A talk by Jane Grenville on revising Pevsner's North Riding volume.

Pevsner's fieldwork for the North Riding took place in July and August 1963 amidst storms and ‘then hot summer, with the air filled with camomile, jasmine and lime’, according to his wife, Lola, driver as always, writing afterwards to a friend about the joyousness of that summer together. Pevsner loved the North Riding: the buildings, the scenery, the people (it is the volume that is famously dedicated to ‘those publicans and hoteliers … who provide me with a table … to scribble on’).

This lecture will cover Pevsner’s background and that of the Buildings of England series before going on to give a (necessarily selective) account of the work of the past five years. Jane tells us that 'revising the volume has been an extraordinary privilege, getting to know the man, understanding his enthusiasms, his dislikes, and, by working out his routes, his curious omissions. Inevitably in such a rural county, much of what I see is just what Pevsner saw, but this lecture will also address the pockets of major change that have occurred in the industrial north of the county. And what a vast county it is: it takes me two hours to reach the furthest corner from York. With two national parks, a fine selection of castles, abbeys, parish churches (no cathedrals…) and country houses it has been a feast of material at the polite end. But also the industrial, the seaside, the vernacular, the military and the archaeology all give it an extra edge of endless interest.'

Jane Grenville's early career was as a digging archaeologist. Early on, she 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 more generally, with a stint on the 1980s Re-Survey of Listed Buildings in N Yorkshire, followed by a few years as listed buildings casework officer for the Council for British Archaeology. in 1991 she embarked on an academic career in 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, inherited from the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies. In retirement she has returned to her listing patch to revise Pevsner's North Riding volume - unequivocally the best job so far in a generally fortunate career.

There will be an opportunity for questions and discussion after the talk.

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