A History of the County of York: the City of York. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1961.
This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.
'The parish churches', in A History of the County of York: the City of York, ed. P M Tillott( London, 1961), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/city-of-york/pp365-404 [accessed 14 November 2024].
'The parish churches', in A History of the County of York: the City of York. Edited by P M Tillott( London, 1961), British History Online, accessed November 14, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/city-of-york/pp365-404.
"The parish churches". A History of the County of York: the City of York. Ed. P M Tillott(London, 1961), , British History Online. Web. 14 November 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/city-of-york/pp365-404.
THE PARISH CHURCHES
How early York possessed churches which were later to become parochial it is difficult to assess; no doubt many, if not most, of the churches are of earlier foundation than the first occurrence of them in records. In some cases other evidence is not lacking: the supposed founders of St. Mary's, Castlegate, have left their names, but no firm indication of the date, on the so-called dedication stone found in the east wall of the church; architectural evidence suggests that both churches on Bishophill were founded before, perhaps long before, the Conquest; (fn. 1) there is some literary evidence of an uncertain nature for a very early foundation for St. Michael-le-Belfrey; and the church that formed the nucleus of Holy Trinity Priory perhaps had some quasi-parochial, or at any rate pastoral, functions before the Conquest. Moreover the later parochial division of the lands around the city (fn. 2) upholds the claim for an early foundation for the two Bishophill churches and St. Michael-leBelfrey. Only of one church, and that an early one, is the foundation date certainly known: St. Olave's.
Eight churches are mentioned in Domesday: (fn. 3) three (St. Crux, St. Cuthbert, and Holy Trinity, Micklegate) may be certainly identified, and four (All Saints, Pavement, St. Andrew, St. Andrewgate, St. Martin, Coney Street, and St. Mary, Castlegate) with considerable probability; one is not named. Six churches may therefore be added to the early foundations listed above.
It has been suggested (fn. 4) tht the city had at least 14 parish churches by the end of the 11th century; another 23 (most of them parochial) are first mentioned in the following century and another 9 after 1200. There were 33 churches which survived until the 16th century with fully parochial functions and 5 or 6 more in which parochial activities probably took place. Five other churches, of doubtful status, were demolished before the 16th century. The jurors who assessed the 1428 taxation counted the number as 39. (fn. 5) The complete list (fn. 6) is given in Table 1.
Needless to say the city could not support this great number; all were poorly endowed except the few which lay on the periphery and drew great tithes from lands in the environs of the city. (fn. 7) It is not, therefore, surprising to find that the many churches appropriated to religious houses were appropriated in patronage only and that vicarages were rarely ordained. (fn. 8) Moreover 6 of the 11 (fn. 9) capitular churches had to be annexed for more than a century to one other, St. Martin's, Coney Street, because they were too poor to support individual incumbents.
By the 16th century many of these churches had so decayed both institutionally and in their fabrics that the need to amalgamate with others had become pressing. The declining fortunes of the city in the late 15th and early 16th centuries no doubt exacerbated the difficulties but even in 1428 the city jurors assessed 5 churches as worth £1 (the lowest rate), 5 at £2 or less and 8 at £5 or less. (fn. 10) In 1547 the city obtained an Act to suppress the decayed churches. (fn. 11) Proposals for dealing with 15 parishes under this Act were framed in 1548 but never executed. (fn. 12) Nearly 40 years later, an instrument was drawn up by the civic authorities for uniting 17 decayed parishes with 12 others. (fn. 13) This deed, which rested upon the Act of 1547, was taken to Bishopthorpe by the mayor and some of his brethren on 27 January 1586 (fn. 14) and was there sealed and signed by the archbishop and representatives of the city.
The delay in executing the proposals of 1548 is more apparent than real for, as will be seen from the ensuing accounts, most of the decayed churches were immediately abandoned. The city seems to have assumed that the fabrics, sites, and churchyards were theirs to dispose of; in a few cases the Crown disputed this assumption: the Church seems not to have cared. Most of the parishes, united by the deed, were in practice retained for rating purposes until the city was made a single civil parish in 1900. (fn. 15)
After 1586 there were no unions of benefices until the 19th century. (fn. 16) The structure of the united benefices in 1958 is shown in Table 2: most of the amalgamations took place on the recommendations of two archbishops' commissions of inquiry, one in 1885, (fn. 17) the other in 1931. (fn. 18) Both inquiries recognized that the population was moving away from the intramural city and that the centre was over-churched and over-staffed. The Commissioners of 1931 thought that drastic remedies were expected and would be widely welcomed and the recommendations included not only amalgamations, most of which were later made, but the demolition of redundant churches and the erection of new ones in the suburbs. Only one church, Holy Trinity, King's Court, was in fact demolished. Only one new church was then built— St. Hilda's, Tang Hall—and like two others erected in the 20th century, St. Luke's and St. Chad's, was not completed. The formation of modern parishes is shown in Table 3.
The parish of Acomb (W.R.) lay round the western half of the city and stretched from the river on the north to Dringhouses township on the south. It was not brought within the city until 1937. (fn. 19) To serve the growing population of the area two churches have been built to supplement the ancient church of St. Stephen. (fn. 20) The church of Holy Redeemer, Boroughbridge Road, was consecrated on 20 November 1937 and constituted a Peel District on 20 December 1938. (fn. 21) The parish comprises all that part of Acomb north of The Carr. The church, which is a temporary one, consists of a red-brick hall. The patrons are the Crown and the archbishop alternately. A mission chapel in the southern portion of the Acomb parish in Thanet Road was dedicated to James the Deacon on 13 September 1955. (fn. 22)
The changes of the 16th century were manifested not only in the union of benefices but in the dissolution of chantries and the confiscation of church plate. (fn. 23) Some 70 chantries are noticed in the ensuing accounts; there is reason to suppose that there were more. In 1388 137 chantry priests who had died in the preceding two generations were named in a dispute about mortuaries; how many chantries they represented is not known; (fn. 24) moreover chantries, or foundations very like them, were frequently founded only for a short term and hence escape notice; (fn. 25) the foundation of obits (barely distinguishable from temporary chantries) and testamentary gifts for the maintenance of lights are so numerous (fn. 26) and so confusedly documented that they have been omitted.
The records of Edward VI's commissioners comprise only the indentures for the plate and bells left in the churches; inventories of the church goods they found have not survived; in each of the nine churches for which indentures have survived they left one chalice and two or three bells. Besides the plate taken from the churches there was a considerable quantity from the chantries within them, comprising 15 chalices with a total weight of 134¾ ounces. (fn. 27)
The issue of licences for the alienation of lands in mortmain and the documentation by Henry VIII's Dissolution commissioners have left extensive material for the study of certain aspects of the chantries. Similarly, there is relatively abundant material for the history of the value of benefices although it is not always easy to interpret. It reveals that almost all the city livings have always been poor. As a consequence they have frequently been held in plurality: in the Middle Ages almost as sinecures by clerks in the service of archbishop, king, or pope; in later times, perhaps, to gain or maintain a foothold in the provincial city. In 1835, for example, only six livings out of twenty-two were not held in plurality either with other city or with country churches; five of the churches were held, together with others in and out of the city, by vicars choral of the minster. (fn. 28) City incumbents have been associated with diocesan services in the 20th century: in 1958 three of them held full-time diocesan appointments.
The records of the parish incumbents and officers are not as abundant as might be expected. Even some registers appear to have been lost (fn. 29) in quite recent times and churchwardens accounts are on the whole hard to find.
The burial grounds of the city churches, particularly those east of the river, have almost all disappeared although their sites are not infrequently uncovered in the course of building operations; burials in city churchyards were discontinued by an Order in Council of 1854. (fn. 30)
The church of ALL SAINTS, Fishergate, is first mentioned in a document dated between 1091 and 1095 when it was given with all its appurtenances to the Abbey of Whitby. (fn. 31) The church was given to Whitby on condition that monks (in a later document specified as three) (fn. 32) from the mother house should serve in All Saints and pray for the souls of William II and his successors: the church thus became a cell of Whitby. (fn. 33) Despite its monastic status, All Saints probably exercised parochial functions at any rate in the later Middle Ages: the parish appears in tax lists between 1327 and 1497 and at least two parishioners are known to have been buried in the church in the 15th century. (fn. 34) Although the cell owned some property in York in its own right, (fn. 35) no separate administrative documents have been found that might determine the status of All Saints amongst the parochial churches of the city. The church is not mentioned in the returns of 1291 or in the Valor, but in 1428 the benefice was considered by civic tax assessors to be worth £1 a year—the minimum rate of assessment. (fn. 36)
Nothing is known of the way in which the church was served after Whitby Abbey surrendered in December 1539. It seems likely that it quickly fell out of use, for in 1549 the churchyard and church ground were devised absolutely by the corporation to Alderman Paycoke for £2 15s. (fn. 37) The property had probably fallen into the hands of the city by lapse. Under the Act of Edward VI it was proposed in 1548 to unite the benefice with that of St. Denys's (fn. 38) but it was actually united with St. Lawrence's in 1586. (fn. 39)
The site of the church is marked on the 1852 Ordnance Plan of York between Paragon Street and Heslington Road, where there is now a cattle market. (fn. 40) Foundations of the fabric and remains from the graveyard have been exposed from time to time during building operations. (fn. 41) The parish presumably lay round the church outside the city walls. It was absorbed into St. Lawrence's, probably at the time of the union of benefices, and nothing is known of its boundaries.
The church of ALL SAINTS, North Street, is first mentioned in a document dated between 1166 and 1179 confirming Ralph Paynell's gifts to Holy Trinity Priory. (fn. 42) The gift was the advowson only. The priory presented in 1239 but on four other occasions between then and 1301 the archbishop collated to the living by default. (fn. 43) Between 1349 and 1413 the Crown presented on at least nine occasions when the priory was sequestrated as an alien house. (fn. 44) The advowson remained with the Crown after the Dissolution until 1868 when it was transferred to the archbishop. (fn. 45) It was proposed in 1548 'upon view of the archbishop and the mayor' to unite the church with St. John's, Ouse Bridge End, but in 1553 it was decided to repair the fabric and except the parish from the union. (fn. 46) In 1957 the benefice, but not the parish, was united with St. Mary's, Bishophill, Junior, and the presentation to the united benefice was assigned to the chapter. (fn. 47) The parish lies in the angle between the city wall and the southwest bank of the river and is entirely within the city walls.
In 1291 the rectory was valued at £5 6s. 8d., less a pension of £1 to the priory. (fn. 48) In 1535 the clear value was £4 7s. 9d. which comprised £3 8s. 9d. from lenten tithes and £1 11s. from rents and oblations. (fn. 49) In 1649 the church was said to have no more profits than the rent of its parsonage house at £3 a year; in 1654 the common reputed value of the living was £6 13s. 4d. (fn. 50) In 1716 the rectory received, besides fees and mortuaries, £19 10s. in rents and offerings. (fn. 51) The benefice was augmented by lot from Queen Anne's Bounty in 1763 and this was laid out in land at Aughton (E.R.). A benefaction of £200 from 'Revd. Mr. Buck' in 1764 was met by an augmentation and laid out in land at Cliffe (E.R.) and Drax (W.R.), let in 1825 for £27 a year. In 1815 the benefice was further augmented from the parliamentary fund by lot with £800, which in 1825 was laid out in 4 per cent. stock. (fn. 52) Between 1844 and 1882 the benefice was endowed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners out of the Common Fund with sums amounting to £69 a year. (fn. 53) The gross value of the benefice was said to be £120 in 1863 and £145 in 1868, when there was no parsonage house. (fn. 54)
Drake records that the foundation grants of at least eight chantries were amongst the city records in his time but the deeds are no longer extant. (fn. 55) Licence for the alienation of lands to found a chantry at the altar of the Virgin was granted to John Benge in 1324. (fn. 56) The advowson was in the hands of the corporation in 1507, when the profits of the chantry included a payment of 6 marks and 2s. from the city chamberlains. (fn. 57) Licence was granted in 1410 to the executors of William Vescy for the alienation of lands to support a chantry which had been founded in 1407 at the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr. (fn. 58) The chantry was still served in 1508. (fn. 59) A chantry for Adam Bank, founded before 1509, was valued at £5 clear in 1535 and, when dissolved in 1546, £5 6s. 8d. (fn. 60) A chantry of the foundation of Allayne Hamerton and another of John Bolton are mentioned in the 16th century. (fn. 61)
The church comprises (fn. 62) a narrow nave with north and south aisles extended eastward and westward to the lines of the chancel and the tower. There is a south porch, a sacristy, and a lofty spire surmounting the tower. The prevailing style is of the 15th century. The tower and its spire (the builder of which was probably influenced by or influenced that of St. Mary's, Castlegate) and the north and south walls are thought to have been erected about 1420; and the chancel and chancel aisle roofs are good examples of 15th-century woodwork. Traces of early structures, however, are plentiful in the church. Some remains of a painting depicting St. Christopher were to be found on the north-east pier of the tower early in the 20th century.
The glass is generally acknowledged to be the finest extant in the parish churches of York. The windows are of both the 14th and 15th centuries but there is more 15th-century work. The east window of the chancel portrays St. John the Baptist, St. Ann, and St. Christopher with figures of Nicholas Blackburn, the elder and younger, and their wives. The east window of the north aisle, which is 14th-century work, depicts the life of Christ in six subjects. Three windows in the north aisle depict first the Fifteen Last Days of the World, the legends being taken from a version of The Prick of Conscience; secondly, six of the Corporal Works of Mercy, burial being omitted (said to be the only complete example of this subject in stained glass extant in Great Britain); and, thirdly, the Incredulity of St. Thomas. The east window of the south aisle depicts the Agony and the Crucifixion with the three Marys and St. John. In the south aisle windows are figures of St. John the Evangelist and St. William. There are many fragments composed into other windows.
The pulpit is dated 1675; there is a stall in the chancel of the 15th century. There is a large modern rood screen. There are two bells. (fn. 63) The plate comprises a silver cup with cover, the gift of Archbishop Harsnett in 1630, a paten and two flagons in a set, a modern chalice and two patens and a brass almsdish. Two pewter flagons and two pewter plates belonged to the church in 1716 but are not afterwards recorded. (fn. 64) The registers begin in 1577; they are defective for 1626, 1630, 1647, and 1649. (fn. 65)
The church of ALL SAINTS, Pavement, is first mentioned in Domesday Book when the Bishop of Durham held the patronage of the rectory of the gift of the king. (fn. 66) Alexander the priest of the church is mentioned in a document dated between 1160 and 1170. (fn. 67) An agreement made between 1162 and 1167 placed the church in the archdeaconry of Cleveland but this was probably a temporary arrangement and the church has since that time been in the archdeaconry of York. (fn. 68) The advowson probably formed part of the foundation grant of Durham Cathedral Priory and had certainly been given to the priory by the bishop by the early 12th century. (fn. 69) After the Dissolution the patronage went to the Crown where it remained until 1868 when it was transferred to the archbishop. (fn. 70) St. Peter-the-Little was united with All Saints' in 1586, (fn. 71) St. Crux in 1885, (fn. 72) and St. Saviour's in 1954. (fn. 73) All Saints' parish lay around the church entirely within the city walls.
A pension of 8 lb. of wax was said to be due to the rectory from the church of St. Mary, Castlegate, in 1267; the rectory was not valued in 1291. (fn. 74) The rector paid a pension of 50s. to Durham in the 13th century (fn. 75) but this is not mentioned in 1535 when the clear value was 73s. 4d., comprising lenten tithes and oblations. (fn. 76) The church was said to have neither minister nor maintenance in 1649; the common reputed value of the benefice in 1665 was £14. (fn. 77) In 1716 the benefice derived an income of £4 from property; an unspecified sum from two houses; £1 from a house in the churchyard of St. Peter-theLittle; 10s. from land; £1 5s. from anniversary sermons; and Easter offerings and surplice fees. (fn. 78) The benefice was augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty by lot in 1763 and again in 1764 to meet a benefaction. (fn. 79) One of these sums was laid out in lands at Strensall (N.R.) which in 1825 were let for £9. (fn. 80) In 1764 income from rents amounted to £61 19s.; one of the parish houses was then occupied as a parsonage. (fn. 81) The benefice was augmented with £800 from the parliamentary fund by lot in 1815. (fn. 82) In 1825 the benefice was said to receive an income from rents of £254 16s. arising out of lands in Youlthorpe (E.R.), and Skirpenbeck (E.R.) and houses and other property in Tadcaster and York. (fn. 83) These lands and properties were probably those in the same places given to the church in the Middle Ages as endowments for obits and charitable funds and valued altogether in 1548 at £3 1s. 2d. (fn. 84) It is not clear how far these endowments were used to augment the benefice. (fn. 85) The benefice was said to be worth only £100 in 1863 and £148 in 1868. (fn. 86) The rectory never appears to have drawn any income from great tithes and possessed no glebe.
