Welcome to the website of the Fishergate, Fulford and Heslington Local History Society

We are a group of people interested in the history and heritage of our city, particularly the Fishergate and Fulford Road area and the villages of Fulford and Heslington.  
Contact us at: [email protected]

This website is a local history mine - dig deep!
Use the headings at the top of the screen to find the 'drop-down' tabs and click on the links to discover further information
Use the Search on the top right of your screen
​​
If using a mobile phone, click HERE to reach the same links.

You can become a member (download the application form HERE) for the very small sum of £5, which gives you reduced entry (£2) to our events.  ​Non-members are very welcome at our events, but we'll ask £3 on the door.
Meetings are usually on a Saturday morning from 10am to around 11.30, at St. Oswald's Church Hall in Main Street, Fulford, ​YO10 4HJ
Tea and coffee, biscuits (and often cake!) are usually served after our meetings, so you can chat with the speakers, meet new and old friends, look at our displays and buy our publications.
There is very limited parking space at the Church Hall, with a little more on the road outside.  Buses stop outside the church with frequent services; No. 7 and 415 and some others.
***************************************************************************
Our Next Event: 
? August - Nick Allen will lead a walk around Heslington following our new Guided Walk leaflet

19 September - Cristina Figueredo:
The Bayeux Tapestry – ‘The Tragedy of the English’
With the Bayeux Tapestry coming to back England this autumn, discover the hidden stories in this amazing needlework
Booking is required for this event. Email: [email protected]
**********************************************************************************
Our 2026 Programme - CLICK HERE 
We have a range of topics to suit many interests.  
Download a copy of our 2026 programme - HERE 
You can read about our past events - HERE 
We have videos of some events on our U-Tube channel - HERE 
**************************************************************************************************************
Breaking News - 
Fishergate: A District Unearthed
Do you have some free time to spare?

York Archaeological Trust have just launched their project to digitise records from their excavation at Redfearn National Glassworks and  Rialto Cinema and other digs in the area.
Volunteers are needed to  create digital plans for comprehensive site mapping, take photographs of finds and write informative descriptions.  This  will help create a new online, public resource so that future generations can discover the story of Fishergate’s past.
If you would like to be involved, please email the project team at [email protected] 
More information of the YAT website HERE 
****************************************************************************
More Bayeux Tapestry related events:
You may have heard that the Bayeux Tapestry is coming to the British Museum in the autumn.  With the battles of Fulford and Stamford Bridge, we have a close affinity to the momentous events of 1066 and we have three special events in our 2026 programme. 
​
On 30 May we held a 1/2 day conference on the causes and consequences of the Norman invasion, particularly for York and the north. Read about it and see our speaker's presentations on the 2026 Event Reports page HERE

We have two further special events when the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition opens in the autumn:

On 19th September Cristina Figueredo will give a talk entitled ‘The Bayeux Tapestry – The Tragedy of the English’

On 10th October Matthew Townend will give a talk entitled ‘Viking Poetry and the Battles of 1066’
What's new on our website
Irish Famine Refugees in Walmgate
Photographs of Fulford and Heslington
Re-issue of a Brief History of Fulford by pupils of Fulford School 
​Julia Velva, a Roman Lady from York
Viking ship carving on Pikeing Well
​
​See our Past Presentations page for many more talks. ​
*********************************************​***********************
Our oldest building​:
Read about the 12th century church of
​St Oswald's HERE
Hear Prof Jane Hawkes talk about the Anglo-Saxon cross HERE
Buy our Publications:
We have published booklets on Heslington Hall Gardens, the Fulford Grange Estate, the Viking ship carved on Pikeing Well and St Oswald's church
For details of our publications click HERE 
​You can buy some of our booklets at Alligator Wholefoods in Fishergate
​
Some New Publications:
Picture
A Viking Ship Carving on Pikeing Well
​Discover more about the Viking-ship stone and the history of the 18th century well house on New Walk, on the east bank of the river Ouse - £4
Picture
Heslington, A Portrait of a Village
First publisher by Alfred Colley in 1992 
Now re-published by FFH - £8
Picture
A History of Fulford
Joan Pickering & Irene Briddon, first published in 1975  ​Now re-published by FFH - £8
Download our colourful Newsletters
Our first 10 years - HERE
2020 - 2023 - HERE 
2018 - 2019 - HERE
2017 - 2018 - HERE 
2016 - 2017 - HERE
This website is founded on our members research.  Read more about the topics we have information about: HERE
Click HERE to read our ​NEWS page
(Apologies...we are working on our website so you may notice some oddities!)
Find out about other local history societies at this new History Hubs Portal HERE