Previous Conferences

Spring Conferences

1956 - Nottingham
1957 - Cambridge
1958 - Caernarvon
1959 - Monmouth
1960 - Essex
1961 - West Yorkshire
1962 - Kent
1963 - Devon
1964 - Worcestershire
1965 - Cumberland
1966 - Berkshire
1967 - Norfolk
1968 - Hereford
1969 - Cornwall
1970 - Brecon
1971 - Lincolnshire
1972 - Suffolk
1973 - Lancashire
1974 - Leicestershire
1975 - Surrey
1976 - North Yorkshire
1977 - Devon
1978 - Derbyshire

1979 - Lancaster
1980 - Hampshire
1981 - Dundee
1982 - Shropshire
1983 - North Avon/South Gloucestershire
1984 - Essex
1985 - Warwickshire/South Staffs
1986 - Somerset
1987 - Oxfordshire
1988 - Glamorgan
1989 - West Yorkshire
1990 - Wiltshire
1991 - Durham
1992 - Kent
1993 - Guernsey
1994 - Buckinghamshire
1995 - Worcestershire
1996 - Radnorshire
1997 - Norfolk
1998 - Northumberland
1999 - North-east Hants/West Sussex
2000 - Staffordshire/Cheshire
2001 - Suffolk

2002 - Ireland-Dublin
2003 - Essex
2004 - Yorkshire
2005 - North Wales
2006 - Somerset
2007 - Cambridgeshire
2008 - Devon
2009 - Jersey
2010 - Northumbria
2011 - Oxfordshire
2012 - East Midlands
2013 - South Wales
2014 - Gloucestershire
2015 - Cumbria
2016 - Lincolnshire
2017 - Hertfordshire
2018 - North Wales
2019 - East Cornwall
2020 - No conference
2021 - East Anglia (online)
2022 - Norfolk (online)
2023 - Greater Manchester

The 2021 and 2022 spring conferences were held online due to Covid - the recorded talks are available by following the links above.

Winter Conferences

December 1999 - The Use of Tree-ring Dating for Research
December 2000 - Vernacular Architecture and Related Fields
December 2001 - The Transition from the Medieval to the Early-Modern House Revisited
December 2002 - News From the Regions
December 2003 - VAG 50th Anniversary Conference: Celebration and Speculation
December 2004 - Vernacular Buildings and the Church
December 2005 - Buildings, Rebuildings and Vernacular Thresholds
December 2006 - Houses of Mud and Earth
December 2007 - Towns and Town Houses 1000-1700
December 2008 - Marginal Architecture
December 2009 - The Polite Threshold
January 2011 - Service Rooms, Servants' Chambers, and Storage
January 2012 - Where, When and Why? - Themes and Ideas in Vernacular Architecture Studies inspired by J T Smith
January 2013 - The Medieval Peasant House Revisited
January 2014 - Attention to Detail
January 2015 - Farmsteads in Focus
January 2016 - Vernacular Boundaries
January 2017 - Seeing the wood and the trees: the management of timber from source to building site
January 2018 - Vernacular Survival: the vernacular architecture of the long eighteenth century
January 2019 - Vernacular Landscapes
January 2020 - Marks on Buildings
January 2021 - Houses and the Hearth Tax in Britain (online)
February 2022 - Upstairs/Downstairs - on Room Use in Buildings (online)
January 2023 - Trans-National Connections - Vernacular Architecture in Britain & Beyond
January 2024 - New Developments in Dendrochronology and its impact on the study of Vernacular Architecture

The 2021 and 2022 winter conferences were held online due to Covid - the recorded talks are available by following the links above.

Oxford Study Schools

In past years, the Group contributed to occasional weekend or day schools previously run by the Oxford University Department of Continuing Education.

The Vernacular Workshop - from craft to industry, 1400-1900
Housing for the Masses, 1800-2000
Diffusion and Invention - vernacular building in England and the New World
Estate Building: The Impact of Estates on the Built Landscape
Vernacular Interiors in the British Tradition
Markets and Market Places
Medieval Domestic Cultures
The Eighteenth Century Town House
Medieval Communal Life and its Buildings
Getting About: Buildings and Inland Transport
Workers' Homes: Improvement and Technology
Vernacular Revivals
Recording Town Buildings
Cruck Buildings: Origins, Distribution, Significance and Derivatives

Other Conferences and Visits

Visit to France
The VAG arranged a trip to the Maine region of France on 23-27 June 2016. A full report is available on the Members' Area.

Visit to Denmark
The VAG organised a trip to Denmark on 8-14 June 2014, visiting a number of historic towns and some of the many long-established folk museums, where historic buildings have been collected together to illustrate the regional differences.

Saeters and Stave Churches
The group organised a tour to Norway on 16-26 June 2011 to visit some of its notable timber buildings. A full report is available on the Members' Area.