There were at least six chantries in the church. Licence was granted in 1311 to Thomas de Alwarthorpe to alienate lands for the foundation of a chantry at the altar of St. Mary; the chantry was still being served in 1418 when a presentation was made to it but is not recorded at the Dissolution. (fn. 87) Similar licence was granted to the executors of Andrew de Bolyngbrok in 1316 for founding another chantry at the same altar, for the souls of Andrew and Stephen de Bolyngbrok. The chantry appears to have been refounded in 1472; it was known in 1546 as the chantry for Stephen Bolyngbrok when its clear value was £3 18s. 3½d. (fn. 88) Similar licence was granted to Henry de Belton in 1337 to build on a plot of land in the graveyard of the church and apply the improved plot to the foundation of a chantry also at the altar of St. Mary. The chantry appears to have survived until at least 1502 but by the Dissolution had probably been absorbed into the other chantry at the same altar. (fn. 89) Similar licence was granted to Robert de Ampleford in 1378 to alienate lands to the chapter who were to provide a chaplain at the altar of St. Peter and who held the advowson. The chantry was valued at £5 4s. 8d. clear in 1535, £4 17s. 10¼d. in 1546, and £5 2s. in 1548: the income was derived solely from a payment of the chapter of £5 13s. 4d. a year. (fn. 90) Similar licence was granted in 1383 to Iseult, relict of John de Acastre, who founded the chantry at the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr three years later. In 1535 the clear value was £4 13s. 2d., in 1546 £4 19s. 6d., and in 1548 £6 13s. 8d. (fn. 91) Similar licence was granted in 1401 to William de Pounfrayt (later Pounfrett) for founding a chantry at the altar of St. John the Baptist and St. Katharine; it was valued at £2 6s. 8d. clear in 1546 and £3 1s. in 1548. (fn. 92)
The church comprises (fn. 93) nave with clerestory, north and south aisles, a vestry on the south side (built in 1855), and a lantern tower surmounting the nave at the western end. The prevailing style is of the late 14th and early 15th centuries though the fabric has been much renovated in modern times; the clerestory and lantern tower were perhaps built between 1475 and 1501. The chancel was removed in 1782 to enlarge the market place in Pavement. The northern and southern parts of the churchyard were removed in the 17th century for street widening so that only a small part remains on the west.
There is a pulpit and sounding board of 1634. The lectern, which comes from St. Crux, is a good example of 15th-century woodwork. On the north door there is a 13th-century handle of which the ring, however, is thought to be modern.
There are four bells of which one is a sanctus bell. (fn. 94) In 1912 the plate comprised, in silver, two cups with covers, a third cup without cover, a salver and two flagons; there were also a pewter flagon and a brass almsdish. (fn. 95) The registers begin in 1554 and are complete; they have been printed up to 1733. (fn. 96)
Amongst rectors of the church were James Raine (1868-96) and his son, Angelo (1937-56), both local antiquaries; John Watson (1896-1925), sub-dean of the minster and an author of Sunday-school books; and George Trevor (1847-68) who is said to be the first clergyman to introduce in York the use of the surplice in the pulpit and to take the 'eastward position' at the altar.
The church had strong links with the corporation: 39 mayors are said to be buried in the church and yard (fn. 97) and the church was from time to time used for meetings of the council in the 15th century. (fn. 98) In 1667 the mayor and aldermen were building themselves a pew in the church to replace that in the minster which they wished to vacate because of a dispute. (fn. 99)
The charger upon which John the Baptist's head had lain was said to be in the church about 1386 but was then surrendered to the 'king's chapel'—presumably the chapel in the castle. (fn. 100)
The church of ALL SAINTS, Peaseholme Green, is first mentioned in a document dated between 1191 and 1206 in terms that suggest that it had been founded early in the 12th century. It was said by the citizens of York to be in the fee of Ralf Nuvel (about whom little else is known) and it is implied that it had been built by his ancestor. (fn. 101) The advowson remained in lay hands: the le Grant family presented in 1275 and 1292 (fn. 102) and were succeeded by the Salvayn family, one of whom had married a le Grant heiress. (fn. 103) Between 1337 and 1469 presentations were made by Nicholas de Langton and his descendants. In 1471 William Eure presented and in 1515 the assigns of Christopher Danby. (fn. 104) In 1582 the advowson was owned by Elizabeth Kellet of Heworth. (fn. 105)
The rectory was valued at £4 13s. 4d. in 1291. (fn. 106) In the Valor it was said that the tithes from the vill of Heworth amounted to £4 and those from the city 3s.; oblations were valued at 6s.; the only outgoings were synodals to the archbishop of 16d. (fn. 107) The benefice was valued by the civic authorities at £3 for taxation purposes in 1428. (fn. 108)
Under the Act of Edward VI it was proposed in 1548 to unite two other decayed benefices with All Saints, (fn. 109) but All Saints itself declined during the later 16th century: by 1578 the fabric of the church and the parsonage were decayed, the rector was a pluralist and no sermons were delivered. (fn. 110) Together with St. Helen-on-the-Walls and St. Mary's, Layerthorpe, the benefice was united with St. Cuthbert's in 1586. (fn. 111) In 1590 the ruins of the fabric were sold to Alderman Trew; (fn. 112) in 1736 a small section of wall was said still to be standing. (fn. 113)
The site of the church is marked on the 1852 Ordnance Plan in the Haymarket at the south end of Peaseholme Green; (fn. 114) the site is now covered by the modern roadway known as The Stonebow. Some foundations are said to have been uncovered in 1853 when a weigh-house, now demolished, was built on the site. (fn. 115)
The parish lay within the walls close to the Fish pond of the Foss: it retained a separate identity for secular purposes after 1586 and is marked on the 1852 Plan as a township of St. Cuthbert's. Between 1601 and 1900 it did not, however, have separate overseers and rates were collected with those of St. Cuthbert's and St. Helen-on-the-Walls. The detached portions in Heworth were presumably merged with St. Cuthbert's in the 16th century for nothing is heard of them after that time.
All Saints was probably associated in some informal way in the later Middle Ages with the hospital or house of chantry priests, known as the Holy Priests' House, in Peaseholme Green which had been founded in or before 1386. The house lay at the west end of the church. (fn. 116)
The church of HOLY TRINITY, Goodramgate, is mentioned in charters of 1082 and 1093 as part of the foundation grant of Durham Cathedral Priory. Both charters are said to be forgeries but an early foundation for the church is likely. (fn. 117) The church was confirmed to the priory in a document dated between 1121 and 1128 and in another of 1153 to c. 1160. An agreement of 1174 confirms only a moiety of the church to St. Cuthbert and it was probably only a moiety that was confirmed in the earlier grants. (fn. 118) Like other churches of St. Cuthbert in York, Holy Trinity was assigned to the archdeaconry of Cleveland in an agreement made between 1162 and 1167 but this was probably only a temporary arrangement and the church later lay in the archdeaconry of York. (fn. 119) The other moiety of the church belonged to the archbishops of York. The moieties, which referred only to the patronage of the church, were consolidated between 1234 and 1245 and the advowson henceforth remained with the archbishop; the Crown occasionally presented during vacancies of the see. (fn. 120) It was proposed in 1548 to unite St. John-del-Pyke with Holy Trinity; this was carried out in 1586 and St. Maurice's was included in the union. (fn. 121) The fabric of St. Maurice's was not destroyed, however, and the two churches continued to be served as one cure. The parish comprised a small intra-mural area round the church until St. Maurice's and St. John's were added to it in 1586. The extra-parochial area of Minster Yard with the Bedern was annexed to Holy Trinity in 1869. (fn. 122)
The rectory was not valued in 1291; in 1308 it was said to be worth 10 marks. (fn. 123) In 1535 the clear value was £4 7s. 4d.: tithe of hay amounted to 8s. and personal tithes to 53s. 4d.; the balance consisted of oblations. (fn. 124) In 1649 £1 a year was received as rent of the parsonage house and £8 a year from a house in Ogleforth that had presumably been part of the endowment of St. John-del-Pyke. (fn. 125) In 1665 the common reputed value was £30. (fn. 126) In 1716 two gardens in the churchyard paid 10s. and two seats in the chancel each paid 10s. a year; the remainder of the income derived from fees and offerings; to this income were added tithes of gardens and closes in St. Maurice's parish amounting to £5 2s. 4d. together with fees and offerings there. (fn. 127) In 1764 the rectory income was much the same; the only parsonage house was in del-Pyke parish but was in good order and occupied by the incumbent; an augmentation from Queen Anne's Bounty of £200 in 1737 was found in 1746 to have been intended for Holy Trinity, Micklegate, and was withdrawn. (fn. 128) The church was augmented by lot from the Bounty in 1779 and 1801. (fn. 129) These sums were laid out in lands at Gate Fulford (E.R.) and Clifton and produced a total rent of £22 1s. 7d. in 1825. (fn. 130) The benefice was augmented from the parliamentary fund by lot by £400 in 1816 and £600 in 1819; a similar grant of £900 was made in 1822 to meet a benefaction of £400 by the rector and £200 by the inhabitants of St. Maurice's parish. In 1825 this was laid out in 4 per cent. stock: £1,100 of the capital had been appropriated 'to the increase of duty in the consolidated parishes'. (fn. 131) At that time half-yearly collections were made instead of one at Easter, and £2 was received for reading on Easter Sunday a will containing a benefaction to the poor. (fn. 132) The benefice was endowed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1844 with £10 a year from the Common Fund and in 1870 with £179 a year; it was said to be worth £250 in 1863. The commissioners made a grant of £600 towards a parsonage house in 1880. (fn. 133)
There were three chantries in the church. Licence was granted by the archbishop in 1315 for William de Langetoft, a vicar in the minster, to erect buildings in the churchyard, the rents of which should support a chantry at the altar of the Virgin. The founder held the advowson until his death when it fell to the parishioners. (fn. 134) In 1546, when it was called the chantry of Ely Wannesworthe, and in 1548 the rents from the tenements came to £1 12s., which was the total income of the chantry; this income seems to have been applied to augment the income of Holme's chantry. (fn. 135) The eleven tenements in the churchyard were known as Lady's Row in 1548 and survive with elements of the original structures still contained within them. (fn. 136) Licence for the alienation of lands for the foundation of a chantry at the altar of St. Nicholas was granted to Elias de Wandesford in 1323. (fn. 137) In 1546 and 1548 the income was £1 4s. and the chantry was said to be served on 'principal days' only because the living was insufficient to find a priest. (fn. 138) The corporation united this chantry, under the name St. Nicholas and St. Martin, with Langetoft's in 1496, but this does not seem to have taken permanent effect. (fn. 139) Licence for the alienation of lands to found a chantry at the altar of St. James the Apostle was granted to Robert de Houom (later Holme and mayor in 1368) in 1361. (fn. 140) In 1546 the chantry income amounted to £3 2s. 4d. and in 1548 to £4 8s. 4d. (fn. 141)
The church comprises (fn. 142) a nave with north and south aisles, a south chapel, porch, vestry, and tower with pack-saddle roof. The nave and aisles form three gables of equal height. The prevailing style is of the 15th century; the nave was enlarged by arcading and throwing out side aisles probably early in the 14th century. The west tower is of later construction, as is the chapel of the Holme chantry which projects from the south aisle, west of the door. Built into the north-east angle of the chapel is a squint.
The glass in the east window is dated about 1472 and there is some ancient glass in the east windows of the north and south aisles, but most of the other glass is modern. The two-stage pulpit is of 1785, the altar piece of 1721; the late-18th- or early-19thcentury box pews have not been removed; there are handsome communion rails of the 17th century. The church has suffered no major 19th-century restoration and in 1958 was the only church in the city that might be said to retain an 18th-century air. The impression is enhanced by the entrance to the churchyard, which was built in 1766 and has gates made in 1815.
There are three bells. (fn. 143) The plate comprised in 1912 a silver cup with cover, a paten, a flagon, and a brass alms-dish; two pewter jugs, inscribed 1782, were for use when the parish bounds were ceremonially perambulated. A tin alms-dish was recorded in 1764. (fn. 144) The registers begin in 1573 and are complete: they have been printed. (fn. 145) Churchwardens' accounts for 1559 to 1819 and a constable's book for 1735 to 1794 (from which extracts have been printed), (fn. 146) and poor-rate assessments for 1753 to 1821 have been deposited, with the registers, in the York Diocesan Registry at St. Anthony's Hall.
The church of HOLY TRINITY, King's Court, which was frequently known as Christ Church, is first mentioned in 1268 when its rector was ordained sub-deacon. (fn. 147) Nothing is known of its foundation. The advowson was in the hands of Roger Basy in 1301 (fn. 148) and remained with the Basy family throughout the 14th century. (fn. 149) It had passed to the Nevill family by 1412 when Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmorland, was granted licence to alienate it to St. Michael's Hospital at Well (N.R.), a foundation of his ancestor, Ralph Nevill. (fn. 150) Two years later it was fully appropriated to the hospital and a vicarage ordained. (fn. 151) The hospital was refounded after the Dissolution and the advowson of Holy Trinity remained with the master; the rectory formed part of the estate supporting the hospital. (fn. 152)
The church was untouched by the 16th-century union of benefices; the parish and benefice were united with St. Sampson's in 1886 and the church seems to have gone out of use then, although the fabric was not demolished until 1937. (fn. 153) The parish was a small area round the church in the heart of the city.
The rectory was valued at £6 13s. 4d. in 1291. (fn. 154) Upon the appropriation to Well Hospital and the ordination of the vicarage in 1414, the hospital was to pay the archbishop a pension of 13s. 4d. and the chapter one of 10s.; the sum of 3s. 4d. was to be distributed yearly by the hospital amongst the poor of the parish. The vicar was to receive a stipend of 12 marks a year from the hospital and be liable only for finding floor covering for the church. (fn. 155) The hospital was still paying the same stipend to the vicar in 1535. (fn. 156) In 1649 there was no incumbent and the income amounted to only 10s. a year; in 1664 the common reputed value was £12 10s. (fn. 157) In 1716 the vicar received £11 from nine anniversary sermons and 10s. from a house at the end of The Shambles together with fees and quarterly payments from the parishioners, instead of oblations. (fn. 158) A legacy to the church was met by an augmentation from Queen Anne's Bounty in 1764 and laid out in land at Great Cowden near Hornsea (E.R.) in 1800. (fn. 159) The benefice was augmented from the Bounty by lot in 1810 and with £1,200 from the parliamentary fund by lot in 1815. This second sum was laid out in land at Tickhill (W.R.) in 1825. (fn. 160) In 1863 the benefice was said to be worth only £87. (fn. 161)
Five chantries are known to have existed in the church. Licence to alienate lands for the foundation of a chantry was granted to Nicholas de Langton, the elder—mayor in 1297 and 1306. (fn. 162) Similar licence was granted to his son Nicholas (many times mayor between 1322 and 1342) in 1328 for a chantry at the altar of St. John the Evangelist. (fn. 163) Whether this was to found a new chantry or to augment his father's is not clear. In 1378, when the chantry was augmented by a rent, it was described as being at the altar of St. Katharine. (fn. 164) In 1535 the chantry was described as of the foundation of John Langton and worth £4 a year clear. (fn. 165) In 1546 it was said to be at the altar of St. John the Baptist and to have been founded by John, son of Nicholas de Langton, mayor between 1353 and 1363, on '20 May 1 Richard II, 1364'; it was worth £6 9s. 10d. clear in 1546 and about a pound less in 1548. (fn. 166)
Licence to alienate lands for the foundation of a chantry at the altar of St. James was granted to Roger de Roston (or Royston) in 1321; (fn. 167) chaplains were still being appointed to the chantry in 1424. (fn. 168) Similar licence was granted in 1359 to Roger de Hovyngham, mayor in 1366, for a chantry at the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr; the chaplains of the chantry obtained a further licence in 1370 to augment the chantry by some rents devised to it under Hovyngham's will. (fn. 169) A chantry at this altar is described by Torre as the Percy chantry; he lists presentations of chaplains between 1374 and 1529 of which the greater part were made by the Percy family. (fn. 170) Similar licence was granted to 'parsons in the choir of the minster' as feoffees for Richard de Barneby in 1378 for the foundation of a chantry at the altar of St. Peter and St. Paul for the souls of Richard and others. (fn. 171) The advowson remained with the chapter. (fn. 172) The clear value of the chantry was £5 8s. in 1546 and 1548, the income being derived solely from a pension of the chapter of £6 at the hands of the clerk of works. (fn. 173) A chantry founded by Margaret Boynton is mentioned in 1535 and was then worth 15s. clear; this appears to have been united with the Langton chantry by 1546. (fn. 174)
Something is known of two churches (fn. 175) that have been erected on the site: the ancient building which was demolished in 1861 and its successor, demolished in 1937. The ancient church (see plate facing p. 387) comprised a nave with north and south aisles and a 60-foot tower with a clock; the prevailing style was of the 14th century, with 15th-century additions. Two chantry chapels on the north side were removed in 1767 to make room for the hay market and a triangular piece was cut off the church in 1829 to widen Colliergate. The church had been richly adorned with stained glass but this was removed between 1763 and 1770.
This structure was, with the exception of the east wall, entirely rebuilt in 1861. The architect, Rawlins Gould of York, adopted Decorated style for the new church, which had the same ground plan as the old with the addition of a vestry and north and south porches. The new church quickly fell into disuse after the union with St. Sampson's; about 1896 some parishioners who had charge of the keys used it to house a small flock of sheep until they were ready for slaughter. The furnishings were later removed; an altar table was placed in a side chapel of St. Mary's, Bishophill, Junior; the organ and pulpit, said to be Jacobean work, went to Poppleton (W.R.). The building was not demolished until 1937.
There were six bells. (fn. 176) The ancient plate of the church was melted down in 1877 to make a modern service, but two salvers were recovered in the early 20th century. (fn. 177) The registers are complete from 1716 and have been printed with some additions from archbishops' transcripts from 1631. (fn. 178)
The church of HOLY TRINITY, Micklegate, also called Christ Church, (fn. 179) belonged in 1086 to Richard son of Erfast. (fn. 180) It later came into the hands of Ralph Paynell (fn. 181) and was given by him to the abbey of Marmoutier (Bas-Rhin) as the church of the cell of that house which he founded in York. (fn. 182) According to Paynell's foundation charter the church had formerly been served by a community of canons, but was then almost reduced to nothing.
