Northern History

There's now ONE MONTH to go until our Call for Papers closes!

If you're working on Yorkshire, we'd love to hear from you! Send your abstracts to ridingsofyorkshire@gmail.com

Black and white photo of mixed heritage family, children playing, parents talking, at door of house

Race, Obsolescence and the Management of
‘Surplus’ Populations in Postwar Liverpool

Free talk, all welcome, Wed 11 March, 2pm, after the society's annual general meeting, Liverpool Central Library, Fourth Floor Meeting Room

by Dr Sam Wetherell @samwetherell.bsky.social, University of York

1/5

'Hammond’s meticulous study uncovers the important role that the northern nobles played in trying to change the course of religious and political affairs'. Review by @eilishgregory.bsky.social in @northernhistory.bsky.social of the third volume in the series.
#history #skystorians #CathHist

The Grelleys in the Thirteenth Century: Robert Grelley (D. 1230) and Thomas Grelley (D. 1262) This article re-examines the Grelley family, during the reigns of King John and Henry III, focusing on the careers of Robert Grelley II (d. 1230) and his son Thomas Grelley I (d. 1262). It argues t...

New (open access) article online -

Mustafa Özgür Elmacıoğlu’s article ‘The Grelleys in the Thirteenth Century: Robert Grelley (D. 1230) and Thomas Grelley (D. 1262)’ is available to read for free on our website.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Gordon Forster Essay Prize Published in Northern History (Ahead of Print, 2026)

There’s under 2 months until the deadline for the Gordon Forster Essay Prize (1 May).

Open to postgraduate students and ECRs, the winner gets £200 & the essay will be considered for publication. Essays should be 7000-10000 words (inc. footnotes). Please repost!

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Hello, fellow historians, especially those in the north of the UK! Booking is open for the second of our events on Second Projects, organised by me and Tracey Loughran and supported by History UK - details of speakers and registration link below!

ahc.leeds.ac.uk/events/event...

I am so honoured to be on @oldweirdalbion.bsky.social 's beguiling podcast series Uncanny Landscapes
uncannylandscapes.podbean.com
as part of an (unintentional?) trio of north-western English women discussing trespass, commoning and protest

THOMAS WATER’S CIRCLES of PRAYER IN EARLY TUDOR YORK Thomas Water led a seemingly uneventful life as an ecclesiastical lawyer in early sixteenth century York. What is extraordinary about him is the Latin will which he composed on 5 September 1539 fou...

New short article out now -

Claire Cross, ‘Thomas Water’s Circles of Prayer in Early Tudor York’

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Cartoon shows the scene of the Chartist 'riot' in Birmingham 1839, with giant large London policemen attacking the crowd. Text: Chartism Day 2026. 19 September, Warwick.

Chartism Day 2026
This year's event will take place in Warwick on 19 September 2026. For more info and to see the call for papers, click the link.
#Chartism #ChartismDay #CfP
sslh.org.uk/2026/02/12/c...

Gordon Forster Essay Prize 2026

Deadline: 1 May 2026

Open to postgraduate students and ECRs, the winner receives £200 and their essay will be considered for publication. Essays should fit within the journal’s aims & scope, and be between 7000-10000 words (inc. footnotes).

Please repost.

The Malham Pipe: New Dating Evidence and Parallels In 2018 a detailed article was published in this journal that sought to reassess the context, dating and significance of the Malham Pipe: a bone flute made from the tibia of a sheep or goat, found ...

New article online -

Richard Sermon and Tom Lord, ‘The Malham Pipe: New Dating Evidence and Parallels’

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The Ridings of Yorkshire Society call for papers 2026. For a plaintext version please email help@ridingsofyorkshiresociety.co.uk

We're delighted to share details of this year's Ridings of Yorkshire Society Conference.

ROYS will return to its traditional two day format, taking place on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th June at York Explore Library.

See our Call for Papers below for details on how to participate.

#Yorkshire

WILFRED HAMMOND, Catholic Nobles and the Elizabethan State, 1558–1588: Northern Affinities and the Politics of Religion (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2025. £135. xvi+450 pp. ISBN: 978-1-914967-03-0). Published in Northern History (Ahead of Print, 2026)

New book review online

Eilish Gregory’s review of ‘Catholic Nobles and the Elizabethan State, 1558–1588: Northern Affinities and the Politics of Religion’ is available on our website.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

An image of Sedber Lane, which includes green grass and stone walls synonymous with the Yorkshire Dales. It is a clear winter's day in the image, with grey stone buildings in the background.

#ICYMI: Join us for a one-day conference about the local history of the Yorkshire Dales on 2 May!

Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/yorkshire26

#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll

This coming Monday 26th January the Local and Family History Network at Wakefield Library will be 'Living with the Dead: stories, photos and what gets left behind' and will include a talk by Professor Laura King. All welcome, free event. 1.30 - 3pm.

