Tag: English Heritage

Posted on

Colour & Light 2026 turns spotlight on York’s rogues & rebels at York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower until Sunday

Who was Mary Bateman? Find out at Colour & Light 2026 at York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower

THOUSANDS of visitors have already enjoyed Colour & Light 2026 as the dual-façade projection show continues to light up York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower.

Now into its final week, the family-friendly free event has turned the Eye of York into a gathering point each evening, when audiences can watch a fully choreographed ten-minute projection on rotation.

Delivered by York BID in partnership with Edinburgh installation designers Double Take Projections, as well as York Museums Trust and English Heritage, this winter’s show brings York’s rogues and rebels, scoundrels and legends to life in a projected experience that draws on the city’s rich and sometimes surprising history.

Despite the incessant rain, an estimated 24,000 people watched Colour & Light 2026 in its first week when, at its peak, more than 1,200 people gathered to watch a single showing on the first Saturday evening, as York & Light seeks to surpass the 100,000 viewing figures for last year’s 18 shows per night across 20 nights.

Backed by £46,914 funding from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, Colour & Light has drawn large and varied crowds into the city centre during February’s coldest and darkest weeks, supporting York’s evening economy at a quieter time of year.

Carl Alsop, operations manager at York BID, says: “Seeing over 1,200 people gathered together for one show on that first Saturday really highlighted what Colour & Light has become:  a moment people experience together in the city centre.

“Despite the very wet weather we’re experiencing at the moment, the atmosphere has been strong each night, with people meeting up, bringing family and enjoying York after dark. There’s still time to see it, and we hope many more people will take the opportunity.”

Siona Mackelworth, Head of Audience and Programme at York Museums Trust, says: “York Castle Museum is pleased to be supporting York BID on Colour & Light for 2026. York Museums Trust last participated in 2024, when the projections of our incredible collections lit up the front of York Art Gallery.

“The 2026 show brings something different as it explores some of York’s potentially lesser-known history and, for the first time, will be projected across multiple buildings. Working in conjunction with York BID and English Heritage at Clifford’s Tower has been an exciting venture in bringing two iconic York locations together.”

David Skaith, Mayor of York & North Yorkshire, says: “High streets are constantly changing, but they have, and always will be, hubs for our communities. That’s why I’m backing community-led projects across York and North Yorkshire.

“Like Colour & Light in York, which brings people into the city centre with a light show projected onto some of York’s best-known buildings. It’s a simple but creative way to attract visitors and give everyone something special to enjoy.

“Residents and businesses understand most what is needed in their communities, and I am proud to be backing their plans with my £10m Vibrant and Sustainable High Street Fund.”

Among those rebellious and legendary figures featured in Colour & Light 2026 are Dick Turpin and Guy (or “Guido”) Fawkes, Mary Bateman, Swift Nick, Eric Bloodaxe, Moonlight Maggie, the Filey Brigg Dragon, the Roman Soldiers at Treasurer’s House and the Barghest, a legendary monstrous black dog that haunts the snickelways and streets of York.

“We’re so lucky to be from a city that is so rich in heritage,” says Carl. “Everyone loves a villain: someone with an edge and whose backstory is as intriguing as it is alarming.

“They’ve got questionable morals and they’ve got complexities, complexities that keep appearing in fictional characters. This is what draws us in and is what we have in abundance in this city.”

The continuous, looped Colour & Light show runs every evening until Sunday (22/2/2026), with projections starting at 6pm and running every ten minutes until 9pm. Admission is free; no tickets are required; the best viewing point is the Eye of York.

Posted on

Valerie Mather photographs Regia Anglorum for launch of St Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail across North York Moors on Sept 14

Regia Anglorum members Wilfred Somogyi, left, Catherine Stallybrass, Jenny Kell, Michael Stallybrass and Matthew Greatrex on the Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail acros the North York Moors. Picture: Valerie Mather

YORKSHIRE documentary, travel and portrait photographer Valerie Mather will produce a photo essay to mark the September 14 launch of the Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail in the North York Moors.

To promote the launch, Valerie already has photographed the Regia Anglorum mediaeval reenactment group on the new trail in Upper Ryedale and at Rievaulx Abbey in their 12th century medieval costumes.

She has taken on the trail commission after her Fields, Folds and Farming Life exhibition, capturing the heart of farming on isolated Yorkshire moorland in a year in the life of Bransdale, drew 26,000 visitors to Nunnington Hall, the National Trust country house in Ryedale, last year.

“The trail images were taken at Murton Grange, en route to Rievaulx Abbey and at the abbey itself, with the kind permission of English Heritage,” says Valerie, whose photographs can be seen on the Gallery section of the trail website at saintaelredspilgrimtrail.com.