It is to be supposed that Christ Church had served the religious needs of the neighbourhood from its foundation. Nothing is known of the manner in which those needs were served after the foundation of the priory until 1280 when a priest was instituted to the church of St. Nicholas in the porch of Holy Trinity. (fn. 183) In 1289 a priest was inducted into the vicarage of the church of Holy Trinity (fn. 184) and another in 1304 to the vicarage of the altar of St. Nicholas in the church of Holy Trinity. (fn. 185) Between 1307 and 1311 the priory's title to the church was disputed by a descendant of Paynell but without success. (fn. 186) Three more institutions to the vicarage of the church of Holy Trinity occur in the 14th century; in 1372 one to the vicarage of the church of St. Nicholas in Micklegate; in 1408 one to the perpetual vicarage of the altar of St. Nicholas in the porch of the monastery of St. Trinity; and in 1430 two presentations described in much the same terms. (fn. 187)
In 1452 a will describes St. Nicholas's as juxta the conventual church. (fn. 188) In 1453 the priory agreed to allow the parishioners of St. Nicholas's to build a tower for their church on the gable ('pynyon') of the priory church. (fn. 189) Two years later the appropriation of the church of Holy Trinity was confirmed to the priory who were given licence to have the cure of the church at the altar of St. Nicholas therein served by any secular priest or chaplain at their pleasure. (fn. 190)
The explanation (fn. 191) of these documents seems to be as follows. The church given to the Benedictines by Paynell was used for a time as the priory church. The new priory church was built adjacent to the ancient church and in such a way that the ancient church, which was probably small and in a ruinous state, came to form part of the priory church. The local inhabitants continued to use the church they had always known even if it now appeared to form part of a priory: they related their devotions to an altar dedicated to St. Nicholas within this building. At least from the 13th century onwards secular priests were appointed to serve the parochial needs. The different terms used at their institutions reflect the lack of physical distinction between parish and priory churches which to contemporary eyes formed one building. Equally, the institutions reflect clearly the fact that a parish of Holy Trinity existed and that its church was that which had been the centre of a religious district before Paynell gave it to the Benedictines, however ruinous it might have become and however much it might appear to be no more than an adjunct of the priory church.
Holy Trinity Priory surrendered at the end of 1538. (fn. 192) How soon the parishioners began to use the nave of the priory church—it may, indeed, have been this they used before the suppression—is not known. The church of St. Nicholas is not mentioned in the plan of union of churches of 1548. In 1586, however, the city united the church of St. Nicholas with that of Holy Trinity and the parish is thereafter known as Holy Trinity. (fn. 193) Presumably the remains of St. Nicholas's had by this time become ruinous and the parishioners seized the opportunity to claim the nave of the priory church, the choir and transepts having already fallen into the hands of depredators. (fn. 194)
The advowson of the vicarage passed to the Crown at the Dissolution and was transferred to the archbishop in 1868. (fn. 195) St. John's, Ouse Bridge End, was united with Holy Trinity in 1934 and, in 1953, St. Martin-cum-Gregory. (fn. 196)
The 'rectory of the church of Holy Trinity' was valued at £6 13s. 4d. in 1291. (fn. 197) In 1341 the valuation was the same but 13s. 4d. had been lost in tithes of hay. (fn. 198) What is meant by the valuations is not clear. It is possible that they represent tithes from those lands of Holy Trinity which, after the Dissolution, were associated with the parish—the lands immediately outside the walls and the detached portions in Dringhouses and Knapton. The valuation is only slightly more than the pension paid by the priory to the so-called cantarist of St. Nicholas's. Tithes derived from these lands were commuted in 1841 and 1839 respectively; 401 a. of land in Knapton, mostly arable, were commuted for £132; 280 a. of arable, 252 a. of meadow and pasture, and 9 a. of wood in Dringhouses (where 106 a. were exempt from tithe) were commuted for £130. (fn. 199)
How the priest serving the cure of St. Nicholas's was paid during the Middle Ages is not known. In 1535 the king's commissioners appear to have considered St. Nicholas's as a chantry in the priory church—a not unreasonable error under the circumstances—to which the priory paid a pension of £5 6s. 8d. (fn. 200) A similar arrangement may have subsisted from the earliest times. After the suppression of the priory the Crown took over the responsibility for this pension, which in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries formed the principal emolument of the vicarage. (fn. 201) In 1716 there were no glebe lands and no tithes, great or small, were paid to the vicar; besides the Crown pension, the only other income comprised offerings and fees. (fn. 202) In 1764 the Crown pension had been reduced by 10s.; Easter offerings were not demanded because biennial collections came to 'much more'; interest was received on an augmentation from Queen Anne's Bounty pending investment in land. (fn. 203) This augmentation had been made by lot in 1737; two more by lot were received in 1767 and 1795 and £800 from the parliamentary fund by lot in 1813. (fn. 204) In 1825 these first three sums had been laid out in land at Scrayingham (E.R.) and Huntington (N.R.); the parliamentary grant was invested for the time being. (fn. 205) The benefice was endowed with £20 a year by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1867 and in the following year was said to be worth £138; a further endowment of £16 13s. 4d. was obtained in 1882. (fn. 206)
A chantry was founded in St. Nicholas's in or before 1384 by John de Esshton (sometimes Eschton). (fn. 207) By 1495 the chantry had decayed and its emoluments were united with those of the chantry of St. Mary's, Bishophill, Senior, for a time. (fn. 208) Eight years later the parishioners petitioned the corporation to reform the chantry but with what success is not known (fn. 209) and the chantry is not recorded after that date.
Thomas Nelson founded a chantry at the altar of St. Thomas by deed of 1474; the chantry was probably in the priory church. (fn. 210) It was valued at £2 clear in 1535 and £4 19s. in 1546 and 1548. (fn. 211) The commissioners of 1546 claimed that the chantry was needed because there was only a curate whose stipend was paid by the Crown. He was without help for ministration in the church and parish except for the chantry priest. (fn. 212)
As has been explained, the church comprises the nave of the priory church and a tower rebuilt from older materials by the parishioners in 1453. The nave arches and the triforium arcade are late-12thcentury work and other work of this date is predominant in the church. A chancel was constructed in 1886. The west end was reconstructed in 1905 to the designs of C. H. Fowler; a 19th-century gallery and plaster ceiling were removed at the same time. Nothing remains of ancient glass. The font cover is dated 1717. There is a monument to John Burton (1710-71), church historian, author of Monasticon Eboracense (1758) and the model for Sterne's Dr. Slop. (fn. 213)
There are two bells. (fn. 214) The plate comprises, in silver, a cup, a paten, and a flagon, and a modern chalice and paten; there is a brass alms-dish. (fn. 215)
The registers begin in 1585 and are printed up to 1753 for marriages and 1777 for baptisms and burials. (fn. 216) There are churchwardens' accounts for 1682-1774 and rate-books from 1775 to 1867.
The parish of Holy Trinity comprised after the 16th century, and in some sense perhaps before, a long arm of land extending from the church across the city wall on the east of the Tadcaster road, together with detached portions comprising the West Riding townships of Dringhouses and Knapton.
There were two chapels of ease to the parish. St. James's Chapel on The Mount is probably that granted by Stephen to the Priory in a charter which cannot be more closely dated than to his reign. (fn. 217) In a document of 1150-4 (which probably precedes the charter) Stephen notified the citizens of York of his gift of the land on which the gallows had stood (being of his demesne) to St. James's Chapel and its clerks. (fn. 218) The chapel occurs eo nomine in the papal confirmation of the priory possessions of 1166-79. (fn. 219)
The chapel seems to have served as a place of burial for executed felons. One such was pardoned in 1280 because on being carried to the chapel for burial he was found to be alive. (fn. 220) Executed criminals were still being buried in the vicinity of the chapel in the 16th century. (fn. 221)
The chapel was granted to Leonard Beckwith at the Dissolution, with other Holy Trinity property, and appears to have fallen into disuse and ruin. (fn. 222) The chapel probably lay on the east side of the Tadcaster road at the highest point of The Mount; the last traces were removed during road widening at the time when Drake was writing his history of the city in 1735-6. (fn. 223) In such a position the chapel was a natural landmark in the Middle Ages: processions for the installation of a new archbishop began from the chapel (fn. 224) and it occurs frequently in boundary descriptions.
A chapel of ease dedicated to St. Helen and built by the inhabitants of Dringhouses is recorded in the chantry certificates of 1546 and 1548 as lying in St. Nicholas's or Trinity parish. (fn. 225) This chapel appears to have survived the Reformation and was replaced by another building in 1725. (fn. 226) This second building comprised nave, chancel, and a chapel on the south side; there was a gallery at the west end and a circular arch between the nave and the chancel. The present church was built between 1847 and 1849; it was consecrated in the latter year and the dedication changed to ST. EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. The church was built of stone in Decorated style by the widow of Revd. Edward Trafford Leigh for the benefit of her tenants. (fn. 227) It consists of chancel and nave with a porch on the north at the west end, and a sacristy to the south of the chancel. Vickers and Hugill of Pontefract were the architects. (fn. 228) The parish was formed as a consolidated chapelry out of Holy Trinity parish with additions from St. Mary's, Bishophill, Senior, and Acomb in 1853. (fn. 229) The living is a vicarage in the gift of the archbishop.
The church of ST. ANDREW, Fishergate, is first mentioned in a grant of the early to mid-12th century when it was given by Roger de Mowbray to Newburgh Priory (N.R.). (fn. 230) About 1200 the church was included in the foundation of St. Andrew's Gilbertine Priory. (fn. 231) The documents concerned with the two grants appear to refer to the same church, but how it left the hands of Newburgh is not explained. Nothing is known about the parochial functions of the church before 1200; it does not appear to have exercised any after its appropriation to the Gilbertines. (fn. 232) After the 16th century the site of the priory was deemed to be part of St. Lawrence's parish.
The church of ST. ANDREW, St. Andrewgate, has been identified with the church of that dedication mentioned in Domesday (fn. 233) rather than with St. Andrew's Priory in Fishergate, which appears not to have been founded until c. 1200. The church probably came into the hands of the chapter at the time of the reformation of Thomas of Bayeux and was considered to be appropriated to the cathedral church. It occurs amongst those confirmed to the chapter in 1194. (fn. 234)
No vicarage appears to have been ordained but in 1294 a vicar is mentioned when he was said to have all the profits of the church and pay the chapter a pension of 2s. annually. (fn. 235) Between 1331 and 1443, and probably for longer, St. Andrew's was dependent upon St. Martin's, Coney Street, and formed part of the emoluments of the vicar of that church. (fn. 236) The church is not mentioned in the lists of 1291 or in the Valor but the benefice was valued by city tax collectors in 1428 at £3 6s. 8d. (fn. 237)
Burials in the church have been noticed up to 1547. (fn. 238) In 1548 it was proposed to unite the benefice with All Saints, Peaseholme, (fn. 239) but in 1586 it was united with St. Saviour's. (fn. 240) In 1573 the bridgemasters of the city were absolved from collecting a rent for the churchyard because the Crown had taken up its right to the property. (fn. 241) Whether this included the church itself is not known.
Drake, writing in 1736, said the building had 'had the honour to have been converted into a stable at one end, and a brothel at the other'. (fn. 242) The buildings were used between c. 1736 and 1833 by St. Peter's School. (fn. 243) In 1842 it was said to be used as an infant school of St. Peter's. (fn. 244) In 1956 the chancel, which was probably reconstructed in the 16th century, was occupied as a dwelling house; the nave was used for meetings of the Brethren. (fn. 245) The character of the building is no longer discernible, but there are traces of 15th-century stonework and some timber framing that formerly supported a small wooden bell-turret.
The parish comprised a small area surrounding the church and entirely within the city walls. After the union of 1586 the parish retained its identity for secular purposes until 1900 and was marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852.
The church of ST. BENET is first mentioned in 1154 when, together with St. Sampson's, it was given by Stephen to Pontefract Priory. It was then said to have been formerly in the hands of William, son of Rainer, a king's clerk. (fn. 246) This grant may have been revoked. The church is later associated with the vicars choral of the minster, to whom St. Sampson's was granted in the 14th century. (fn. 247) Nothing is known of the history of the church in the 13th century although the parish is several times mentioned. (fn. 248) By 1338 the fabric had so far decayed as to have become a refuse heap, and a mortmain licence was obtained by the archbishop to use the land in support of the chantries of the minster. (fn. 249) This plan was not executed and in 1359 a further licence was obtained to assign the plot on which the church had stood to the vicars choral, (fn. 250) amongst whose endowments it remained until they were taken over by the Church Commissioners. (fn. 251) The church was no doubt close to, or upon a site at the junction of the present Grape Lane and Swinegate, known in 1852 as 'Bennet's Rents'. (fn. 252) No trace of the parish has survived.
The priory church of ST. CLEMENT appears to have served for parochial purposes in and around Clementhorpe but nothing is known of it until 1464 when the feast of dedication was changed because it fell on St. William's day when the parishioners attended the minster. (fn. 253) The number of parishioners in this extra-mural area was perhaps never large: for taxation purposes Clementhorpe was counted with St. Mary, Bishophill, Senior, from the 14th to the 16th centuries (fn. 254) and it was with this church and parish that Clementhorpe was united in 1586. (fn. 255) The church was apparently not used after the suppression of the nunnery and in 1548 the corporation agreed that the mayor should offer it for sale. (fn. 256) It is not known what happened to the fabric: a ruined structure was still to be seen in the early 18th century. (fn. 257)
In 1087 the church of ST. CRUX, Pavement, was held by the Count of Mortain who had given it to Osbern, son of Boson. (fn. 258) This grant was later revoked by the Count, and the church, together with various York properties, given to Niel Fossard. (fn. 259) The advowson was given by Niel to St. Mary's Abbey by a deed dated between c. 1100 and c. 1115. (fn. 260) St. Mary's acquired several properties in Fossgate and in the vicinity of the church from the same source. (fn. 261) Adam, the first named parson of the church, is mentioned in a document dated between 1175 and 1190. (fn. 262) The right to the advowson was questioned by an heir of Niel in 1200 and the suit was settled in 1207 in favour of St. Mary's (fn. 263) who retained the advowson until the Dissolution, when it passed to the Crown. (fn. 264) In 1349 and 1405 the abbey waived its right of presentation in favour of the Crown. (fn. 265) The patronage was transferred to the archbishop in 1868. (fn. 266) The church was untouched by the 16th-century reorganization; it was united with All Saints', Pavement, in 1885, (fn. 267) and the fabric demolished in 1887. (fn. 268) The parish lay entirely within the city walls and comprised a small area round the church and southeast of it down to the Foss.
The rectory was valued at £5 in 1291; an annual pension of £1 was paid to St. Mary's. (fn. 269) In 1535 the rectory was valued at £8 16s. 8d. comprising £7 8s. lenten tithes and the remainder in oblations; the pension to St. Mary's was still £1. (fn. 270) In 1649 the parsonage house was valued at £3 a year and £9 10s. was contributed by several persons towards the maintenance of the minister. (fn. 271) In 1716 the principal part of the income was derived from voluntary quarterly offerings by the parishioners; £7 4s. from a gift of Sir Robert Watter, twice lord mayor of the city, and £4 10s. from anniversary sermons. (fn. 272) In 1764 the income was much the same but £5 was also received from the feoffees of the parish for reading prayers each evening throughout the year. (fn. 273) The living was augmented by £1,400 from Queen Anne's Bounty by lot from the parliamentary fund in 1814; in 1825 this sum was invested. (fn. 274) The living was endowed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners out of the Common Fund with £32 a year in 1844 and £33 6s. 8d. in 1877. In 1868 the gross income was said to be £120. (fn. 275) There appear never to have been any great tithes or glebe associated with the rectory.
There were at least five chantries in the church. Institutions to a chantry at the altar of the Virgin, founded by Adam Nayron, are recorded between 1307 and 1521 but the chantry does not occur in the Valor or in the returns of 1546. The advowson was held by the city. (fn. 276) Licence to alienate lands for the support of a chantry at the same altar was granted to Robert Meek in 1316. (fn. 277) The founder of the chantry at this altar was unknown in 1546 when it was valued at £1 19s. clear: it had been valued at 10s. in 1535. (fn. 278) The advowson of the chantry was the subject of transactions between York citizens in 1347 and 1367. (fn. 279) Licence to alienate lands to found a chantry in the church was granted to Thomas Durante in 1332. (fn. 280) There were two Durante chantries in the church in 1546: one was at the altar of Our Lady and All Saints, founded by Thomas Durante in 1338 and valued at £3 8s. clear; the other had been founded by Thomas Durante the younger at the altar of St. John the Baptist and was worth £1 6s. 11d. clear. (fn. 281) A chantry at the altar of Our Lady and St. Thomas the Apostle was founded by John Carden in 1407; in 1546 it was valued at £1 19s. 4d. clear. (fn. 282) The chantry is elsewhere spoken of as being founded by John Berden and in the patronage of the Gascoignes of Gawthorpe (W.R.), who presented between 1452 and 1486. (fn. 283) A chantry at the altar of St. Katherine is mentioned as the most valuable in the church in 1535: it is mentioned again in a will of 1537 but has not otherwise been identified. (fn. 284)
The church which survived into the 19th century (fn. 285) was probably built early in the fifteenth. It was larger and loftier than was usual in York city churches and comprised a nave, north and south aisles, and a tower at the south-west corner. There was a welldeveloped clerestory to the nave. The tower was rebuilt in brick in the late 17th century and a cupola placed on top. The west end of the nave and the aisles had also been reconstructed in later times. By the 1880's the structure needed complete restoration: it was partially taken down in 1884 but the rebuilding was never begun and the ruin remained until, in 1887, it was cleared away. Out of the materials was built a parish room which occupies part of the site of the church.
There was a 15th-century lectern in the church, now in All Saints', Pavement. The church contained monuments to the Herbert family whose house lay almost opposite in Pavement; there was a large monument to Sir Tancred Robinson (d. 1754). The remains of Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, beheaded in York in 1572, lay in the church.
