicted in old postcards; repopulating the village from the census returns to show who lived where; family histories of current and former residents.

Special Publications

Certain Special Publications have been made available for on-line viewing via a website called Issuu. There is now a specific page giving acces to such on-line publications here or via the Online Publications link in the navigation bar.

The Blog

Mike kept a blog at www.bwlocalhistory.blogspot.com. It is now an archive of Mikes's memories.

The Bulletin

20 Local History Bulletins were produced - with 30+ pages and had a circulation peaking at 100. In all around 600 pages of history have been published. The first 12 Bulletins were published quarterly, this was extended to every six months (subject to contributions being available!). Bulletin 19 took 9 months to assemble and Bulletin 20 took 18 months!. Bulletin 20 was the last of the regular editions.

The Bulletins are available for purchase and instant download. All proceeds go to the upkeep of St. Ediths Church in Bishop Wilton.

An index of editions 1 to 18 is available for download here in PDF format:

Please note that you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to be able to read this Index.

Some articles will be provided as extracts from the Bulletin in PDF format (especially where there are extensive footnotes). The first of these explores the reason for Bishop Wilton Church being dedicated to St Edith of Wilton.

Talks & Meetings

Talks & meetings are now finished and the group has been disbanded.

Exhibitions

The group had numerous exhibitions over the years and our archives are bulging. Up until 2007, one of these used to take place on the day of the Bishop Wilton Show but we have had to withdraw from that in order to concentrate on events in the village.

The Website

This website has proved very popular in putting us in contact with the descendents of past residents of Bishop Wilton.

The website's colour scheme isn't popular with everyone but it was chosen to represent the village's natural setting and its connection with the Archbishops of York.

Following Mike's untimely death in 2012, Andrew Sefton, also a founder member of the Bishop Wilton Local History Group, has taken control of the old Bishop Wilton history group website and uploaded it to the Pocklington and District Local History website pages in order to preserve the valuable information.

The Guided Tour

A guided tour of the village was devised to cover what has been learnt so far about the village’s history. Based on this it is hoped that a brochure (plus an online equivalent) can be produced which would be for sale in the village so visitors can guide themselves.

Feedback

Feedback is still welcomed to the Pocklington and District Local History Group. You will receive special attention if you can offer material relating to our area (e.g. old photos, memories, family history).

1978 Exhibition

Thirty years ago three of the people currently involved in the Local History Group got together to mount an exhibition of memorabilia. A slideshow of photographs in black and white from that event are displayed here: