York Conservation Trust Announces New Prizes

We're absolutely delighted to announce new undergraduate and postgraduate dissertation prizes sponsored by the York Conservation Trust. These generous prizes will be awarded for the best dissertations each year focussed on an historic building in York. The new prizes are the result of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Trust and Archaeology Department in 2019 to reflect our shared commitment to enhancing the value of York's cultural heritage for society, promoting awareness and taking action to protect and conserve it.

York Conservation Trust is an independent trust responsible for the care and management of historic properties, primarily within the city of York. It was formed as the Ings Property Trust in 1945 by brothers Dr John Bowes Morrell and Mr Cuthbert Morrell. Founded with seven medieval structures, today the York Conservation Trust manages eighty-one historic properties including landmark structures within the city, such as the York Theatre Royal, the Assembly Rooms, and Fairfax House. With a strong ethos of rescuing and restoring historic structures, the Trust’s stated aim is: “to preserve for the benefit of the townspeople of the City of York in the County of North Yorkshire... whatever of the English historical, architectural and constructional heritage may exist in and around the City of York together.

Mr Guy Bowyer from York Conservation Trust said, "We are pleased to be able to support the world-leading research and teaching in historic buildings at the Department of Archaeology and to find new ways of supporting the next generation of conservation and heritage professionals on our doorstep."