There were two bells, one inscribed 1523 and probably of Dutch or Flemish make. They were placed in the Yorkshire Museum when the church was demolished. In 1764 there were three bells in a peal which had been repaired and rehung in 1759 together with a small bell out of repair: one large bell and the small one had disappeared by 1825. (fn. 286) The plate comprised two silver cups, two silver patens, and a silver flagon. Two pewter flagons and a brass alms-dish were reported in 1764 and 1825 but have disappeared: a small chalice reported in 1764 was perhaps exchanged for one of the cups that have survived. (fn. 287) The registers begin in 1539 and are complete: they have been printed up to 1716. (fn. 288)
In 1087 William de Percy held the church of ST. CUTHBERT, Peaseholme Green, of Earl Hugh. (fn. 289) The church is not again mentioned until an institution is recorded in 1238 when the advowson belonged to Holy Trinity Priory. (fn. 290) The priory retained the advowson until the Dissolution, the Crown presenting on three occasions in the 14th century when the priory was sequestrated as an alien house. (fn. 291) The advowson passed to the Crown at the Dissolution and was transferred to the archbishop in 1868. (fn. 292) Sir Martin Bowes, Lord Mayor of London in 1545, who was instrumental in obtaining the Act for uniting the York churches and who was a native of the parish, made a plea in 1547 that the church should be preserved. (fn. 293) This was done and under the Act of that year it was proposed to unite St. Mary's, Layerthorpe, and St. Helen's, Aldwark, with St. Cuthbert's; All Saints', Peaseholme, was added to these when the union finally took place in 1586. (fn. 294)
The rectory was not valued in 1291 or in the Valor. It was apparently much decayed in value in the 16th century: in agreeing in 1561 to preserve the church, the corporation reminded Sir Martin Bowes that it remained very poor and begged gifts for it: (fn. 295) twenty years later the corporation granted £1 yearly for ten years towards repairs of the fabric but nothing is said of augmenting the benefice. (fn. 296) In 1649 the rectory was said to comprise a parsonage house, tithes in Heworth, and other profits, £30 in all, one of the three highest valuations of the survey of that date. (fn. 297) In 1716 great and small tithes in Heworth and York were let for £25 a year; glebe land and properties comprising 4½ a. of the parson's close and a house and orchard were let altogether for £8 10s.; rents from churchyards (of the united churches), of Layerthorpe Postern, and a garden amounted to £2; the remainder of the income was derived from fees, offerings, and 4s. from Sir Martin Bowes's charity. (fn. 298) The income in 1764 was much the same: some properties and two closes in Heworth were let at £12 and the tithes were then collected by the rector and valued at £28. (fn. 299) The income was the same in 1825. (fn. 300) The tithes in the extra-mural portion of the parish in and around Heworth were commuted for £180 under an award of 1845. The lands had comprised 133 a. of arable and 387 a. of meadow and pasture. (fn. 301) The living was endowed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners between 1864 and 1866 with a total of £242 a year of which £103 was a temporary endowment. The gross income was said to be £347 in 1868 together with a house. (fn. 302) The living was never augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty.
No chantries are recorded in the church. Sir Martin Bowes was thinking of founding one in 1556 but was presumably frustrated by the illegality of the enterprise. (fn. 303)
The church comprises (fn. 304) a nave with a tower at the west end; the porch and vestry are modern. Except for part of the east wall, which is 11th-century work, the building is of about 1500. It appears to be an enlargement of the earlier structure, the north wall being carried 8 or 9 ft. beyond the former one and the whole being covered with a ribbed roof in a single, arched span. The church was restored between 1911 and 1912, when an arch was built over the east end of the nave floor to support a raised altar area.
The altar table, pulpit, and reading desk are of the early 17th century. There are fragments of ancient glass in some of the windows. There is a mutilated altar slab in the sunk recess at the east end of the church. The parents of General James Wolfe worshipped in the church between 1724 and 1726.
There are two bells. (fn. 305) The plate comprises two cups and a paten. (fn. 306) The registers begin in 1581 and are said to be complete; there are 19th-century churchwardens' accounts and some 19th-century rate-books have been deposited in York Public Library. (fn. 307)
In 1852 the parish comprised an intra-mural area around the church and a large detached portion in Heworth. The Heworth portion of the parish may partly represent the parish of St. Mary, Layerthorpe, and the detached portions of All Saints', Peaseholme, for these parishes were merged with St. Cuthbert's upon, or shortly after, the union of the benefices in 1586. The intra- and extra-mural portions of St. Helen-on-the-Walls and the intra-mural portion of All Saints', Peaseholme, retained a separate identity for secular purposes until 1900, although separate overseers were not appointed. The detached portions of the parish were annexed to Holy Trinity, Heworth, when a Consolidated Chapelry was formed there in 1870. (fn. 308) The extent of the medieval parish cannot be determined, but in view of the poverty of the church in the 16th century it seems unlikely that it held any appreciable tithe in the Heworth area before the union of benefices.
The church of ST. DENYS, Walmgate, is first mentioned in a notification dated between 1154 and c. 1170 in which Alexander, priest and parson of the church, which had been founded within his patrimony (que fundata est in meo patrimonio), gave the advowson for the support of the poor and infirm within St. Leonard's Hospital. The grant is generally read as an indication that Alexander was an hereditary priest; he was both preceded and succeeded by a William. (fn. 309) St. Leonard's presented to the rectory in 1270 and thereafter until the Dissolution when the advowson passed to the Crown: it was transferred to the archbishop in 1868. (fn. 310) It was proposed in 1548 to unite St. Mary's, Layerthorpe, and St. Helen's, Aldwark, with St. Denys's; in 1586 these two churches were united with St. Cuthbert's, and St. George's was united with St. Denys's. (fn. 311) The benefice (but not the parish) of St. Margaret's, Walmgate (with which had been united in 1586 St. Peterle-Willows) was united with St. Denys's in 1955. (fn. 312) The parish lay south of the Foss and entirely within the city walls.
The rectory was valued at £5 6s. 8d. in 1291. (fn. 313) In 1535 the income of £3 was derived from Lenten tithes and casual oblations. (fn. 314) In 1649 the only income was said to be £4 10s. from the rent of two houses; in 1664 the common reputed value was £10. (fn. 315) In 1716 the income was derived entirely from rents (£5 10s.), mortuaries, and offerings; two anniversary sermons brought in £1. (fn. 316) In 1764 the rector was receiving 10s. from another anniversary sermon and tithes from a garden and from pigs. (fn. 317) The benefice was augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty by £600 by lot from the parliamentary fund in 1814; by 1825 a grant of £660 had been obtained from another, unidentified source. (fn. 318) Between 1843 and 1876 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners endowed the benefice with a total of £155 6s. 8d. and made a grant of £650 for a parsonage house in 1870. (fn. 319) In 1868 the gross income was said to be £149. (fn. 320)
Two chantries in the church, about whose foundation nothing is known, were, in 1535, being supported out of city funds because their foundations had decayed. They were amongst those which the city was permitted to dissolve in the following year. (fn. 321)
The church comprises (fn. 322) a short, narrow nave with wide north and south aisles: this structure was the chancel to a nave that was demolished in 1798. At the same date the spire was removed and the doorway of about 1160 reset in the south chapel or porch. The tower was taken down and rebuilt in 1846. The surviving fabric is a mixture of 13th-, 14th-, and 15th-century styles.
In the north aisle there are windows of exceptionally fine mid-14th-century glass and the westernmost window of the same aisle contains two medallions said to be 12th- or even 11th-century work. The east window of the same aisle contains twenty panels of a 14th-century Tree of Jesse. The east window is a fine 15th-century window depicting St. Denys (fn. 323) and there are other good examples of 15thcentury glass.
The oak pulpit is probably of the early 17th century. A vault of the Percy family probably lies beneath the present south aisle though its position is difficult to determine; in the vault, Henry, Earl of Northumberland, killed at the battle of Towton in 1461, is said to be buried. The town house of the Percies is thought to have stood near the church. (fn. 324) There is a memorial tablet to Dorothy Wilson (d. 1717), a benefactress of the neighbourhood and founder of the charity school on Foss Bridge.
There are three bells. (fn. 325) The plate comprises, in silver, a cup, a flagon, and a paten, and there is a set of pewter ware; there is also a modern silver chalice purchased in 1955. (fn. 326) The registers begin in 1558 and are complete; (fn. 327) there are five 19th-century ratebooks and a book of overseers' accounts for 1848-67.
The church of ST. EDWARD, Lawrence Street, is first mentioned in 1213 when John of Hunmanby was presented to the living by the Crown. (fn. 328) In 1302 the archbishop collated Thomas of Warthill to the rectory, then vacant by the resignation of the previous parson. (fn. 329) Thomas was probably a clerk in the archiepiscopal curia and still held the rectory in 1315. (fn. 330) A John of Warthill was presented to the church by the Crown during a vacancy of the see in 1425 but the occurrence of the name does not seem to be other than fortuitous. (fn. 331)
The church is not mentioned in the valuations of 1291 or 1535, but in 1428 the benefice was assessed by the civic authorities for taxation purposes at £1 6s. 8d.—little more than the minimum possible assessment. (fn. 332)
Burials in the church or churchyard are mentioned in the late 14th century and during the fifteenth, and small legacies towards the maintenance of lights are recorded in 1398 and 1451. (fn. 333) It seems likely that the church had decayed some time before the Act of 1547 for uniting York parishes. No incumbent appears to have been instituted between 1469 and 1504. At the latter date the Prior of Healaugh Park (W.R.) was given the benefice by papal dispensation and he is the last recorded incumbent. (fn. 334) The church was not mentioned in the proposals of 1548 for uniting parishes but in that year the corporation agreed to let the churchyard and church ground to Nicholas Radclyff for life at a rent of 5s. to be paid to the bridgemasters. (fn. 335) The entitlement of the city to the property was denied by the Crown in 1573 and it was sold to William Wentworth. (fn. 336) The benefice was united with that of St. Nicholas, Lawrence Street, in 1586 (fn. 337) and later, together with that benefice, with St. Lawrence's. (fn. 338)
The supposed site of the church is marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852 about 150 yards east of St. Lawrence's Church but on the north side of Lawrence Street. (fn. 339) The site is now occupied by Lansdowne Terrace where remains from the graveyard are said to have been found during building operations. (fn. 340) The parish appears to have been merged with St. Nicholas's after the union of the benefices and has left no trace of its topography.
The church of ST. GEORGE, Fishergate, is first mentioned in 1291 when William Palmes (de la Paume) of Naburn acquired the advowson in exchange for 20s. rent from the mill of Richard of Watervill which had been given to William on his marriage with Richard's daughter, Maud. (fn. 341) In 1286 the archbishop collated James de Cimiterio to the living. (fn. 342) James was a clerk in the archiepiscopal curia and, from 1295 to 1301, Master of the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, Ripon, a foundation of the archbishops of York. (fn. 343) William de Wintringham who followed James was also an official of the curia and Dean of the Christianity of York. (fn. 344) From the time of Wintringham's institution in 1307 until 1348 the Palmes family presented to the living. From that date until 1361 incumbents were presented by the Malbis family who, like the Palmes, held land in Naburn. (fn. 345) In 1363 the Crown presented, probably because the Malbis estates were in escheat. (fn. 346) The Palmes family again presented in 1372. (fn. 347)
In 1382 licence was given to alienate the advowson to Nun Monkton Priory (W.R.). (fn. 348) The temporalities of the church were later appropriated to the priory. A vicarage was ordained at an unknown date and a vicar is first mentioned in 1475. (fn. 349) At the Dissolution the advowson of the vicarage appears to have come again into the hands of the Palmes family. It is possible that by this time St. George's was little used for services and that the vicar exercised his cure at the dependent chapel of Naburn which had been founded in 1474. (fn. 350) The Crown presented in 1556 and 1561. (fn. 351) St. George's was united with St. Denys's in 1586 and for a time the Palmes had a share in the advowson of the united benefices. (fn. 352) After the union St. George's was allowed to become ruinous. The shell was still standing in 1736 and the churchyard was certainly still used to bury Naburn's dead in the 18th century and possibly as late as 1825. (fn. 353) The site of the church is marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852 between George Street and Piccadilly. The parish comprised an area between the walls and the Foss, together with the chapelry of Naburn. The intra-mural portion of the parish retained its identity for secular purposes until 1900 and is marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852. The chapelry of Naburn was separated from the parish of St. George in 1842 and constituted a separate parish. (fn. 354)
The rectory was granted in 1538 to John Nevil, Lord Latimer, (fn. 355) who in 1543 devised it to Well Hospital for 40 years. (fn. 356) In 1580 and 1610 it was the subject of transactions between the coheirs of John, Lord Latimer; (fn. 357) in 1774 it was again in the hands of the Palmes. (fn. 358) Tithes in Naburn, which presumably formed the bulk of the value of the rectory, were commuted by the Commissioners for £49 10s. (fn. 359)
The church was valued at £8 in 1291, and at £6 13s. 4d. in 1535, at which sum it had been let out to farm by Nun Monkton Priory. (fn. 360) The vicarage in 1535 was valued at £3 17s. 8d. including a payment of 2s. on linen and canvas; the vicar made a payment of 13s. 4d. to a chaplain at Naburn. (fn. 361)
A licence to alienate lands for the foundation of a chantry in the church was granted to Nicholas son of Hugh de Sutton of York in 1312 (fn. 362) and another was granted to William Tundu in 1377 to found one at the altar of St. Mary for Hugh de Sutton and his wife and son Nicholas. (fn. 363) Chantry priests were instituted to livings in the church between 1349 and 1448 (fn. 364) but no chantries were recorded in 1546 or 1548. A reference in 1475 to the Vicar of St. George's as ruler and governor of a chantry belonging to the church almost certainly refers to Naburn chapel which had been founded a year earlier. (fn. 365)
Some of the pewter plate recorded as in the chapel at Naburn in 1764 may have belonged to St. George's. (fn. 366) Nothing is known about the bells of the church or about its registers. (fn. 367)
The church of ST. GILES, Gillygate, is first mentioned in a document dated between c. 1145 and 1161 when a messuage in via Sancti Egidii was the subject of a conveyance. (fn. 368) The name occurs on several other occasions during the 12th century (fn. 369) but nothing is known of the foundation or patronage of the church—the fact that no presentations or institutions are recorded may suggest that the church was served from St. Olave's and was deemed to be a chapel in the possession of the abbey. It does not appear in the returns of 1291 or in the Valor. A testamentary burial in the church is recorded in 1442. (fn. 370) It was proposed in 1549 to unite the benefice with that of St. Maurice (fn. 371) but it was eventually united with St. Olave's in 1586. (fn. 372) In 1630 a close in Gillygate called 'St. Giles's Churchyard' was in the possession of George Blackaller. (fn. 373)
A robed image of the Virgin is mentioned in the church in the 15th century and a guild of the Virgin, maintained by the skinners of York, is mentioned in 1442. In 1605 persons who had died in a plague were buried in the churchyard, then in private ownership, and executed criminals were buried there in the late 17th century. (fn. 374)
The church stood close to the present Salvation Army Barracks almost opposite the end of Lord Mayor's Walk. (fn. 375) The parish is marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852 as an area north-west of the walls along the north side of Bootham. Whether this area, which remained as a parish for rating purposes until 1900, represents the medieval parish is not certain. In the 16th and 17th centuries St. Giles's was usually administered with St. Olave's. At least by 1756, however, St. Giles's appears as a separate parish for rating purposes, but how the area was first defined is not known.
The church of ST. GREGORY, Micklegate, is probably first mentioned in a confirmation by Pope Alexander III (dated between 1166 and 1179) of the properties of Holy Trinity Priory. It there occurs as the gift of the church of 'Sancti Brig.' (fn. 376) This confirmation is known only from an early 15th-century copy and it seems likely that 'Brig.', which led Torre and Drake to postulate a church of St. Brigit, is an error for 'Greg.' (fn. 377) The advowson of the rectory does not appear in Ralph Paynell's refoundation charter of the priory dated between 1090 and 1100, but, whatever the interpretation of Alexander's confirmation, it was certainly appropriated to the priory by 1250. (fn. 378) The advowson remained with the priory until the Dissolution, the Crown presenting on many occasions during the 14th century when, as an alien house, Holy Trinity was in the king's hands. (fn. 379)
The church was not assessed in 1291; in the Valor the entry for 'St. George in Magno Vico', (fn. 380) which probably refers to St. Gregory's, gave the value of the rectory as 29s. 10½d. clear, of which tithes of land in Acomb formed 16d. and of orchards and gardens (presumably within the city), 2d. Rent of 18s. was due to the rector from the cottages in the parish which may be those devised to the church in 1408. (fn. 381) No pension to Holy Trinity was recorded. In 1428 the benefice was assessed for taxation purposes by the civic authorities at £2. (fn. 382)
The church did not long survive its patron. Under the Act of Edward VI it was proposed in 1548 to unite the benefice with that of St. Martin's, Micklegate. (fn. 383) In the same year the churchyard and church ground were conveyed to Alderman Bean for 20s. (fn. 384) The benefice was finally united with St. Martin's (which alone among York's united benefices retains the double name) in 1586. (fn. 385)
A licence to alienate lands for founding a chantry in the church was granted to Hugh de Sutton of York in 1313 (fn. 386) but this may refer to St. George's where there was a Sutton chantry at this time. (fn. 387) No chantries are recorded in the returns of 1546 or 1548.
The church lay on the east side of Barker (formerly Gregory) Lane about half-way between Tanner Row and Micklegate. (fn. 388) The parish presumably lay around the church and formed the western part of St. Martin-cum-Gregory. Unlike most of the parishes coming within the union of 1586 it did not retain a separate identity for secular purposes. Nothing is known of the lands in Acomb from which the tithes were derived.
