
The Partnership
The Yorkshire Country House Partnership has a core of twelve major country houses across the region and associations with others in relation to specific projects.
Spanning more than six centuries in origin and an impressive range of architectural styles, the houses are united by both their geography and their historical roles at the heart of rural society.
Welcoming close more than a million visitors a year, the houses are owned and managed by a range of bodies, both local and national, private and public.
The Partnership exists to promote a deeper understanding of the shared histories of the houses through scholarly research with significant public outcomes. It also provides a practical support network for house curators and an arena for interdisciplinary collaboration with the wider academic community and across the heritage sector.
Houses
Our Partnership with the University of York
The YCHP has an enduring partnership with the Department of History of Art at the University of York. In the past, the YCHP has also worked closely with the History, English, Archaeology and Music departments: members of the YCHP have contributed to teaching modules and to supporting and supervising MA dissertations and doctoral theses.
As well as shared research interests with individual academics, recent collaborations between the YCHP and the Department of History of Art include the shared organisation of conferences and seminars; student placements for both post-graduate and undergraduate students and careers talks by YCHP curators.
Through York Art History Collaborations (YAHCs), the Department also supports the YCHP website.

Traditionally the country house has been the focus of study by humanities departments, but one strand of research the partnership is interested in developing is a wider understanding of estates and landscapes through the bio-sciences.

Other Associates
Where possible the partnership looks to extend the level of collaboration beyond Yorkshire, and has developed relations with other bodies and institutions engaged in similar endeavours. Many figures from these bodies have attended or spoken at the biennial YCHP seminars held in York.
- Attingham Trust, www.attinghamtrust.org
- Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates, History Department, National University of Ireland Maynooth, www.nuim.ie
- English Heritage, www.english-heritage.org.uk
- Historic Houses Archivists Group, www.hhagarchivists.org
- Historic Houses Association, www.hha.org.uk
- Irish Heritage Trust, www.irishheritagetrust.ie
- The University of Leeds, www.leeds.ac.uk
- The National Archives, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
- The National Trust, www.nationaltrust.org.uk
- The National Trust for Scotland, www.nts.org.uk