After a career in teaching, Peter Thornborrow was appointed Calderdale's Architectural Historian in 1982, and in 1984 an Inspector for Historic Buildings undertaking the national re-survey for listed buildings for the DOE of most of West Yorkshire before becoming the Senior Historic Buildings Officer for the West Yorkshire Archaeology Service (WYAS) for a long number of years. In 2004 he was appointed the Conservation and Urban Design Officer for Rotherham MBC until his retirement in December 2010. He is currently Chairman of the Yorkshire Vernacular Buildings Study Group (YVBSG).