The church of ST. HELEN-ON-THE-WALLS, Aldwark, is first mentioned in a charter of 1194 to 1214 when Thomas of St. Lawrence gave a fourth part of the advowson to the minster. (fn. 389) The chapter's portion is later spoken of as 'half the church' and as such was, between 1331 and 1443, annexed to the emoluments of St. Martin's, Coney Street. (fn. 390) The other moiety of the advowson was owned in 1282 and 1291 by Nicholas le Grant of York who made presentations in those years. (fn. 391) Until 1368 presentations to this moiety were made by the Salvayn and Langton families, more or less alternately, and after that date by Langtons alone. (fn. 392)
In 1548 the cure was being served, at the will of the parson, by a chantry priest from St. Saviour's; (fn. 393) at that time there was a light in the church supported by land worth 20d. a year. (fn. 394) In the same year it was proposed to unite the church with St. Cuthbert's and this was carried out in 1586. (fn. 395)
The Valor valued the rectory at £1 3s. 1½d. clear. (fn. 396) Tithes from the extra-mural portion of the parish were commuted by the commissioners in the early 19th century for £65 but never apportioned. The tithe was then owned by the Prebend of Fridaythorpe. (fn. 397)
The fabric of the church and the churchyard came into the hands of the corporation in 1550. (fn. 398) The site of the church is thought to have been adjacent to the north-west side of the Merchant Tailors' Hall inside the city wall. (fn. 399)
The parish comprised an intra-mural portion round the church and a detached portion outside the walls adjacent to St. Cuthbert's. The intra-mural portion retained its identity for secular purposes until 1900 and both portions were marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852. Despite this, separate overseers were not appointed and the rates were collected with St. Cuthbert's.
The church of ST. HELEN, Fishergate, is first mentioned in Ralph Paynell's refoundation charter of Holy Trinity Priory dated between c. 1090 and 1100. The gift of the church included the toft of the deacon in front of it. (fn. 400) How the church came into Paynell's possession is not known. The patronage of the rectory remained with Holy Trinity until the Dissolution. The Crown presented on several occasions during the 14th century when the priory was in the king's hands because of its alien foundation. (fn. 401)
The church is not mentioned in the returns of 1291 or in the Valor: in 1428 the benefice was assessed for taxation purposes by the civic authorities at the minimum assessment of £1. (fn. 402) In 1548 it was proposed to unite it, together with All Saints', Fishergate, to St. Denys's, (fn. 403) but both parishes were eventually united with St. Lawrence's in 1586. (fn. 404) The churchyard was amongst those disposed of by the city in the 16th century at farm for the bridgemasters; in 1573 the city's entitlement to the property was denied by the Crown and the churchyard sold to William Wentworth. (fn. 405)
The church is said to have stood on the site later occupied by Fishergate School half-way down Winterscale Street. (fn. 406) The parish lay outside the walls south of the city. It did not retain a separate identity for secular purposes after the union with St. Lawrence's and nothing is known of its topography.
The church of ST. HELEN, Stonegate, is first mentioned in 1235 when an incumbent was instituted to the benefice on the presentation of the priory of Moxby (N.R.). (fn. 407) The advowson remained with the priory and in 1400 the church was fully appropriated to it; (fn. 408) a vicarage was ordained shortly after. (fn. 409) The site and many properties of the priory passed to the archbishop at the Dissolution and the rectory was presumably amongst these properties. (fn. 410) The advowson passed to the Crown and was transferred to the archbishop in 1868. (fn. 411)
It was proposed in 1548 to unite the church with St. Sampson's, (fn. 412) or possibly with St. Michael-leBelfrey or St. Martin's, Coney Street. (fn. 413) The fabric and site were sold by the corporation in or before 1552 and the fabric partly demolished. (fn. 414) There had presumably been some opposition to the suppression of the church, for in the first year of Mary's reign an Act was obtained for the parishioners to rebuild the church because it had stood in a 'principal place' and its suppression had 'defaced and deformed' the city. The patronage of the vicarage was vested in the Crown under the Act. (fn. 415) St. Helen's thus escaped the 16th-century reorganization and remained an independent benefice until it was united with St. Martin's, Coney Street, in 1910. (fn. 416) The church remained in use after this date and when St. Martin's was destroyed by enemy action in 1942, became the church in which the incumbent exercised his cure. (fn. 417) The parishes—St. Helen's was a small intra-mural parish contiguous to St. Martin's— were united in 1954. (fn. 418)
The church was not valued in 1291 and no valuation has been found for the rectory in the Middle Ages: in common with most central city churches it was no doubt negligible. In 1535 the vicarage was valued at £4 13s. 9d. comprising personal tithes and oblations; an annual pension of 6s. 8d. was paid to the archbishop and this probably represented the pension paid to Moxby in the 13th century. (fn. 419) In 1649 the only income was said to be the value of the parsonage house at £1 10s.; in 1664 the common reputed value was £5. (fn. 420) In 1716 £3 11s. was derived from rents of small properties; 10s. from an unstated source was payable every St. Mark's Day; the remainder of the income comprised Easter offerings and fees. (fn. 421) The benefice was augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty by lot in 1757 and the money laid out in a close at Wigginton (N.R.) which in 1764 was let at £5 5s. (fn. 422) In the latter year income from other rents comprised £11 2s. 6d. together with an unstated amount from a warehouse in Stonegate; £3 was received for anniversary sermons. (fn. 423) The benefice was further augmented by lot from the Bounty in 1804 and by £1,200 by lot from the parliamentary fund in 1815. (fn. 424) In 1825 £785 of these augmentations had been laid out in three meadows in Heworth, of which part had been exchanged for a house in Stonegate; the remainder was then invested; income from rents had increased to £21 10s. 6d. (fn. 425) In 1868 the income was said to be £126 gross; there was no parsonage house. The benefice was augmented by £13 6s. 8d. a year in 1870 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners from the Common Fund. (fn. 426) On union with St. Martin's, Coney Street, in 1910, part of the benefice was assigned to St. Mary's, Bishophill, Senior. (fn. 427)
There were at least three chantries in the church. Licence to alienate lands for the foundation of a chantry was granted in 1371 to the executors of William de Grantham and William de Santon (or Sampton). (fn. 428) In 1535 a chantry, said to be at the altar of St. John the Baptist, which is probably to be identified with this one, (fn. 429) was valued at 10s. 4d. (fn. 430) In 1546 and 1548 the chantry, then said to be at the altar of the Virgin, was valued at £1 19s. 11½d. clear. (fn. 431) Licence to alienate lands for founding a chantry was granted to the relict and executors of Ralph Hornby in 1379. (fn. 432) The chantry, which was at the altar of St. Michael, was augmented in 1384; (fn. 433) the advowson was in the hands of William Lax, Vicar of Hornsea (E.R.), in 1428. (fn. 434) In 1478 Braithewaite's chantry in St. Martin's, Coney Street, was united with this chantry. (fn. 435) The chantry was valued at £2 clear in 1535, £2 6s. 8d. in 1546, and £2 11s. 8d. in 1548. (fn. 436) A chantry founded by John de Naffington at the altar of the Virgin is mentioned by Torre, who lists chaplains between 1330 and 1356. (fn. 437)
The church comprises (fn. 438) nave with north and south aisles, chancel, vestry, and lantern bell-turret. The building is almost wholly of the 14th century, except the west end which is of the 15th century, but it has all been extensively restored. The octagonal lantern bell-turret is corbelled out at the head of the tall, blind arch at the west end. There is a font of the early 12th century with a later base, and some 14th- and 15th-century stained glass in the west window. The nave and chancel roof have been extensively restored but probably were originally 14th-century work.
There are two bells. (fn. 439) The plate comprises a silver cup, a silver paten, and a brass alms-dish. (fn. 440) The registers begin in 1568 and are complete; there are overseers' accounts for 1763 to 1808.
The church of ST. JOHN-DEL-PYKE, Ogleforth, is first mentioned in a document dated between 1108 and 1114 when Archbishop Thomas II enfeoffed Hubert the Chamberlain and his son with the church and lands adjacent to it. (fn. 441) Robert, the priest of the church, occurs in a document of 1160-5. (fn. 442) The advowson of the rectory appears to have come into the hands of the treasurer of the minster by 1350 (fn. 443) or possibly before. (fn. 444) St. Mary-adValvas was united with St. John's in 1365. The church does not occur in the returns of 1291; in the Valor, tithes and oblations amounted to £4 11s. 6½d. and the only outgoing was a pension of 12d. to the treasurer of the minster. (fn. 445)
It was proposed in 1548 to unite the church with Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, (fn. 446) and this was done in 1586. (fn. 447) The church lay on the north-east side of Ogleforth close to its junction with Chapter House Street: (fn. 448) church, churchyard, and parsonage house (which was adjacent to the church) came into the hands of the corporation in 1549 (fn. 449) and in 1553 were sold to Archbishop Holgate as premises for his grammar school (fn. 450) which had probably been established in property adjoining the church since 1547. (fn. 451) The parsonage house was later used by the incumbents of the united parishes. (fn. 452)
Chantry priests are mentioned in connexion with the church in 1388 but nothing is known of chantries in the church. (fn. 453)
The parish was small and lay entirely within the walls round the east end of the minster. It retained its identity for secular purposes until 1900 and is marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852.
The church of ST. JOHN, Hungate, is first mentioned in a papal confirmation of possessions of the minster in 1194. (fn. 454) The church appears to have been fully appropriated to the chapter but no vicarage is known to have been ordained. At the end of the 13th century the vicar was said to have all the profits of the church and pay the chapter a pension of 6s. 8d. (fn. 455) Between 1331 and 1443 the church was annexed with five others to St. Martin's, Coney Street. (fn. 456)
The church is not mentioned in the returns of 1291 or in the Valor. In 1523 neither priest nor clerk was serving the church. (fn. 457) It was proposed in 1548 to unite the church, together with St. Andrew's, St. Andrewgate, with All Saints', Peaseholme: (fn. 458) both were united with St. Saviour's in 1586, All Saints', Peaseholme, having by that time itself decayed. (fn. 459) Money from the sale of the church property was used for city purposes. (fn. 460)
A licence to found a chantry of one chaplain at the altar of St. Mary in the church was obtained in 1460 by John Thirske for himself and for Richard Russell (fn. 461) but this perhaps represents an augmentation of the chantry which was probably founded shortly after the death of Russell in 1435. (fn. 462) The chantry was endowed with properties in the city and in Acomb which were valued in 1535 at £4 clear, (fn. 463) and in 1546 at £4 18s. 4d. clear. (fn. 464) The lands in Acomb were leased by the Crown in 1563 for a term of years. (fn. 465)
The site of the church is thought to have been at the south-east end of Hungate where it joined the former Palmer Lane. (fn. 466) The parish lay in the marsh along the Foss and the Fishpond but its precise boundaries are not known because, on the union with St. Saviour's, it was merged with that parish and it did not survive as a parochial unit for secular purposes.
The church of ST. JOHN, Ouse Bridge End, was included in the papal confirmation of minster properties of 1194. (fn. 467) It appears to have been fully appropriated to the chapter but no record has been found of the ordination of the vicarage. Between 1331 and 1443 the church was annexed with five others to St. Martin's, Coney Street. (fn. 468)
It was proposed in 1548 to unite All Saints', North Street, with St. John's, (fn. 469) but this was not done and both churches survived the Reformation. St. John's remained in the patronage of the chapter until the benefice and parish were united with Holy Trinity, Micklegate, in 1934. (fn. 470) In 1956 the church was opened by the York Academic Trust as an Institute of Architectural Study. (fn. 471) The parish comprised a small area round the church west of the Ouse and entirely within the walls.
In 1294 the vicar was said to have all the profits of the church and to pay a pension of 12s. 4d. to the chapter. (fn. 472) The church is not mentioned in the returns of 1291 or in the Valor. In 1649 the church had received a donation of £40 from a Mr. Moreley but there was said to be no other income. (fn. 473) In 1716 the income of the benefice was said to derive from a gift by a Mrs. Moseley to 'a preaching minister in the church' of half the tithes of hay and corn in Askham Bryan (W.R.); from two anniversary ser mons of 10s. each; from the rent of a city property (10s.); and from fees and mortuaries. (fn. 474) By 1764 another anniversary sermon had been added. (fn. 475) No augmentations to the benefice are recorded but by 1863 it was valued at £209. (fn. 476)
There were three chantries in the church. A licence was obtained by John de Shupton of York in 1319 to alienate lands for the support of a chantry at the altar of St. John the Baptist. (fn. 477) This chantry later received from the Briggenhall family, descendants of Shupton, further endowments which brought its stipend to a total of more than £6 10s. (fn. 478) In 1546 the chantry was said to possess rents worth 40s., (fn. 479) the value given in the Valor; the rents included those belonging to the chantry of St. Katherine, valued at 20s., which had been annexed to that of St. John the Baptist. (fn. 480)
The chantry of St. Katherine is said to have been founded before 1327; (fn. 481) a presentation was made to the living in 1379 by a daughter of the founder, Richard de Wateby. (fn. 482) The chantry continued to have a separate existence at least until 1509 (fn. 483) but was later annexed to that of St. John the Baptist.
Licence was obtained in 1320 by Richard le Toller of York to found a chantry at the altar of the Virgin in the church. (fn. 484) The chantry is not recorded later but another chantry was founded at the same altar—and is hence perhaps a refoundation or augmentation of Toller's chantry—at the end of the 15th century by Sir Richard Yorke. (fn. 485) This chantry was valued at £5 10s. clear in 1535 and £8 15s. 4d. clear in 1546. (fn. 486)
The church comprises (fn. 487) a nave with north and south aisles and a tower at the west end. The prevailing styles are of the 14th and 15th centuries. There appears to have been a large-scale rebuilding in the earlier 14th century; the south arcade, the south aisle, and the tower are of late-15th-century construction. The church was restored between 1850 and 1851 when a new east wall was constructed, so that North Street might be widened, and the south wall and porch rebuilt. The steeple fell from the tower in 1551 and was never rebuilt. The tower was reconstructed in 1646 and surmounted by a brick and timber bell turret. The fabric has been converted to its secular use without major structural alteration.
The church was closed in 1939 and the furnishings removed. (fn. 488) The memorials, including one to Sir Richard Yorke (Lord Mayor, 1469 and 1482), and the six bells, three of which are said to have come from St. Nicholas's Church when it was destroyed in the siege of York, (fn. 489) were stored in St. Saviour's Church. A memorial window to Sir Richard Yorke, the east window, and the sanctus bell were given to the minster, the remainder of the glass to the chapel of the North Riding mental hospital. The font, organ, and choir stalls went to St. Hilda's, the pulpit to St. Luke's, the altar to the chapel of St. Peter's School, the pews to St. Barnabas's, and the lectern to Upper Poppleton (W.R.). The plate comprised, in silver, a paten, a flagon, and two cups; and, in pewter, two flagons. (fn. 490) The registers, which, with the plate, were in 1958 kept in Holy Trinity, Micklegate, begin in 1653 but are not complete. There are churchwardens' accounts from 1585 to 1859 and a volume of modern church accounts.
The parson of the church of ST. LAWRENCE, Lawrence Street, was a witness to a deed dated between 1185 and 1205. (fn. 491) The church was confirmed to the chapter in 1194 (fn. 492) and appropriated to the communa; it was commonly let out to farm to a canon residentiary. (fn. 493) A vicarage was ordained at an unknown date. (fn. 494) The church was not amongst those chapter churches annexed to St. Martin's, Coney Street, in the 14th and 15th centuries. (fn. 495) The church remained in the hands of the chapter. St. Michael's, Walmgate Bar, was united with St. Lawrence's in 1365 and St. Helen's, Fishergate, and All Saints', Fishergate, in 1586. (fn. 496) The united churches of St. Edward and St. Nicholas, Lawrence Street, were united with St. Lawrence's after the destruction of St. Nicholas's Church in the siege of York in 1644. (fn. 497)
The farm of the rectory was valued at £8 in 1291; (fn. 498) in 1294 it was said to be worth 30 marks but farmed at 20 marks. (fn. 499) In 1649 the value of the rectory was said to be £30 but the great tithes of part of the township of Heslington, which were annexed to the rectory, the parsonage and the tithe barn, had all been leased in 1640 for 21 years at £9 13s. 4d. (fn. 500) The tithes in Heslington were commuted for £300 under an award of 1839. (fn. 501) The lands comprised 638 a. of arable, 429 a. of meadow and pasture, 250 a. of common and 2 a. of woodland; £48 was allotted to the vicar for small tithes.
In 1294 the vicar was said to have the altarage and pay a pension to the chapter of 20s. (fn. 502) In 1535 the vicarial tithes amounted to £5 and casual oblations £1; the pension to the chapter was then 10s. (fn. 503) In 1649 the vicarage house had been demolished and replaced by a cottage with a garth; these, together with tithe of wool, lambs, all other small tithes, and Easter offerings, were valued at 45s. (fn. 504) By 1716 gardens, and Easter offerings for that part of the parish within Heslington, were valued at £6; a modus of £2 had been arranged for the small tithes in some Fishergate closes; tithes of pigs, lambs, wool, and geese, with the Easter offerings for the city part of the parish, were worth 10s.; the vicar also received occasional fees. (fn. 505) A rood of glebe was alienated to the chapter at an unknown date. (fn. 506) The vicarage was augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty in 1742 by £200 to meet a benefaction of Lord Winchelsea and Nottingham of £500 and the money was laid out in land at Grassington (W.R.). (fn. 507) By 1764 the vicarial income had been increased by £6 10s. by gifts of land (fn. 508) and these rents had increased in value by 1825. (fn. 509) The modus for the Fishergate closes was by 1825 arranged at 12s. 4d. and it was for this sum that the Commissioners commuted the tithe which was redeemed before apportionment. (fn. 510) In 1863 the vicarage was valued at £130, (fn. 511) but augmentations in land and money were made to the vicarage by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1870 which brought the value to considerably more. (fn. 512)
A licence to alienate 4 messuages in Walmgate for the foundation of a chantry of the Virgin in the church was granted to Nicholas de Wartre, the vicar, in 1336. A house for the chaplain was built on the south side of the church. (fn. 513) The clear value from rents in York was £1 6s. 8d. in 1535, 28s. 6d. in 1546, and 4d. less in 1548. (fn. 514)
The church (fn. 515) demolished between 1881 and 1883 was small and comprised nave, chancel, and tower; the entrance on the north was a good specimen of early-12th-century work (see plate facing p. 387). There was some 13th-century work but most of it was 14th-century; the chancel arch had been rebuilt in modern times.
