Regional Furniture Society 2020 events are now open for booking. Forms are available on this website for members to print off (links to be found within individual events below). These forms will also be included in the Spring newsletter which is scheduled to arrive with members in February. All events have a finite number of places so to be sure of a place you may consider booking early. The website will be updated when an event is fully subscribed or if an itinerary is substantially altered.
Some events may ask for a specific date on your cheque. We sometimes retain cheques for events and bank them together shortly before the event taking place. Cheques are only valid for six months, so please follow the instructions on dating and provide an individual cheque for each event. If you do not possess a cheque book, we may accept transfer of payment into our bank account by agreement with the events organiser, but this needs to be arranged at least 2 months ahead of the event.
Leeds and West Yorkshire carved oak furniture of the 17th century.
Thursday 23th April 2020
Peter Brears has generously agreed to lead a one-day study tour of furniture of the key houses and churches which featured in his recent article in our 2019 journal.
Departing from Leeds station at 10:00 by coach, we will visit Shibden Hall, Halifax, and lunch at the 17th c. Shibden Mill Inn set within a deep fold of the picturesque Shibden Valley. We will then visit Oakwell Hall on the outskirts of Leeds, followed by St John’s church in the city centre, which we were unable to access on our Chippendale study day two years ago. It is a short walk from St John’s to the station.
Trains from Kings Cross take about 2hr 15 mins. Consider staying an extra day at one of the great range of hotels in Leeds and visiting Temple Newsam or Harewood House.
Cost: £60, including lunch. Applications to be received by March 9th.
New thinking about Medieval Furniture
Saturday, 23 May 2020, 10 for 10:30 – 17:00
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn, London
This year’s Research in Progress event continues the RFS successful series of themed events with furniture and history of art speakers reporting on their latest research and discoveries.
The speakers will be:
Martin Bridge, Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory and UCL Institute of Archaeology ‘New developments in timber dating’
Martin is a leader in this field and has a particular interest in dendro-provenancing (see martinbridge.co.uk.
Nick Humphrey, Furniture Dept., Victoria and Albert Museum
‘A fifteenth-century desk-cupboard at the Victoria and Albert Museum’
Jens Kremb (Independent scholar, Bonn)
‘The chest of drawers: a late medieval piece of furniture?’ See academia.edu
Eva Oledzka, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
‘Colour in ecclesiastical and secular medieval interiors’ Eva is author of Medieval and Renaissance Interiors (British Library, 2016) and contributor to A Cultural History of Colour (Bloomsbury). See academia.edu
Chris Pickvance, Chairman, RFS ‘A closer look at English clamped chests from 1250-1350: timber, construction and decoration.’ Chris has been researching a variety of types of medieval chest in England for over ten years. See researchgate.net.
Noah Smith, PhD student in Medieval and Early Modern Studies, University of Kent
‘The ‘Courtrai chest’ at New College, Oxford: iconography and materiality’.
This chest has given rise to much controversy and has been considered as everything from a fake to a Belgian national treasure. It is one focus of Noah’s research on Flemish medieval art.
Rachel Sycamore, MRes student in Medieval Archaeology, Worcester University
‘Early church chests in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.’ Rachel’s research focuses on dug-out chests.)
Cost, including coffee on arrival and a sandwich lunch, £43 for RFS members and £48 for non-members. Applications to be received by May 11th.
Bursaries to cover 50% of the cost are available for members and non-members for this event. For eligibility criteria and procedure please see here. Bursary applicants should apply before completing the event booking form. Payment of the 50% fee will then be required by cheque accompanied by a completed booking form stating that a bursary has been awarded. We are unable to invoice or accept payment from institutions by bank transfer.
Annual Conference, Lincoln
Monday 22nd – Friday 26th June 2020
The date of this year’s conference has changed from the date posted in the RFS autumn Newsletter, and the Friday programme appearing in the Spring Newsletter has been amended since going to print.
Lincoln is a city of two parts. The cathedral and castle share the heights and the commercial hub with an earlier history on the river below, linked by the aptly-named Steep Street. It is a city enjoying a renaissance, peered by modern industry and two dynamic universities. We will be staying in the high town at the Bishop Grosseteste University, specialising in mature student courses, where all rooms have small (4 foot) double beds which can be made up for single or double occupancy. Couples may decide to share a room or book two rooms. There is ample car parking. Lincoln is served by a branch line from Newark North Gate station on the fast east coast route. The university is a short taxi-ride from Lincoln station and buses connect it with the city centre.
Monday 22nd June will find many delegates arriving at Lincoln and choosing to stay Monday night for an 8:30 start on Tuesday morning. A package of: 2-course refectory supper, bed & breakfast may be booked on the application form.
