TWO local history groups are combining forces to better research York’s past.

The award-winning Clements Hall Local History Group, in South Bank, is merging with the neighbouring Bishophill History Group.

Between them, the two groups have already lifted the lid on some remarkable features of York’s history. The Clements Hall group published a series of books and guided walks on the history of South Bank and Bishopthorpe Road - including the more than 100 shops, many now bricked up, which have operated at one time or another in the area.

In 2018, the group’s website won the prestigious Community Archives and Heritage Group award for best digital project.

The Bishophill group has done work on Roman Bishophill, Cooke’s Instruments, the Buckingham Works - and Richard Chicken, the model for Dickens’ Mr Micawber. The group also arranged a ceremony to remember Skeldergate’s Private George Ellison, the last British soldier killed in the First World War.

Now the two have agreed to merge.

Colin Hinchcliffe, from the Bishophill group, said: “Bishophill is an area of York with a vast wealth of history, dating back to Roman times. We recognized that the skills of Clements Hall group members would bring Bishophill’s history to a wider audience.”

The new merged group will be known simply as the Clements Hall Local History Group. Chair Anne Houson said the group had already been working on the history of Bishophill. “Topics are many and varied, from pubs and coaching inns, railways, public health, cholera and prostitution to old schools and almshouses, steamships, riverside warehouses and mills,” she said.

More about the group’s work at clementshallhistorygroup.org.uk