The foundation stone of the new church was laid in 1881. It is large and lofty and comprises nave with north and south aisles, and an apsidal chancel with a chapel on the south and a vestry on the north. It is built of stone in Gothic style; the architect was J. G. Hall of Canterbury. The tower of the older church and the 12th-century doorway (now built into the east wall of the tower) are preserved in the churchyard.
The font of the old church is preserved in the present building. Sir John Vanbrugh, the dramatist and architect, married Henrietta Maria Yarbrugh of Heslington in the old church on 14 January 1719. There is one bell. (fn. 516) The plate comprises two silver cups, a silver paten, a flagon, and a brass almsdish. A pewter flagon and two pewter plates were recorded in 1764. (fn. 517) The registers begin in 1606 and are printed. (fn. 518) There were in 1933 churchwardens' accounts extant for 1674 to 1774 but they are no longer in the church. (fn. 519) There are some 19th-century rate-books.
The parish comprised a small area in the suburbs of York together with about half the extensive township of Heslington. To this were added the parishes of St. Michael, Walmgate Bar (1365), and St. Helen's and All Saints', Fishergate (1586). The Heslington portion was separated from St. Lawrence's and united with Heslington St. Paul in 1869. The parish of St. Nicholas with St. Edward (the benefice of which is presumed to have been united with St. Lawrence's after the destruction of the church in 1644) was not annexed to St. Lawrence's until 1885. Part of Fulford parish (E.R.), known as New Fulford and lying in the suburbs of the city, was annexed to St. Lawrence's in 1871. (fn. 520)
The church of ST. MARGARET, Walmgate, is first mentioned in a charter dated between 1177 and 1181, by which Walter son of Faganulf granted the advowson with that of St. Mary's, Walmgate, to St. Leonard's Hospital; Walter claimed hereditary right of patronage in the church. (fn. 521) The two churches appear to have been situated close to one another and by 1308 were united as one benefice although the parson was still described as incumbent of both churches. (fn. 522) The advowson of the rectory remained with St. Leonard's (fn. 523) until the Dissolution when it passed to the Crown who presented until 1868 when the patronage was transferred to the archbishop. (fn. 524)
It was proposed in 1548 to unite St. Peter-leWillows with the church and this was in fact carried out in 1586. (fn. 525) St. Margaret's was united with St. Denys's in 1955. (fn. 526) The parish lay south of the Foss and entirely within the walls.
The rectory was not valued in 1291. In 1535 it was valued at £2 17s. clear; the income comprised 10s. from a tenement in Walmgate and personal tithes and oblations. (fn. 527) In 1649 the rent from the Walmgate tenement, then £2 18s. 8d., was said to be the only income of the benefice; in 1664 the common reputed value was £8. (fn. 528) In 1716 £5 17s. 6d. was received in rents from houses and a churchyard (presumably St. Peter-le-Willows) and the remainder of the income comprised Easter offerings; no tithes, pensions, or augmentations were received. (fn. 529) The benefice was augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty by lot in 1717 and 1754 and by 1764 these sums appear to have been laid out in closes at Murton (E.R.) (let at £9 15s.) and Fulford (E.R.) (let at £4 4s.). In that year rents from houses and the churchyard amounted to £28 13s. 6d., or, in another estimate of the same date, £36 6s.; but the rents were said seldom to provide more than £15 net after repairs to the property. There was at this time a parsonage house. (fn. 530) The benefice was further augmented by lot from the Bounty in 1787, and in 1825 this had been laid out in land at Clifton. A further augmentation of £800 by lot from the parliamentary fund was received in 1815 and another £300 to meet a benefaction in 1819. (fn. 531) A further endowment of £20 a year was received from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1867; in the following year the benefice was said to be worth £213; there was then no parsonage house fit for residence. (fn. 532)
The church comprises (fn. 533) nave and north aisle, porch, vestry, and tower. It was rebuilt, with the exception of the porch and the tower (which dates from 1684), in 1852. Traces of the older building remain in the tracery of some windows on the south side of the nave and in the east window. The style is predominantly that of the 14th century. The doorway to the porch is of about 1160 and is said to have come from St. Nicholas's, Lawrence Street: it may be compared with three similar doorways at St. Denys's, old St. Lawrence's, and old St. Maurice's, and is generally thought the finest of the three.
No ancient furniture or stained glass remain in the church. There are three bells, probably the same set that was recorded in 1764. (fn. 534) The plate comprises, in silver, a cup with cover and a flagon, and, in pewter, two dishes; there is a modern chalice and paten in silver. (fn. 535) The registers begin in 1701 and are complete. (fn. 536) There is a rate-book for 1835-7, churchwardens' accounts for 1803-83 and overseers' accounts for 1801-30.
The church of ST. MARTIN, Coney Street, has usually been identified as the St. Martin's of Domesday; it then belonged to Erneis de Burun. (fn. 537) The church was appropriated at an unknown date to the chapter and was confirmed to them in 1194. (fn. 538) A vicarage appears to have been ordained but nothing is known of it; the priest of the church is always spoken of as a vicar after the 12th century. The church remained in the hands of the chapter and was untouched by the 16th-century reorganization of the York churches. The benefice of St. Helen's, Stonegate, was united with St. Martin's in 1910 and it was then arranged that the chapter should have two turns and the archbishop one in every three presentations. (fn. 539) The church was almost wholly destroyed by enemy action on 29 April 1942 and thereafter the vicar exercised his cure in St. Helen's. (fn. 540) The parishes—St. Martin's lay round the church and contiguous to St. Helen's—were united in 1954. (fn. 541)
From at least 1331 until 1443 six other capitular churches were annexed to St. Martin's: these were St. Michael-le-Belfrey, St. John's, Ouse Bridge End, St. Mary's, Layerthorpe, St. Andrew's, St. Andrewgate, St. John's, Hungate, and one moiety of St. Helen-on-the-Walls. (fn. 542)
The value of the rectory in the Middle Ages is not known; the church was probably farmed to the vicars and it is doubtful whether great tithes were ever due to it. In 1294 the vicar took all the profits of the church and paid a pension of 10 marks. (fn. 543) In 1331 he received an annual stipend of 20 marks in lieu of the profits which at that time were farmed elsewhere. (fn. 544) In the 14th and 15th centuries the profits of the annexed churches fell to the vicars of St. Martin's: in return he supplied chaplains to serve in them and kept the fabrics in order. (fn. 545) In 1371 a vicar appointed under these arrangements was paying a pension of £45 to the chapter but was presumably taking the profits of all the annexed churches as well as his own. (fn. 546) In 1535 the vicarage was valued at £4 clear, comprising Easter offerings and oblations; no pension was paid to the chapter. (fn. 547) In 1649 the only asset of the vicarage was a parsonage house worth about £6 a year; there was no incumbent. In 1664 the common reputed value was £15. (fn. 548) An augmentation of the benefice was obtained from Queen Anne's Bounty in 1761 to meet a benefaction of £200 to which a further £100 was added: (fn. 549) the money was laid out in land at Nun Monkton (W.R.) which produced a rent of £15. (fn. 550) At that time the vicar also received rents from various endowments together with fees and quarterly contributions. The value of the rents and endowments had increased by 1825; the Nun Monkton lands then produced £30 a year. (fn. 551) The vicarage was valued at £100 in 1863. (fn. 552) In 1864 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners gave £800 for work on the parsonage house and the living was endowed out of the Common Fund with £35 a year in 1884. (fn. 553)
There were at least five chantries in the church. Thomas de Ludham, vicar of the church, prebendary of Wetwang, and later sub-treasurer of the minster, (fn. 554) founded one at the altar of the Virgin in 1335. (fn. 555) Another chantry was founded at the same altar, or an augmentation made to Ludham's, in 1374 by the executors of Richard Candeler and his wife Juliana. (fn. 556) Licence was granted in 1334 for the alienation of lands to a chantry by Elena, the relict of Nicholas de Seizevaux (Sexdecim Vallibus). (fn. 557) This chantry may also have been at the altar of the Virgin. (fn. 558) Inquisition was made in 1402 to find whether lands might be alienated for the foundation of a chantry at the altar of St. Lawrence for the soul of Richard Talkan. (fn. 559) It is not known if this was eventually founded. Licence was granted in 1417 for the alienation of rents in support of a chantry at the altar of St. Peter. (fn. 560) This appears to have been for the soul of Thomas Smyth and his wife Katharine and perhaps included a foundation for John Braithwaite. (fn. 561) In 1478 it was joined with the chantry of St. Michael in St. Helen's, Stonegate, because the rents had decayed. (fn. 562) All the chantries appear to have decayed by 1546. (fn. 563)
The church, (fn. 564) of which only the shell survived bombing in 1942, was a fine example of 15th-century work, probably constructed between 1437 and 1449, and was perhaps externally the handsomest parish church in the city (see plate facing p. 387). It comprised clerestoried nave with north and south aisles, western tower, and south porch. The church was wholly restored in 1862 by C. T. Newstead of York. A clock was fitted to the east end in 1668; it was later fitted with a large bracket which protruded over Coney Street.
The west window was filled with mid-15thcentury glass and was considered the finest single window in the city parish churches. (fn. 565) It depicted St. Martin of Tours with thirteen scenes from his life; below knelt the figure of Robert Semur, the vicar, out of whose bequest the church was rebuilt about 1443. Three windows in the south aisle and, particularly, four in the north clerestory, contained some fine 15th-century glass.
There were 8 bells. (fn. 566) The plate comprised, in silver, a paten, 2 cups with patens, 2 flagons, an alms-dish, and a spoon. A pewter plate is in the Yorkshire Museum; it was still in the church in 1825 together with a fellow. (fn. 567) The registers begin in 1557 and have been printed. (fn. 568) In 1926 there were churchwardens' accounts from 1553 to 1635 and from 1725 onwards; extracts from these accounts have been printed but they no longer appear to be extant. (fn. 569) Church accounts from 1851 to 1938, minutes of the church council from 1863 to 1940, and rate-books and overseers' accounts from 1765 to 1801 are now, like the registers and the plate, preserved in St. Helen's Church.
The church of ST. MARTIN, Micklegate, is probably that of which a churchyard is mentioned in a document dated between 1170 and 1180. (fn. 570) The advowson of the rectory was in the hands of the Trussebut family in 1230 and by 1306 had passed to Warter Priory which had been extensively endowed if not actually founded by the Trussebuts. (fn. 571) The church was never fully appropriated to the priory, however. By 1407 the advowson had passed to the Scropes of Masham (N.R.), though by what means is not known; (fn. 572) when the Scrope barony fell into abeyance in 1517 it passed to the Strangways family into which one of the Scrope coheirs had married. The Strangways were dealing in the advowson in 1534. In 1556 Robert Roos of Ingmanthorpe (W.R.) presented and between 1573 and 1618 the family of Tankerder. (fn. 573) It appears to have been held by trustees in the latter part of the 17th century and by Nathaniel Taylor in 1724 and 1745. (fn. 574) In the 20th century the advowson was held by Edwin Gray and Baron Middleton (d. 1922) as trustees and was in 1924 transferred by Gray as surviving trustee to the chapter. (fn. 575)
It was proposed in 1548 to unite the church of St. Gregory with St. Martin's and this was carried out in 1586, St. Martin's being the only united benefice to retain the double name. (fn. 576) St. Martin-cum-Gregory was closed for banns and marriages in 1947 and was united with Holy Trinity, Micklegate, in 1953. (fn. 577) The parish comprised a small area round the church west of the Ouse and entirely within the walls: to this was added St. Gregory's parish in 1586. The separate identity of the parishes did not survive, even for secular purposes, after the union.
The rectory was valued at £4 13s. 4d. in 1291. (fn. 578) In 1535 it was valued at £2 11s. 11d. clear: personal tithes amounted to 13s. 4d., oblations to 6s. 8d. and tithes from sheaves, hay, and livestock to £2 1s. 11d. (fn. 579) In 1664 the common reputed value was £45, the highest value recorded for a city church at the time. (fn. 580) This unusually large income perhaps arose from a messuage of 75 acres in Drax (W.R.) which, together with other lands in that parish, had been settled on the rectors in 1637; the source of this gift is not known. (fn. 581) In 1716 income was derived from the Drax lands and from one-third of the great and small tithes in Water Fulford (E.R.); Easter offerings were not demanded because voluntary collections twice a year amounted to much more. (fn. 582) The sum of £200 raised by the sale of wood in the Drax property was met in 1726 by an augmentation from Queen Anne's Bounty; these moneys had been laid out in land at Carthorpe near Bedale (N.R.) by 1764. (fn. 583) In 1797 some land was purchased at Wilberfoss (E.R.) for £1,480, again raised by the sale of timber at Drax. (fn. 584) In 1863 the benefice was said to be worth £243. (fn. 585)
There were several chantries in the church. Licence to alienate lands for the support of a chantry of two chaplains was granted to Richard le Toller in 1332. (fn. 586) The chantry had been founded before 1326. (fn. 587) A chantry founded by Andrew Toller is mentioned in 1367. (fn. 588) Licence for the alienation of lands in support of a chantry at the altar of St. Mary was granted to John de Sevenhous in 1367. Similar licence for lands in support of a chantry at this altar was granted in 1384; the licensees, John de Feriby and John de Bilton, clerks, were perhaps trustees rather than principals. (fn. 589) Similar licence was granted in 1392 to the executors of John de Gisburn, citizen and merchant of York, for supporting two chaplains; the endowment was later altered to apply to only one chaplain, there being insufficient to support two. (fn. 590) Similar licence was granted to John son of Walter de Askham of York and Agnes his wife for the foundation of a chantry at the altar of Holy Trinity. (fn. 591) No account of the chantries occurs in the Valor; no chantry certificates were made in the surveys of 1546 and 1548, perhaps because the church was thought at that time to be amongst those to be demolished.
The church comprises (fn. 592) a nave with north and south aisles, chancel with aisles, tower, vestry, and porch at west end. The church appears to have been enlarged in the 14th century when the north aisle was built. A clerestory was added to the 13th-century nave in the 15th century and a great deal of other rebuilding was done at the same time: the prevailing style is thus of the 15th century. The porch was added in 1655; the tower was rebuilt in brick in 1667 and the present tower built in 1844. A rood loft was removed in 1570. There is an octagonal 15th-century font.
The glass is much damaged but there is some of the 14th century in the east window of the south chapel and on the north of the north aisle. There is a 17thcentury pulpit and a communion table, no longer so used, of the same period. There are bread shelves, a font cover, and an alms box, all of the 18th century. A gallery was built in 1837 and removed in 1874 together with the box pews.
There are three bells. (fn. 593) A fourth large bell which was in the church in 1764 was possibly that sold in 1904. (fn. 594) The plate, which in 1958 was kept in Holy Trinity, Micklegate, comprises, in silver, 2 cups, a paten, and 2 flagons; and, in pewter, 2 candlesticks. (fn. 595) A brass candelabrum and a silver paten are mentioned in 1764 and 1825 but are not otherwise recorded. (fn. 596) A silver-tipped staff or mace dated 1678 and inscribed with the name of the church was recovered from private hands after 1948.
The registers, which in 1958 were kept in Holy Trinity, Micklegate, begin in 1539 and are complete. There are churchwardens' accounts from 1560 to 1754 (2 volumes), (fn. 597) a volume of accounts and vestry minutes from 1797 to 1853, another volume of vestry minutes for 1823-53, and a book of briefs, 1706-39. Poor relief assessments and accounts for the parish have been deposited in St. Anthony's Hall.
William Peckitt (1731-95), glass-painter, is buried in the chancel, and Henry Gyles, another glasspainter (c. 1640-1709), in the churchyard, as is Henry Cave (1779-1836), author of The Antiquities of York (1813), many of whose drawings are now in the Evelyn Collection in the City Art Gallery.
Nothing is known of the foundation of the church of ST. MARY-AD-VALVAS, which is first mentioned in the 14th century. The advowson was appropriated to the chapter and since the church lay within the precincts and probably adjacent to the minster itself, it was perhaps considered as a chapel at the minster doors (and hence perhaps the name) rather than as a parish church. (fn. 598) Rectors are mentioned in 1329, 1344, and 1349. (fn. 599) The church was demolished in 1365 'to enlarge the walks about the minster' and the benefice united with St. John-delPyke. (fn. 600)
The church of ST. MARY, Bishophill, Junior, is first mentioned in the papal confirmation of capitular property of 1194. (fn. 601) The church has remained in the hands of the chapter. The benefices of All Saints', North Street, and St. Mary were united in 1957, presentation being assigned to the chapter. (fn. 602) No vicarage appears to have been ordained although the incumbent was frequently designated vicar in the Middle Ages. (fn. 603) The advowson was usually farmed with the rectory to a canon of the minster. (fn. 604)
The value of the church was not recorded in 1291; in 1294 the rectory was valued at 60 marks, although a canon might have it at farm for 48 marks. (fn. 605) Tithes from the rural portions of the parish in Copmanthorpe, Holgate, and Upper Poppleton no doubt accounted for this high valuation for a city church. (fn. 606) Under an inclosure award for Poppleton of 1769 175 a. of land and £2 11s. payments were allotted to the rectory. (fn. 607) Under an inclosure award of 1774 240 a. of land in Holgate were allotted to the rectory and commuted. (fn. 608) Tithes in Copmanthorpe were commuted under an award of 1837 for £500, of which £70 was to be paid to the vicar. The lands comprised 1,651 a. of arable. (fn. 609) All remaining tithes in the parish were commuted under an award of 1845. (fn. 610) Tithe from land comprising meadow pasture, and gardens measuring 514 a. (exclusive of Knavesmire and Hob Moor which were exempt from tithe) was commuted for £191, of which £6 6s. went to the vicar in lieu of vicarial tithes. At that time most of the tithes were in the hands of lessees of the chapter.