Regia Anglorum’s Jenny Kell, in the guise of an Anglo-Saxon pilgrim, on the Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail. Picture: Valerie Mather

“Regia Anglorum translates as ‘of the English’; their headquarters are in Canterbury, in a nod to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and they have members who gather from all over the country and dress in totally authentic costumes and shoes.”

Taking part in the photoshoot were Regia Anglorum members Jenny Kell, Catherine Stallybrass, Michael Stallybrass, Wilfred Somogyi and Matthew Greatrex; English Heritage volunteer Tony Powell; trail planning group members Kate Senior and Anne Stewart and Rievaulx Abbey visitors Louise Southwell and her children Agnes and Jim.

Starting and ending in Helmsley, the 41-mile trail links all the churches in the Benefice of Helmsley and Upper Ryedale, taking walkers, runners, cyclists and horse riders on a scenic pilgrimage through the southwest of the North York Moors National Park.

“We hope to revitalise interest in our historic rural and hamlet churches and chapels,” says George Gyte, parochial church council secretary of the Parish of Upper Ryedale. “However, the trail is for people of all faiths and none, who love the opportunity that pilgrimage offers for spiritual experience and well-being, meeting fellow pilgrims and enjoying our beautiful countryside.

Regia Anglorum member Catherine Stallybrass, in the guise of a nun, climbs a style on the Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail. Picture: Valerie Mather

“There is something for everyone: those who are up for a challenge, those who seek places of peace, contemplation and prayer, and those want to hike and ‘stand and stare’ whilst absorbing the remarkable sights and sounds of our moors.”

George adds: “We’ve completed this new trail for walkers, runners, horse riders and cyclists, waymarked it and produced a guidebook with a foreword by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell.

“We’ve also produced a Pilgrim Passport, to be stamped at the end of each stage, and have created a lovely website: https://www.saintaelredspilgrimtrail.com. Our horse riders ‘version was produced for us by Bill Tait – aka ‘the Helmsley Cowboy’ – and the Ryedale Bridleways Group. The one for cyclists is thanks to John Ellison, a local cyclist.”

The trail is named in homage to the celebrated saint, Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx Abbey from 1147 to 1167. “He was one of the finest of scholars: a writer, spiritual director, poet, preacher, historian, adviser to monarchs, peacemaker and walker,” says George. “His teachings are emblematic of our mission and the renewed interest in pilgrimage.”

Matthew Greatrex’s young pilgrim and Jenny Kell’s Anglo-Saxon pilgrim, from Regia Anglorum, enjoy a rest on the Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail. Picture: Valerie Mather

To launch the trail, a Gathering Walk/Ride will be the focus of the Yorkshire Churches Day’s Ride and Stride and Heritage Open Days 2024 celebrations on September 14 to raise funds for the Yorkshire Churches Historic Trust and the renovation and repair of rural and historic churches in the Benefice of Helmsley and Upper Ryedale.

“Anyone is welcome to participate in this Gathering Walk, but if you can get sponsorship for participating in it, we would really appreciate it,” says George. “We are using the Peoples Fundraising website for our event at: https://www.peoplesfundraising.com/fundraising/saintaelredspilgrimtrail-fundraiseryhct.”

The Gathering Walk will start at 8.30am in the pastoral setting of All Saints Church, Hawnby, picking up striders and riders in the moorland villages of Old Byland, Scawton and Cold Kirby before descending the Cleveland Way to Rievaulx Abbey for a celebration service in the abbey nave with the Bilsdale Silver Band at 4pm, followed by a launch reception of fizz and canapés in the abbey café.

Walkers and riders are invited to walk all or part of the 12-mile route that day. “You can join in at several places and walk 12, seven, five or four miles or just a few hundred metres to end at Rievaulx Abbey for our service and reception,” says George. “Please bear in mind this is the North York Moors and so be prepared for all weathers! Walking boots are recommended.”

Regia Anglorum member Wilfred Somogyi’s young monk crosses the river on the Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail. Picture: Valerie Mather

The Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail has been supported by the North Yorkshire Moors Association, Helmsley Town Council, North Yorkshire Council, North York Moors National Park, Diocese of York, landowners along the trail and the parochial church councils of the parishes of Helmsley and Upper Ryedale.

Exhibitions are to be mounted in churches on the trail route, with more details to be announced, and the trail organisers are looking into the possibility of exhibiting Valerie’s prints from the photo essay at some of the churches for the heritage festival week.

For more information about Valerie Mather’s photography, head to: www.valeriematherphotography.co.uk or valeriematherphotography on Facebook and Instagram.

