Members of the public are welcome to use the archives of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society but an appointment should be made prior to an intended visit.
Introduction Ella Sophia Armitage (1841-1931), historian, archaeologist and author, was born in Liverpool on 3 March 1841, the second of fourteen children of Samuel and Mary Bulley. She was educated at home and in turn instructed her four younger brothers and eight younger sisters. Although this prevented her from pursuing her own studies she vowed from a very early age to 'cultivate her mind and abilities to the utmost'. This she did. In October 1871 Armitage became one of the first students at Newnham College, Cambridge. In 1877-9 she taught history at the women's department at Owens College (later Manchester University). She became the first and only woman on the school board at Rotherham in 1887 and three years later was elected to the school board at Bradford and the West Riding education committee. In 1894 she was appointed assistant commissioner to the royal commission on secondary education, to investigate girls' education in Devon. Despite these strong connections with education her main interests were in medieval history and archaeology. In 1912 The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles was published: this is still considered a seminal work on the subject today. In the same year she contributed the section on earthworks in the Victoria History of the County of York. Armitage received an honorary MA from Manchester University in 1919 for her work in archaeology. The following list gives details of a collection of her notebooks held at the Yorkshire Archaeological Society. These notebooks mainly relate to the history of castles, mottes and earthworks, with some notes on Anglo-Saxon churches. Although many of these volumes relate to her archaeological work in Yorkshire there are also many references to places in other parts of England, Scotland and Ireland, giving this collection a wider significance. Most of the notebooks have no date but they all appear to have been written between c1895-c1925. This list was complied following a visit to the Society by Dr Richard Olney and Dr Hazel Bagworth-Mann in connection with a survey of the papers of British antiquaries, archaeologists and historians being undertaken by the Commission. The Commission is most grateful to the Yorkshire Archaeology Society, and to Mr RL Frost (Senior Librarian and Archivist) and Mr A Betteridge (Archivist) for their assistance.Notebook 'a'. 'Pipe rolls (I) 1154-1184'.
Extracts from the Pipe rolls and a number from liberate rolls. Index at the back of this volume.
Notebook 'b'. 'Pipe rolls II 1184-1216'.
Notes on castles from (then unpublished) Pipe rolls 1913. Index at the back of this volume.
Notebook 'c'. 'The book of Mottes'.
Pencil drawings of mottes and larger earthworks. Also sketches of windows, doors and fireplaces.
Notebook 'd'. 'Yorkshire Earthworks'.
Notes on Yorkshire earthworks 'actual or inspected', including details of sites with a geographical description and details of what was found.
Notebook 'e'. 'Yorkshire Earthworks Personal visits'.
Notes relating to Armitage's findings from sites visited.
Notebook 'f'. 'Castles and Mottes personally visited mostly not in Yorkshire'.
Notes relating to castles and mottes visited. Index of sites at the front of this volume.
Notebook 'g'. 'Castles and Mottes personally visited not in Yorkshire'.
Notes relating to castles and mottes.
Notebook 'h'. 'Castles and Mottes not in Yorkshire personally visited' c1909-23.
Notes relating to castles and mottes. Also notes relating to Anglo Saxon churches c1898-1904.
Notebook 'i'.
Notes from secondary sources.
Notebook 'j'. 'Irish Castles - misc - Words in Pipe Rolls - 56'.
Index of Wertropp's list of castles, copy of Wertropp's table of Norman castles with remarks by Armitage. Further notes from secondary sources.
Notebook 'k'. 'Castles, mottes in Scotland - chiefly historical evidence'.
Notes mainly relating to Scotland. Several extracts relating to crosses and knotwork.
Notebooks 'l'-'n', as follows:
Notebook 'l'.
Notes relating to castles and churches.
Notebook 'm'. 'Castles and Mottes Historical Evidence'.
Notes relating to castles and mottes with details of their development.
Notebook 'n'.
Notes on castles and mottes, some of which Armitage had visited.
Further notebooks containing notes taken from secondary sources covering the whole geographical area of Great Britain and Ireland. 19 volumes.