Brick Pond Nature Reserve, New Earswick

A number of interest groups have seen to the preservation of a wildlife corridor along the River Foss and Old Foss Beck. The protected habitats in these reserves provide safe breeding grounds for birds and other wildlife, and there are footpaths along the River Foss and Railway track. Access to the Brick Pond more »< Read More...

Black Horse Passage

An ancient alley, situated off the modern road Stonebow, leading from the commercial centre of York towards the Hungate, that in the late 19th century was an area of poverty, crime and prostitution. One story tells how a scandal broke out in 1855, when a certain Inspector Turner, in charge of the night more »< Read More...

Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, Life and Writings

Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree (1871-1954), normally referred to as Seebohm Rowntree, was born in 1871, second of the four sons of Joseph Rowntree and Emma Antoinette Rowntree. He was educated by governesses at home, at Bootham School, and at Owen’s College, Manchester (where he studied chemistry). At the age of 18 he entered the family more »< Read More...

Beatrice Webb and Seebohm Rowntree

Sidney and Beatrice Webb were noted late nineteenth century sociologists, economists, socialists and social reformers. They were co-founders of the London School of Economics and of the Fabian Society. Beatrice visited Seebohm Rowntree in his York home in 1899 while Rowntree was at work on his Poverty study. In the Webb papers there are records of more »< Read More...

Adult School Movement

One man in five and one woman in three could neither read nor write in mid-Victorian York. The first adult school (which grew out of ‘first-day’ schools, referring to the first day of the week, Sunday) were set up by Joseph Rowntree (Senior) and other leading Quakers. Many members of the Rowntree family, more »< Read More...