In 1294 the vicar had oblations, mortuaries, and small tithes including those from orchards and gardens, and paid the canon farmer of the rectory a pension of 20s. (fn. 611) In 1535 the vicarage was valued at £10 clear and no pension was paid: small tithes and those from livestock and gardens amounted to £8 6s. 8d.; oblations made up the remainder. (fn. 612) In 1716 the total vicarial income was £37 7s. 3d.: moduses had been arranged for tithes of orchards and gardens and of Bishop's Fields; the chapter augmented the income out of the great tithes of Holgate and Poppleton; the small tithes and the agistment of cattle in Poppleton and Copmanthorpe were let out as were the small tithes of Holgate; surplice fees and Easter offerings accounted for £2 12s. There were two vicarage houses. (fn. 613) Under the inclosure awards of 1769 and 1774 small tithes in Poppleton and Holgate had been exchanged for glebe—94 a. in Poppleton and 11 a. in Holgate. Twenty-five acres of glebe in Copmanthorpe had been impropriated at an unknown date by the chapter. (fn. 614) The vicarial income was said to be £144 in 1863. (fn. 615) Augmentations totalling £318 2s. 6d. a year were made by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners between 1844 and 1866; a new parsonage house was erected with a grant from the same source. (fn. 616)
No chantries are recorded in the church but there was one in the chapel at Upper Poppleton. (fn. 617)
The church comprises (fn. 618) a nave with north and south aisles, chancel with north aisle, and a porch and tower at the west end. The tower is the earliest piece of parochial church architecture of any size surviving in the city and is probably of the early 11th century on older foundations. The aisles were perhaps added to the church in the 12th century and the present chancel built in the 13th. The wall of the south aisle was rebuilt in 1860 and the chancel was restored at the same time. A few fragments of ancient glass remain in the north chancel aisle. (fn. 619) The font cover is of the early 18th century.
There are two bells, both said to have been cast in the 15th century in York. (fn. 620) The plate comprises a silver cup and cover made in York in 1570; a set of 18th-century pewter ware—two flagons, two patens, and a basin; a modern silver chalice and paten; a Sheffield-plate flagon, and a set of modern plated vessels. (fn. 621) The registers of baptisms and burials begin in 1602 and those for marriages in 1603; they are virtually complete and have been printed. (fn. 622)
The parish comprised the area round the church, and extended a little over the city wall. A further portion of the parish comprised Bishop's Fields, Holgate, Hob Moor, and part of Knavesmire, all being in one block and extending almost completely round the city west of the Ouse. The detached West Riding (Ainsty) townships of Copmanthorpe and Upper Poppleton also lay in the parish. A chapel called 'le Tempyll' is mentioned at Copmanthorpe in 1411 but this may refer to a chapel of the Templars there. (fn. 623) Chapels were built at unknown dates in Copmanthorpe and Poppleton for the convenience of the inhabitants. (fn. 624) In 1556 they were described as chapels of ease built upon waste ground. (fn. 625) Disputes occasionally arose because the Vicar of St. Mary's either did not provide a chaplain in Copmanthorpe or did not himself celebrate there. (fn. 626) The chapelries of Copmanthorpe and Poppleton were separated from St. Mary's in 1844 and formed into a new benefice. (fn. 627)
Two small detached portions of the parish were annexed to Bishophill Senior in 1885 when the church of Senior was brought within Junior parish. (fn. 628) The remaining part of the detached parish, lying west of the Tadcaster road, has been formed into two modern parishes so that St. Mary's parish now comprises only the area round the church.
The church of ST. PAUL, Holgate, was built in 1851, the first to be built to provide for the rising population of the 19th century. It was opened that year under licence and consecrated on 3 January 1856; on 30 January 1856 it was assigned a Particular District, the parish comprising all that part of St. Mary's lying west of the Tadcaster road. In 1866 the benefice was declared a rectory; the patronage is in the hands of trustees. (fn. 629) The church is stone-built in Early English style and cost about £3,000. The architects were J. B. and W. Atkinson of York. It was reseated about 1907 to hold 750. (fn. 630) There is a mission room in the western part of the parish in Poppleton Road.
The church of ST. BARNABAS, Jubilee Terrace, Leeman Road, in St. Paul's parish, was built between 1902 and 1904. (fn. 631) It was preceded by a mission church housed in three classooms of St. Barnabas's School. (fn. 632) The new church was consecrated on 12 March 1904 as a chapel of ease to St. Paul's and was assigned a District Chapelry on 5 March 1912. (fn. 633) The living is a new vicarage and the patron is the Church Pastoral Aid Society. The parish comprises all that part of St. Paul's parish lying north of the railway line running between the carriage works and the wagon works. The site of the church was the gift of a Mrs. Ashton of York; the church, which comprises nave, aisles, and chancel with two porches at the west end and a small bell turret, is built of red brick throughout in 'simple Gothic style'. The architects were Hornsey and Monkman of York and the cost was about £4,000. (fn. 634) The plate comprises a flagon, a cup, and two patens; the organ is by Hopkins of York and there is a large wooden reredos made in Oberammergau and depicting the Last Supper.
The church of ST. MARY, Bishophill, Senior, is first mentioned in 1202 when the advowson of a moiety was quitclaimed to Robert le Wavasor (Vavasour). (fn. 635) The advowson of this moiety was the subject of a fine in 1252 by which John le Vavasour granted it to Richard of Arnhale (fn. 636) but it was in the hands of the Vavasours again by 1271 when they presented a rector. (fn. 637) The advowson of this moiety passed to the Scropes of Bolton by 1313 and was held by them or their heirs at least until 1668. (fn. 638)
The Priory of Healaugh Park presented to the second moiety at least in 1293 and 1296, (fn. 639) but by 1349 the advowson was in private hands; in 1367 and 1369 William de Morington and his relict presented, and between 1436 and 1478 the Nevilles; Crown presentations were made thereafter at least until 1613. (fn. 640)
It is not known when or by whom the moieties were united: the church appears to have been held by two rectors in 1716 (fn. 641) but in 1742 an incumbent was instituted to the Crown moiety and no presentation was made by the successors of the Scropes and the advowson passed to the Crown by lapse. (fn. 642) The incumbent instituted in 1742 appears to have been enjoying the entire fruits of the benefice in 1764. (fn. 643) The church has been considered a single rectory at least from 1796. (fn. 644) The patronage was transferred from the Crown to the archbishop in 1868. (fn. 645)
It was proposed in 1548 to unite Clementhorpe, that is, the parish attached to the Nunnery Church of St. Clement's, with St. Mary's and this was done in 1586. (fn. 646) In 1876 the newly built church of St. Clement was substituted for St. Mary's as parish church. The substitution was made without consultation of the parishioners and aroused much ill feeling. The parish boundaries were revised in 1885 so that the church lay in Bishophill Junior parish. It was still used for occasional services in 1919. In 1956 it was ruinous and a faculty was then obtained for its demolition, but in 1958 the ruins were still standing. (fn. 647)
The value of the rectories is not recorded in 1291. In 1535 each moiety was valued at £5 0s. 10d. clear, comprising £4 from tithe of grain and hay in Middlethorpe; 13s. 4d. from personal tithes; 8s. 4d. from tithes of gardens and pigs; 1s. 8d. from a rent and 5s. from casual oblations. (fn. 648) In 1649 the rectories (treated as one) received the tithes of Middlethorpe and other unspecified small dues, said to be worth in all about £50; in 1664 the common reputed values of the moieties was £20 for one and £25 for the other. (fn. 649) In 1716 the income was equally divided between the moieties; besides the tithes of Middlethorpe, each received half of £4 paid by the king's receiver in lieu of tithes in Clementhorpe. The first moiety (probably the Crown's) received in addition 10s. from an anniversary sermon and £1 7s. 10d. towards the repair of the church from rents. (fn. 650) In 1764 the income was the same but was being received by one rector; there was no modus for the tithes. The tithes in Middlethorpe were commuted in 1838 for £143: the lands comprised 134 a. of arable, 434 a. of meadow and pasture, and 8 a. of woodland. (fn. 651) Tithes in Dringhouses, which had been alienated and were in the possession of the Prebend of Osbaldwick, were commuted for £7; the land comprised 58 a., mostly of meadow and pasture. (fn. 652) Tithes from 8 a. within the walls were commuted for £4 in 1844 and those from 170 a. outside the walls, comprising for the most part the meadow and pasture lands of Clementhorpe, for £43 in 1849. Much of Clementhorpe was exempt from tithe and the remainder had been alienated to the chapter. (fn. 653)
The first moiety (which appears in practice to have meant by this time the conjoined benefices) was augmented by lot from Queen's Anne Bounty in 1744, 1758, and 1760: by 1764 this £600 had been laid out in a farm in Aughton (E.R.). (fn. 654) In 1825 the income was similar to that in 1764 but a timber yard in Skeldergate was let for £8 and the rents for the repair of the church now amounted to £14. (fn. 655) The benefice was endowed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners with some lands in the parish in 1861 and out of the Common Fund with £155 a year in 1865; in 1868 the gross value was said to be £325, and a house, for which the Commissioners had made a capital grant and given an endowment during the subsistence of the mortgage, was in course of erection. (fn. 656)
Licence to alienate lands for founding a chantry was granted to Roger Basy in 1311 but the foundation probably took place in 1319. (fn. 657) Basy lived close to the church in 'Lounlithgate'. (fn. 658) The chantry, at the altar of St. Katherine, was augmented by further endowments in 1333 and 1373. (fn. 659) The emoluments of a chantry in St. Nicholas (i.e. Holy Trinity), Micklegate, were given to this chantry in 1495. (fn. 660) The chantry was valued at £1 in 1535, £1 11s. clear in 1546, and £1 9s. 8d. clear in 1548. (fn. 661) Elizabeth, relict of Richard Basy, was granted licence to alienate lands for the foundation of a chantry at the same altar in 1403; the endowment came from £7 yearly rent from a moiety of the manor of Bilbrough (W.R.) of which the Basies were lords. (fn. 662) The advowson of the chantry was held at least from 1433 by the chapter. (fn. 663) In 1535 the chantry was valued at £6 18s. 11d. clear, at £6 5s. 0¼d. in 1546, and £6 6s. 10¼d. in 1548. (fn. 664) Under the foundation deed thirteen poor persons of the parish were to be paid 1d. each on St. Lucy's day (13 December), the day of Elizabeth's burial.
The church comprises (fn. 665) a nave with a north aisle, a tower at the west end of the aisle, and a south porch. The fabric exhibits examples of all styles of English architecture: externally the prevailing style is of the 14th century though much of it is 19thcentury restoration. Internally the first three bays of the arcade are 12th-century work, the south wall is of the 13th century with 14th-century windows and there is a blocked late-14th-century doorway left in the wall. The tower was rebuilt in brick with stone quoins in 1659: at its foot there are some stones of an 8th- or early-9th-century church. No ancient stained glass survived into the 19th century. The altar table and a sanctuary chair were given to St. Hilda's, Tang Hall. The bapitsm of Robert Flaxman (1755-1826) on 6 July 1755 is recorded in the register: he was born in the city while his parents were there seeking employment. There was a monument to Peter Atkinson the elder, the architect (d. 1805).
The parish comprised an area around the church within the walls, the township of Middlethorpe, and the district of Clementhorpe added in 1586. Parts of Middlethorpe were annexed for ecclesiastical purposes to the parish of Bishopthorpe (W.R.) in 1866. (fn. 666) When the church of Senior was taken into Bishophill Junior parish in 1885, two small detached portions of Junior parish were annexed to Senior. (fn. 667)
The church of ST. CLEMENT was built between 1872 and 1874 and consecrated as a chapel of ease to St. Mary's parish in August of the latter year. (fn. 668) In May 1876 St. Clement's was substituted for St. Mary's as parish church. The parish boundaries were altered in 1885, (fn. 669) as has been described, and St. Clement's became the only church of its parish. St. Clement's is brick-built in 'early Gothic' style and comprises nave and apsidal chancel. There is a small turret with one bell, and a vestry was added in the north chancel aisle after the church was built. Accommodation is provided for 600 worshippers. The architects were J. B. and W. Atkinson of York, the drawings being prepared by James Demaine, a partner in the firm and later Diocesan Surveyor; the cost was more than £4,000. A grave cover, probably of pre-Conquest origin, (fn. 670) the mayoral boards, an 18th-century oak table, bread shelves, and a chair, all from Bishophill Senior, are now in the church. The plate is modern and comprises two cups, a paten and cover, another paten and a flagon, two cups and two patens in a set. (fn. 671)
The church of ST. CHAD, which was preceded by a mission room in South Bank Avenue, was built between 1925 and 1926 and consecrated as a chapel of ease on 9 October of the latter year. (fn. 672) In 1928 the parish of St. Chad was constituted as a Consolidated Chapelry out of the southern portion of St. Mary's parish. (fn. 673) The living is a perpetual curacy in the gift of the archbishop. The church is built in brick throughout and comprises a 'nave', originally intended as a chancel, of three bays and a Lady Chapel at the east end. The present structure represents only half the original plan of which many features were left uncompleted. The cost was £10,300; the architect was W. H. Brierley of York.
A dedication stone in the church of ST. MARY, Castlegate, which has been dated to the late 10th or early 11th century says that the church, which it calls a minster, was founded by [Ef]rard, Grim and Æse. (fn. 674) In 1087 the advowson of the rectory was in the hands of the Percies (fn. 675) and at the end of the 12th century Agnes de Percy gave a moiety of the advowson to Kirkham Priory (E.R.). (fn. 676) Presentations to both moieties were made up to the beginning of the 14th century. (fn. 677) The moieties are said to have been united about 1400: it was certainly after 1352. (fn. 678) After 1400 the Percies presented to the rectory until the Northumberland estates were given to the Crown in 1537. (fn. 679) Thereafter the Crown presented until 1868 when the patronage was transferred to the archbishop. (fn. 680)
The church was not affected by the 16th-century reorganization; the benefice was united with St. Michael's Spurriergate in 1885 but both churches have continued to be used. The parish lay mostly within the walls but included the spit of land between the Ouse and the Foss close to their junction. St. Michael's, Spurriergate, was united with it in 1936. (fn. 681)
An inquisition of 1267 showed that the church paid pensions of wax to the minster, St. Mary's Abbey, and the church of All Saints', Pavement. (fn. 682) The rectories were not valued in 1291. In 1535 the total income was £3 8s. 8d. comprising personal and predial tithes and oblations both from the church and the Chapel of St. George near the castle. A pension of 5s. 3d. was paid both to St. Mary's and the minster and perhaps represented a commutation of the 13thcentury gift of wax; the payment to All Saints', Pavement, had disappeared. (fn. 683) In 1649 the only income was said to derive from the rent of the parsonage house at about £4; in 1664 the common reputed value was £16. (fn. 684) In 1716 the parsonage house was let at £5 and some gardens at £1 10s.; tithes from nine gardens brought in £1 16s., an anniversary sermon £3 2s., and Easter 'reckonings' £2; the remainder of the income was derived from fees. (fn. 685) The benefice was augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty by lot in 1761: this was laid out in land at Alne (N.R.), let at £6 a year in 1764. In this latter year the other income was similar to that in 1716 although the tithe from gardens was 5s. less; £3 was received as rent of the 'Queen's Head' in Castlegate towards repairs of the church; £2 was received from 'Mrs. Barber's gift' of £50. (fn. 686) A further augmentation was received from the Bounty in 1773 to meet a benefaction of £200: by 1825 this had been laid out in 12 acres of land at Scrayingham (E.R.), let at £15 a year. An augmentation by lot in 1814 of £1,000 from the parliamentary fund was by 1825 laid out in two closes of 15 acres at Heworth. Two closes 'contiguous to the parsonage house' were also said in 1825 to form part of the glebe. (fn. 687) The benefice was augmented by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners out of the Common Fund with £48 a year in 1843; the gross income in 1868 was said to be £122 and a house; a further augmentation of £23 6s. 8d. a year was made in 1882. (fn. 688)
Licence to alienate lands for the foundation of a chantry was granted to Thomas de Northfolk (later Norfolke) in 1319. (fn. 689) This chantry, which was at the altar of St. Thomas, was valued at £3 6s. 8d. clear in 1535; and at £3 in 1546 and 1548. (fn. 690)
Rents supporting a chantry for the soul of Robert Graa were mentioned in a plea in 1293. (fn. 691) Licence was granted in 1337 to the executors of John Graa (later Gray) of York to alienate lands for the foundation of a chantry in the church. (fn. 692) Similar licence for a chantry at the altar of St. John the Baptist was granted to William Gray in 1377; (fn. 693) similar licence was granted to his executors in 1380 to alienate rents in support of a chantry 'lately founded by John son of Richard Gray'; the chantry chaplain was to pay 3s. 4d. of the rent for finding a light in the common jakes (latrinis) at the end of Ouse Bridge. (fn. 694) Similar licence was granted to the executors of Laurence Gray in 1385 to alienate a rent in the support of the chaplains of a chantry 'lately founded in the chapel of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist'. (fn. 695) This last document perhaps indicates that the Gray chantry was built up throughout the 14th century until it was sufficient to support more than one chaplain. In 1535 the chantry, then said to be at both altars, was valued at £2 0s. 4d. clear: William Gray was considered to be the founder. (fn. 696) In 1546 the chantry, said to be founded by William but at an uncertain date, was valued at £2 11s. 7½d. In 1548 it was valued at more than £4 but the valuation was probably confused with that of the Holme chantry. (fn. 697)
Licence to alientate lands for the support of a chantry was granted to Andrew de Boshale (or Bossall) of York in 1338. (fn. 698) Similar licence was granted to Thomas de Houme (later Holme) to augment the chantry in 1377. (fn. 699) Holme was himself about this time attempting to found a chantry at the altar of the Virgin but did not accomplish his purpose until 1383 when he also augmented his foundation with the intent of supporting two chaplains. (fn. 700) Holme further augmented the chantry in 1384, 1386, and 1392. (fn. 701) The advowson of two chantries 'called the Holme chantries' was granted in 1465 to the Duke of Clarence, who also held the advowson of the church, and this suggests that Bossall's and Holme's chantries had been joined as a chantry for two chaplains: Bossall's foundation is not mentioned after 1377. (fn. 702) In 1535 Holme's chantry was valued at £4 11s. 8d. clear and derived its income from rents in York. (fn. 703) In 1546 the chantry was valued at £4 6s. 10d.: the valuation of 1548 is probably confused with that for Gray's chantry. (fn. 704)
The church comprises (fn. 705) a nave with north and south aisles, chancel with north aisle, a chapel south of the chancel, and a tower with spire at the west end. There is a small clerestory to the nave. The prevailing style is of the 15th century but with considerable portions of 12th- and 13th-century work remaining. The chancel chapel housed Gray's chantry. There are traces of an attached building below the west window of the north aisle of the nave and on the south side of the chancel foundations of a sacristy remain. The lofty octagon spire is of the 15th century. The church was completely restored by Butterfield between 1868 and 1870 and it was at this time that the dedication stone was found in the east wall and removed to a pier in the north side of the chancel aisle. The exact circumstances in which the stone was uncovered do not appear to have been recorded and its association with the church is thus probable rather than certain.
