A FRESH take on North Yorkshire’s history and heritage, created by a trio of artists and county residents, is being shared with the public.

The exhibition is the culmination of the Unfolding Origins project, which has seen three artists in residence create a multimedia experience inspired by North Yorkshire’s historic archive at the County Record Office.

Unfolding Origins has supported the creation of art and new ways for the public to engage with North Yorkshire’s archival collections from Selby, Richmond and Ryedale.

The three artists began their research in the archive, seeing where the records took them. Each residency culminated in a local exhibition. These have now been brought together at the County Record Office.

Carolyn Thompson, the artist for Ryedale, became fascinated by the First World War appeal papers in the archive. These were from men appealing against their conscriptions to war based on their need to be at home working the land. Carolyn followed the stories of the men whose appeals failed and who ultimately lost their lives.

She took what would have been six men’s “last walk home” from their local railway station to their last known home on the anniversary of their deaths. Along the way, she recorded sounds and plants and has created drawings and sound works depicting each.

In Richmond, artists Jacob Cartwright and Nick Jordan’s produced a collaborative film exploring Swaledale, taking inspiration from the landscape, maps and waterways and how they have developed. Swalesong also features photographs by the Kearton Brothers, Swaledale residents and pioneering wildlife photographers of the early 1900s.

The film’s score was created by Sam McLoughlin, who recorded his river harp in the current of the Swale. The soundtrack also includes historic audio interviews with local people who remember Neddy Dick, an eccentric 19th century musician who was well known for instruments made from nature.

Lynn Setterington, the artist based in Selby, grew up in the village of Hensall in the 1960s and 1970s. Inspired by memories of Selby’s toll bridge and its queues of traffic, Lynn explored the archive for the bridge’s origins, looking at maps and ownership. Her work is a response to the 30th anniversary of the bridge being toll-free.

The exhibition is free to view at North Yorkshire County Record Office, Malpas Road, Northallerton, from Tuesday to Friday, 9am to 4pm, until July 29.

The project is a collaboration between North Yorkshire County Record Office, Chrysalis Arts Development (CAD) and other partners, including Selby District Council, Ryedale District Council, Richmondshire District Council, ArtUK, Arts Council England and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.