Book launch 26 Feb 2026 working class movement library

Pleased to be doing the northern leg of my book launch at @wcmlibrary.bsky.social with Isaac Rose and the Greater Manchester Tenants' Union on 26 Feb. Northerners, book now!

Our first talk of the season, HUDDERSFIELD TOWN'S THRICE CHAMPIONS: 100 YEARS ON revisits the glory years of Huddersfield Town FC in the 1920s.
Monday 26 January, Oastler building, Huddersfield University, 7.30pm. All welcome - more details here: www.huddersfieldhistory.org.uk/event/hudder...

Senate House Library launches Printer in Residence Scheme Senate House Library is seeking to appoint a Printer in Residence, to produce a contemporary response to the Caxton and Beyond exhibition.

In February 2026 @senatehouselib.bsky.social is seeking to appoint a Printer in Residence.

This is to be an important part of the public engagement programme for the upcoming exhibition ‘The English Print Revolution: Caxton and Beyond’, and to provide a contemporary response to it in print.

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It's been a pleasure being on the great organising team at York and Northumbria for next year's NEHN meeting - a collaborative worksop on the many histories of 'unwanted life'. Do see the CFP below, and send in a submission if it appeals!

Gordon Forster Essay Prize 2026

Deadline: 1 May 2026

Open to postgraduate students and ECRs, the winner receives £200 and their essay will be considered for publication. Essays should fit within the journal’s aims & scope, and be between 7000-10000 words (inc. footnotes).

Please repost.

Screencapture of the front page of the Yorkshire Historical Dictionary website, with the heading 'The Yorkshire Historical Dictionary is a collection of over 4000 words, tracking the development of regional language in Yorkshire'.

If you're tuned in to BBC Radio York you might catch some discussion of the Yorkshire Historical Dictionary project by former Project Archivist Alexandra Medcalf. Alex will be discussing Yorkshire place names at 12.15pm today!

You can find the dictionary here: yorkshiredictionary.york.ac.uk

Oh dear! I’ll request a correction. I’ll email you to confirm the details.

Votes for Women in Halifax and West Yorkshire Writer and historian Jill Liddington is to talk at an event on ‘Votes for Women in Halifax and West Yorkshire’. The event takes place in the Albany Club, Hope Hall, Halifax, on the evening of Frida…

Event: 'Votes for Women in Halifax and West Yorkshire' sslh.org.uk/2026/01/15/v...

Researching in Cheshire FREE event. Book a spot to watch live. No pre-booking required to view the recording which will be available in the SoG Member area and on YouTube.

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞?

Don't miss this free @sogorg.bsky.social online event with experts from the local family history society and archives to discover the wealth of resources and help available for #Cheshire research

Link to find out more and how to join 👉 portal.sog.org.uk/Event/view/1...

CfP - New Voices in Midland Hisotry. For research covering Bedfordshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Email 100 word abstract and title to Andrew Hopper (andrew.hopper@conted.ox.ac.uk), Imogen Peck (i.f.m.peck@bham.ac.uk), Justine Pick (j.pick@bham.ac.uk). Travel expenses for speakers up to £50. Lunch and refreshments provided. Attendees only, email Justine Pick to register with your name, institution/affiliation (if relevant), and email address, with subject ‘Attend New Voices in Midlands History Conference 2026.’

✨ Call for Papers ✨

Are you a postgrad, ECR, independent scholar, or heritage professional researching any aspect of Midlands history?

We'd love to hear about your work at our New Voices in Midland History Conference on Saturday 6 June at Newark Museum.

CfP details below 👇 deadline 31 March.

As the cataloguing of the NUM archives nears its end, our Project Archivist writes on the Miners' Hall, Barnsley:

The completed Yorkshire Miners' Association archive catalogue is at mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/YMA

NUM catalogue (work so far completed!) at mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/NUM

It hasn’t been published yet. The competition is for unpublished work but all winning essays are considered for publication after the prize is awarded.

The deadline for the 2026 competition is 1 May. More details to follow.

The Editors are pleased to announce that Samuel Lane (Institute of Historical Research) is the winner of the 2025 Gordon Forster Essay Prize, for an essay entitled ‘Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, his Palatinate, and the Crown, 1333-1345’.

Explore Your Archives event in Clifton on Saturday, 6th December, 10:30am-12:30pm & 1:00pm-3:30pm, at Clifton Explore.

Tomorrow!

To celebrate Explore Your Archive week we will be hosting an exhibition of all things Clifton. We will be showcasing records offering an insight into life in Clifton and the stories of its people through the years.

📅Saturday 6th December 
🕰️10:00am-12:30pm & 1:00-3:30pm
📍Clifton Explore.