Norman Ackroyd CBE RA. At Thirsk Hall - 3.30am

How a Late-Night Doodle Became a Royal Academy Print

This particular story belongs to Letty, one of the owners of Newsham, her brilliant Pa - and to one extraordinary evening around a kitchen table at Thirsk Hall that unexpectedly became a piece of British art history.

In September 2017, Letty’s father was celebrating his birthday at Thirsk Hall alongside one of his closest friends, the inimitable artist Norman Ackroyd CBE.

Norman was an incredible Yorkshireman and one of Britain’s most celebrated printmakers - a Royal Academician who was appointed CBE for services to engraving and printmaking. His etchings of Britain’s coastlines and remote landscapes are considered some of the finest contemporary engravings
of their kind. He work was most well known for capturing remote shorelines and weather-darkened landscapes with extraordinary atmosphere.

But beyond the exhibitions, titles and accolades, Norman was also one of the kindest people you could ever hope to meet. This particular evening at Thirsk Hall unfolded, as so many evenings before and after have done. Food
shared around the table, wine flowing late into the night, cigarette smoke curling through the kitchen and conversation stretching long after everyone else had gone to bed.

Eventually, only two old friends remained sitting together at the kitchen table drinking Ribero del Duero into the early hours of the morning. As they talked, Letty’s father began absentmindedly doodling one of his favourite little sketches onto the table. Three loose ellipses. The top becoming the rim of a wine glass, the middle the level of the wine itself and the final ellipse the base below. A wine glass slowly appearing through simple pen strokes and late-night conversation.

Norman was captivated by it.

A few days later, a proof arrived in the post together with the original doodle itself, now still attached to the reverse of the framed print. Norman had transformed that tiny sketch from their kitchen table into an etching.

The piece became At Thirsk Hall, 3.30am.

The print itself feels wonderfully atmospheric. Loose, smoky and beautifully imperfect, the dark wine glass seems suspended somewhere between a sketch and a memory. Looking at it now, you can almost feel the late hour within it.

The first few editions were titled simply At Thirsk Hall, discretion briefly winning out over honesty. But eventually Norman restored the wonderfully unapologetic ‘3.30am’ to the title before exhibiting the piece at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2018. The Royal Academy later transformed it into one of their bestselling greetings cards, much to the amusement of everyone involved.

Beneath the humour sits something deeply human. Friendship. Creativity. Shared history. The sort of evenings that feel entirely ordinary at the time, yet stay with you forever.

For Letty and her family, the print carries even greater meaning because it marks a rare occasion during which her father - an exceptional draughtsman - actually drew something!

Sadly, Norman passed away just over a year ago in 2024. Yet this wine glass somehow continues to hold so much of him within it: his humour, warmth, talent and extraordinary ability to turn fleeting moments into something permanent.

We are incredibly grateful to Norman’s daughter, Poppy - a wonderfully talented musician and pianist - for so kindly allowing us to continue sharing this special piece through the wine menus at Newsham moving forward.

You can purchase works by Norman Ackroyd CBE RA at the Zillah Bell Gallery in our local town of Thirsk,