We have arranged an optional private visit on Monday afternoon to the Elizabethan Doddington Hall, just to west of the city. The house has remained in the same family for 400 years, and contains an interesting and varied collection of furniture and pictures imaginatively presented with the current owner’s contemporary ceramic collection. Whilst the house will not be open to the public on that day, two cafes and a restaurant will be available for us to lunch on arrival. (not included in the cost of the visit). Members arriving by train to Lincoln may take an affordable taxi to Doddington and will be offered lifts to the university at the end of our visit. This Monday event is priced separately on the booking form.
Tuesday 23rd. The start of the main conference, will be devoted to the city of Lincoln, starting at the cathedral: considered by some, the finest gothic church in Europe. We will visit the Wren Library containing 15th c. reading desks, where William Sergeant will introduce us to their collection of early forest chairs probably by Joseph Newton of Fenton alongside those from his own collection brought together for comparison for the first time. Then the opportunity of a roof tour, taking in the bell-ringing chamber, the triforium, and the spectacular roof space retaining much of its original timber.
The west front of the cathedral faces the castle, where we will visit the the old prison with its unique 19th c. chapel, designed to enable the prisoners to see the minister but not their fellow inmates, and the new subterranean space created for the Magna Carta. After lunch we will visit the Usher Gallery (currently under threat of closure) founded by jeweller and watchmaker James Usher (1845-1921) to study his collection of 18th. c. locally made clocks including some rare examples with wooden movements. Fitter members may walk down Steep Street through the commercial centre and over the only surviving medieval bridge with shops on it, to St Mary’s Guildhall, one of the lost medieval palaces of England, with a much older surprise recently exposed beneath the floor. Those choosing to remain in the upper city may explore The Collection – a new museum of the county’s history in art and artefacts, well-placed opposite the Usher Gallery.
Wednesday 24th: north by coach to visit Gainsborough Old Hall, containing the largest collection of 17th. c. furniture in the county. Then to Epworth church and rectory (birthplace of John Wesley) with its eclectic collection of chairs and after lunch, a private visit to Scawby Hall, home of the Nelthorpe family for over 400 years, guided by Kristin Nelthorpe.
Thursday 25th: we travel by coach to the attractive market town of Louth to view Sudbury’s hutch, given to the church in 1502. Then to a rare ‘mud and stud’ cottage near Horncastle, where owner Andrew, will demonstrate traditional thatching, while his wife, Ruth will guide us around their home containing furniture collected by Andrew’s mother from local farm sales. Then, pausing to picnic at the Tudor brick Tattershall Castle, we will travel south for a private visit to a 17th c. ‘artisan baroque’ manor house to study the owner’s collection of oak furniture.
The huge county of Lincolnshire has a glut of fascinating churches, some with carved screens and many retaining their distinctive medieval chests with spectacular Gothic tracery. On Wednesday and Thursday we will endeavour to fit in brief stops to explore a number of these churches, and a real surprise: a Gothic church furnished in the finest mahogany.
On Friday morning 26th, after breakfast we will depart the university by our own transport to Navenby ( 20mins. south of Lincoln), to visit the unmodernised cottage occupied by Mrs. Smith until her death at 102 years, which has just reopened following conservation of the roof.
Friday afternoon 26th, an optional visit, for a limited number, to a guided tour of a fascinating collection of family portraits in Fulbeck spanning 400 years ,a few miles south of Navenby. Friday Lunch is not included but there are pubs serving food in Navenby and Fulbeck.
Those members departing by train, who wish to attend one or both of the Friday events will be offered lifts and delivered late morning or late afternoon to Newark station, convenient for onward travel. Please indicate on the booking form if you would like a lift.
The Furniture Surgery and AGM will take place on Wednesday or Thursday evenings after dinner.
Costs: Main conference, including bed, breakfast, all meals except some coffee and tea breaks, admissions and coach travel on two days from Tuesday morning 23rd June to Friday 26th June, departing after lunch : residential, single occupancy £480, double occupancy £420 per person, non-residential £310.
Additional costs: Monday 22nd June. Refectory two course supper, bed & breakfast; single occupancy: £83, double occupancy: £65 per person
Monday 22nd June: guided visit to Doddington Hall: £13
Friday 26th June: p.m. visit to a private portrait collection: £10
Lancaster
Friday 2nd October 2020
Celebrating the reprieve of Lancaster’s fine selection of museums from threatened closure, and the town’s celebrated connection with the Gillow family we will be visiting The Judges’ Lodgings, The City Museum, Lancaster Castle, including the Grand Jury room not usually shown, and Lancaster Priory – all within a compact radius, and visit the Maritime Museum down on the river. There will be the opportunity to lunch as a group in one of several new restaurant/cafes springing up in the town – to be selected shortly before the event. Those planning a longer stay, may like to plan to stay at the Art Deco Midland Hotel at nearby Morecambe.
Cost of the day £25, not including lunch. Please note the instruction on the booking form for dating your cheque.