Delving into the untold stories of those who lived at York's Treasurer's House from an astronomer to an unsung artist

There's the astronomer whose discoveries are still used by scientists today, and a young woman whose artistic talents were perhaps unsung in her own time.

From tomorrow, visitors can explore such tales from the once inhabitants of the Treasurer's House, with Turning Back Time tours to shine a light on their lives and legends.

Rebecca Allott, visitor experience officer for the National Trust, has helped create the tours with support from volunteers.

The house was gifted to the National Trust in 1930 by a gentleman named Frank Green, she explained, who opened it in 1903 and by 1906 had created its first guidebook.

"He loved history and he knew there had been activity on the site since Roman times," she said.

"There are the well known names, the Fairfaxes and the Aislabies from Fountains Abbey, and we know of course that Queen Alexandra stayed here too.

"Our focus is on the untold stories of Treasurer's House. To me, to look into these stories, is a really nice breath of fresh air."

Built on the site of the former Treasury to the Minster, there are some 74 people and their families who are known to have owned or rented on this site from 1538.

The house today is forged from three separate buildings, home over the years to astronomers and politicians, generals, and gentry.

One legacy featured in the tour is that of a young man named John Goodricke, profoundly deaf from a childhood illness, who carried out observations of a star he named Algol.

He was the first to suggest that variable stars are actually two stars, rather than one, and new evidence shows he made his observations from a window in the house's Great Hall.

Then there is Anne Eliza Morritt, whose skill in needlework went far beyond the usual samplers stitched by wealthy young ladies. Rather unusually, she took on the great challenge of copying the old masters, such as Poussin and Rubens.

Ms Allott said: "As a skilled embroiderer the main challenge she faced in recreating these great works of art was sourcing the right colour thread.

"While artists can mix their paints to create their hue, Anne could only sew using the colours of thread available to her in York."

Some six stories are to feature in the tours, which will run on Sundays until the end of October. They are free to National Trust members, or can be pre-booked.

To Ms Allott, the research alone proved fascinating: "Very often its women's stories that are the lesser known. We've uncovered all these stories that nobody has been told before.”