Approximate timings for the Gathering Walk/Ride Day, September 14

Walking time of approximately 4 hours 45 minutes to 5 hours.
Leave Hawnby at 8.30am.
Arrive at Old Byland by 10am for drinks and cake.
Leave Old Byland, 10.30am.
Arrive at Scawton, 11.40am.
Leave Scawton, 11.45am.
Arrive at Cold Kirby, 12.45pm. Space in village hall for packed lunches and hot drinks.
Leave Cold Kirby, 1.45pm.
Arrive at Rievaulx by 3pm to 3.15pm. Gather at Rievaulx Methodist Church/Church of Saint Mary the Virgin to process to the Abbey

Service in Rievaulx Abbey nave from 4pm.

Regia Anglorum member Catherine Stallybrass’s nun is greeted by English Heritage volunteer Tony Powell’s monk at Rievaulx Abbey. Picture: Victoria Mather
Posted on

OPINION. Clifford’s Tower reopens today. What’s the past, present and future hold?

The new walkways at Clifford’s Tower. Picture: Christopher Ison for English Heritage

CLIFFORD’S Tower reopens today, re-roofed, its interior transformed, its story to be told anew by English Heritage after a £5 million conservation project that hopefully turns into conversation.

Regularly, the empty shell of the last remains of York Castle, had been voted York’s most disappointing tourist attraction, one that you came, you, saw, you concurred with everyone else after 15 minutes that you would not be going back.

Up against York Minster, the National Railway Museum, the Yorkshire Museum, York Castle Museum and York Art Gallery, let alone York Dungeon, York’s Chocolate Story and myriad ghost walks, Clifford’s Tower was “living with history”, to borrow the city’s former slogan, but not alive with history.

It amounted to 55 steps to what? Awkward, cramped walkways; awkward anti-Semitic associations with the darkest day in York’s past (the Jewish massacre and suicide of March 16 1190 on this site); the awkward misfire of hosting York’s Bonfire Night firework display, thankfully consigned to history.

Then awkward discussions about what to do with the tower, when initial redevelopment plans met with opprobrium, even derision, being deemed a commercially driven act of heresy, rather than heritage, as Councillor Johnny Hayes led the successful 2018 campaign against the English Heritage (and City of York Council approved) plans for a visitor centre on the mound, so out of keeping with LS Lowry’s famous painting.

Roll on to April 2 2022 and welcome to the new but old Clifford’s Tower, the 800-year-old landmark with its new roof deck to provide the best 360-degree views of York – better than York Minster because it takes in York Minster – and hidden rooms, newly revealed and refreshed for the first time since the tower was gutted by fire in 1684.

No visitor centre, no shop, no lift for the disabled, no palatial revamp, only history, unlocked secrets, aerial walkways, stopping points to catch breath when climbing the steps, that breathtaking panoramic rooftop view…oh, and a loo.

Clifford’s Tower, by L.S. Lowry, from the York Museums Trust collection at York Art Gallery

Not for public use, and no ordinary loo but the garderobe for Henry the Third (don’t say that with an Irish accent), a rather flash Royal flush from long before the likes of Thomas Crapper got to work on waterworks. All that is missing is the seat for this alternative throne, but the toiletries cupboard is still there.

What is this fascination with ablutions in York’s past? First the olfactory unpleasantries of the JORVIK Viking Centre, now Henry III’s state-of-the-(f)art lavatory, newly given the reverence of a cistern chapel. Read all about it, how radical it was, and the excitement may well be merited.

After Coun Hayes kicked up a stink, English Heritage went back to the drawing board, the focus solely on the tower itself, or “protecting Clifford’s Tower for future generations and inspiring more people to discover its histories,” as the charity’s chief executive, Kate Mavor, put it.

Jeremy Ashbee, head properties curator at English Heritage, calls Clifford’s Tower “one of England’s most important buildings”. “It is almost all that remains of York Castle, the centre of government for the north throughout the Middle Ages up to the 17th century – the place where the whole of the North of England was ruled from,” he says.

“We not only wanted to preserve this incredible building but also to do justice to its fascinating and multi-faceted history.”

The challenge has been to give Clifford’s Tower a future, one that truthfully can never match its past. What £5 million has done is to tell that past much better, in a city where history is often in the re-making.  

Clifford’s Tower is not alone in making the historic headlines at present in York, what with the investigations into whether any part of the ornate street light in Minster Gates can be salvaged after a delivery driver reversed into it on March 21, and the rejection of the second set of York Archaeological Trust, Rougier Street Developments and North Star plans for the Roman Quarter and its Eboracum visitor attraction.

The question now is will visitors make return visits to Clifford’s Tower in such a competitive tourist market? Only time will tell, but for definite, no parties or weddings will be held there. Theatre on the new first floor; concerts on the rooftop? Not ruled out, apparently.