A small quantity of fragmentary 14th-century glass remains in the east window of the south chapel. An ancient pulpit whence John Wesley is said to have preached was removed and placed in a Methodist chapel in Peckitt Street. (fn. 706) There are two modern stalls to which ancient misericords have been fixed and there is a 17th-century table in the vestry.
There are 4 bells. (fn. 707) The plate comprises two silver flagons, a silver chalice, and two patens. (fn. 708) The registers begin in 1604. (fn. 709) A large collection of poorrate-books and other documents relating to secular parochial business together with some churchwardens' accounts were deposited in the York Diocesan Registry (St. Anthony's Hall) in 1958. Extracts from a churchwardens' book have been Printed. (fn. 710)
The church of ST. MARY, Layerthorpe, is first mentioned in 1331 when, with five other capitular churches, it was annexed to St. Martin's, Coney Street. (fn. 711) It continued to be annexed to St. Martin's at least until 1443. (fn. 712) How it came into the hands of the chapter or when it was founded is not known. Closes sometime belonging to the parsonage house of the church are mentioned in 1467 (fn. 713) and the parish is mentioned at the end of the 15th century. (fn. 714) It was proposed in 1548 to unite the benefice with St. Cuthbert's and this was done in 1586: so little record of the church survives, however, that it seems likely that it had decayed before the 16th century. (fn. 715) The foundations of the church were uncovered in 1921 on a site less than 100 yards from Layerthorpe Bridge on the south-east side of Layerthorpe (the street of that name). (fn. 716) The parish no doubt lay in and around Layerthorpe but its topography is not known: it did not retain a separate identity for secular purposes after the union of 1586.
The church of ST. MARY, Walmgate, is first mentioned in a charter dated between 1177 and 1181 by which Walter son of Faganulf granted it, with St. Margaret's, to St. Leonard's Hospital; the churches, he said, were in patrimonio meo fundate jure patrimonii ad patronatum meum et donacionem meam pertinent. (fn. 717) The grant was made under the condition that his son Stephen should hold the churches from St. Leonard's for 1 besant a year and that after Stephen they should be held, the one by William the deacon, and the other by Thomas the priest, his kinsman (nepos), or by Ernaldus, Thomas's son, should Thomas predecease him; the payment of the pension was to be divided between them.
The two churches remained separate at least until 1227 when separate institutions were made to the benefices. (fn. 718) What was probably a papal provision to St. Mary's is mentioned in 1250. (fn. 719) By 1308 the two benefices were united although the priest presented by St. Leonard's at that date was instituted to the 'churches of St. Mary and St. Margaret'. (fn. 720) St. Mary's is not mentioned in the returns of 1291.
In 1282 licence was given to Gilbert de Luda to have an oratory within his house in the parish so long as it did not interfere with the rights of the parish church. (fn. 721) In 1294 arrangements were made to inclose Alice, daughter of Nicholas le Cordwaner, in a house newly built contiguous to the church, (fn. 722) and in 1314 Alice de Angrum, who wished to be an anchoress, was inclosed in the same house. (fn. 723)
Nothing is known of the site of the church or of the topography of the parish.
The church of ST. MAURICE, Monkgate, is first mentioned in a document dated between 1195 and 1210 when it was in the possession of the chapter. (fn. 724) The church was annexed to the prebends of Fridaythorpe and Fenton until in the early 13th century Archbishop Gray united the moieties under the Prebend of Fenton. In recompense for the loss of temporalities the Prebend of Fridaythorpe was assigned omnes homines in vico de Neubigging et de Munkgate manentes de prebenda de Fenton tenentes with their rents and services, 'husgable', and Peter's Pence. (fn. 725) In 1240 the archbishop ordained a vicarage in the church. (fn. 726)
The rectory and the advowson of the vicarage remained part of the Prebend of Fenton until the 16th century. (fn. 727) Like many other small city churches St. Maurice's was shown to be much decayed in capitular visitations during the 15th century, (fn. 728) and in 1548 it was proposed to unite the church with St. Giles's but in 1586 it was united, together with St. John-delPyke, with Holy Trinity, Goodramgate. (fn. 729) Unlike other churches affected by the reorganization it was not demolished and continued to be used for services until it was replaced in 1874 by a modern church. (fn. 730) An incumbent in 1716 described himself as being 'collated to both churches as one cure'. (fn. 731) After the church was rebuilt it became the church in which the cure was principally exercised in the united parishes.
Neither rectory nor vicarage was valued in 1291. When the vicarage was ordained in 1240 it was arranged that the vicar should receive all tithes and offerings and pay an annual pension of 4 marks to the Prebendary of Fenton. (fn. 732) In 1535 the vicarage was valued at £3 6s. 8d. clear; £3 was received from lenten tithes and the remainder from oblations. (fn. 733) Although the income of the benefice was, after 1586, annexed to Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, it was frequently reckoned separately in the 18th and 19th centuries: thus in 1716 the tithes from gardens and closes in St. Maurice's parish were £5 2s. 8d. which in 1764 had been reduced by 2s. when a windmill was demolished about 1745. The tithes were commuted by the commissioners for this reduced sum but were redeemed before apportionment for £130. (fn. 734) One pound was received from two anniversary sermons in the mid-18th century and 5s. for the rent of the churchyard. Lands in Bishopthorpe were let at £7 a year, half of which was devoted to the repair of the church and half to the poor: by 1825 these lands were let at £20 10s. (fn. 735)
The church (fn. 736) which preceded the present one was a small building comprising nave with south aisle, chancel with aisle, south porch, and vestry. A small wooden bell turret surmounted the nave roof (see plate facing p. 387). It appears to have been restored and rebuilt piecemeal at all periods: some late-14thcentury work in the west window was the earliest. A small carved panel in the pulpit bore the date 1632. Portions of the early-12th-century doorway are preserved in the present churchyard.
The present church was completed in 1878 at a cost of £7,083; the architect was Charles Fisher of York. It comprises nave with north and south aisles, a chancel, and a square tower in three stories.
There are 4 bells, two of which probably came from the church demolished in 1878. (fn. 737) The plate comprised in 1912 a silver cup of the 16th century, another silver cup and two patens in a set and a silver flagon. (fn. 738) Registers beginning in 1650 were reported to be in the church in 1825. (fn. 739) Minutes of vestry meetings from 1795 to 1849 and churchwardens' accounts for 1734 to 1873 have been deposited in the York Diocesan Registry at St. Anthony's Hall.
The parish lay outside the walls, bounded on one side by the north-eastern wall, on another by the Foss and on a third by St. Olave's. It retained its identity for secular purposes after the union of 1586 until 1900 and was marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852.
An extremely early foundation for the church of ST. MICHAEL-LE-BELFREY has sometimes been suggested on the strength of a passage in the life of St. John of Beverley which describes the saint visiting a church of St. Michael while in York. (fn. 740) Some doubt may be thrown on the passage by the fact that similar circumstances are mentioned in connexion with St. John at Hexham. (fn. 741) The church is not mentioned in the papal confirmation of 1194 (fn. 742) but it was certainly in the hands of the chapter by 1294. (fn. 743) Between at least 1331 and 1443 it was annexed with five other capitular churches to St. Martin's, Coney Street. (fn. 744) No vicarage was ordained: the church has remained in the hands of the chapter and has frequently been served by minster clergy. The close proximity of the church to the minster has, throughout its history, ensured a close institutional connexion. St. Wilfrid's was united with Belfrey under the Act of 1548. (fn. 745)
In 1294 the 'vicar' took all profits of the church and paid a pension of 10 marks to the chapter. (fn. 746) In 1649 there was said to be neither minister nor maintenance for the church. (fn. 747) In 1764 there were no houses, tenements, or glebe belonging to the curacy and the income appears to have been derived solely from offerings; a rent of £8 was paid to the chapter. (fn. 748) The living was augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty in 1774 to meet a benefaction of £200; this was laid out in land at Wigginton (N.R.) and in 1825 produced a rent of £18. An augmentation of £200 by lot in 1805 was laid out in land at Clifton which produced a rent of £8 8s.; and an augmentation by lot from the parliamentary fund in 1812 was laid out in land in Huntington (N.R.), producing a rent of £11. There were two augmentations by lot of £200 from the parliamentary fund in 1820 and 1823 and another of £300 in 1823 to meet a benefaction of £200 by the chapter. (fn. 749) Between 1843 and 1863 the living was endowed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners with a total of £191 a year and in 1856 with lands and a house in Precentor's Court: £1,000 was granted towards improvements to the house in 1883. (fn. 750)
Tithe payments from land in Clifton were awarded by the commissioners to the Prebendary of Strensall and the East Riding Asylum as farmers of the chapter, but were never apportioned and so presumably merged and lost. (fn. 751) Tithe from 35 a. in Clifton was commuted under an inclosure award of 1763, the impropriator being Sir William Robinson. (fn. 752) The remainder of the tithable land in the extra-mural portion of the parish, comprising 769 a. in Clifton and Rawcliffe, was merged with the freehold under Section 71 of the Tithe Commutation Act. (fn. 753)
Licence for the alienation of lands to found a chantry at the altar of the Virgin for the soul of William, son of Nicholas de Selby, was granted in 1339; (fn. 754) the chantry is mentioned again in 1418 (fn. 755) but not later. A chantry for Sir Ralph Bulmer was founded, or refounded, in 1472 for a term of 98 years by John Mowbray and others. (fn. 756) In 1535 the clear value was £1 6s. 3d. (fn. 757) and in 1548 £2 9s. (fn. 758) The chantry is said variously to be at the altars of the Virgin and of St. Michael and may have replaced the Selby chantry.
The present church (fn. 759) was built between 1525 and 1536; no architectural features of any earlier structure remain. It comprises nave with north and south aisles, a vestry at the east end, and a bell-turret over the west end of the clerestoried nave. The north and south doorways and the whole of the west front were restored in 1867 by G. F. Jones. The gallery was erected in 1785.
The furnishings, like the fabric, appear to have been much neglected in the 15th century and little has survived from the earlier church. The stained glass is mostly of the 16th century but that in the east window is from the earlier church and dated about 1330. The altar piece is a copy of 'The Adoration of the Shepherds' ascribed to Velasquez and was placed in the church, together with the communion rails, in 1712. Some 16th-century parish armour is preserved in the church. The baptism of Guy Fawkes occurs in the register under the date 16 April 1570. Thomas Gent, printer (d. 1778), and Sir John Petty, glass painter, are buried in the church.
There is one bell. (fn. 760) Amongst the plate is a silvergilt cup with cover 'which may probably take rank as the very finest Elizabethan Communion cup in the kingdom'; it was made in London in 1558. There are also copies of this cup and cover, two patens, two flagons, an alms-dish, and a seal-headed spoon, all in silver. (fn. 761) The registers begin in 1565 and are complete; they have been printed. (fn. 762)
The parish comprised the area immediately adjacent to the church and, after 1586, St. Wilfrid's parish; the extra-parochial district of Mint Yard was annexed to St. Michael's for ecclesiastical purposes in 1879. (fn. 763) Outside the walls there were extensive detached portions of St. Michael's in Clifton. (fn. 764)
The church of ST. PHILIP AND ST. JAMES, Clifton, was built between 1866 and 1867 on a site adjacent to Clifton Green given by the coheirs of Earl de Grey (d. 1859); it was consecrated in the latter year. (fn. 765) The church was assigned a Consolidated Chapelry in 1871 out of the detached portions of St. Michael's parish in Clifton and from parts of St. Olave's. (fn. 766) The living is a vicarage in the hands of trustees. The church is built of brick completely faced with Bradford stone, with Ancaster stone dressings, in Gothic style and comprises nave, transept, and chancel with west tower. The cost was £3,800 of which £300 was contributed by the York Diocesan Church Building Society. G. F. Jones of York was the architect. (fn. 767) There are six bells.
The advowson of the church of ST. MICHAEL, Spurriergate, was given to St. Mary's Abbey, probably as part of the foundation grant, by the Conqueror: the church, like other St. Mary's property, is missing from Domesday Book but was confirmed by William II in his general confirmation dated between 1088 and 1093. (fn. 768) St. Mary's held the advowson until the Dissolution when it passed to the Crown, who presented until 1868. The patronage was then transferred to the archbishop. (fn. 769)
The church was untouched by the 16th-century reorganization: the benefice was united with St. Mary's, Castlegate, in 1885 but both churches continued to be used for services. St. Michael's was relicensed for marriages in 1953. (fn. 770) The parish was small and lay around the church entirely within the walls: it was united with St. Mary's, Castlegate, in 1936. (fn. 771)
In 1265, when a papal provision was made to the rectory, it was said to be worth 30 marks. (fn. 772) In 1291 it was valued at £5 excluding a pension of £1 16s. to St. Mary's. (fn. 773) In 1535 the income was derived from personal tithes (£10) and casual oblations (£1); the pension to St. Mary's was still paid. (fn. 774) In 1649 the income was said to comprise £8 from a 'Mr Cotterell' and £4 from a house (probably 'Moseley's gift'). (fn. 775) These two sources still produced income in 1716 although the interest on the bequest was then only £6; £3 10s. was received from anniversary sermons; 6s. 8d. from the rent of a house (probably 'Scott's gift'); £3 from Easter offerings and an unspecified sum from fees. (fn. 776) The benefice was augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty by lot in 1758 and again in 1761 to meet a benefaction. In 1764 these moneys had apparently been laid out in an estate at Flawith in Alne (N.R.); Cotterell's gift now produced £5, rent from parish houses £61 16s. 11d.; eight anniversary sermons produced £4; clerks' and sextons' wages were paid by the parishioners. (fn. 777) The benefice was further augmented by the Bounty from the parliamentary fund by £1,000 by lot in 1815. In 1825 this sum, apparently with £120 remaining from previous augmentations, was invested; the rent of the Flawith property was then £31 10s. and £102 3s. was received from the rents of the parish houses; income from gifts, anniversary sermons, and the rent of a house in Coppergate amounted to £28 8s. 8d.; part of the churchyard had been sold to the corporation in 1812 when Ouse Bridge was being rebuilt. (fn. 778) In 1868 the gross income was said to be £90 but this was clearly an underestimate. (fn. 779)
An ordinance of the archbishop dated 1336 granted permission to Robert de Sallay (later Saule) to found a chantry in honour of the Virgin which was to be supported out of rents from houses he was to build in the churchyard. (fn. 780) The property was the subject of a dispute in 1350 but was preserved for the chantry by royal intervention. (fn. 781) The chantry was augmented in 1385. (fn. 782) The chantry was not valued in 1535 possibly because, as was said in 1546, it 'never paid any tenths': in the latter year it was valued at 19s. 4d. but there was apparently no incumbent. (fn. 783) In 1548 there was a stipendiary priest attached to the church, the clear value of his endowment being £8 12s. 2d. (fn. 784)
The church comprises (fn. 785) a nave with north and south aisles and a tower over the west end of the nave. Internally the prevailing style is of the 13th century but the windows are of the fifteenth: externally, with the exception of the tower, the fabric has been much rebuilt in modern times. In 1821 the east wall was set back 7 feet to widen Spurriergate: at the same time houses along the south wall were removed and the wall rebuilt. The glass is mostly of the 15th century: in the east window on the south side are depicted eight of the nine orders of Heavenly Beings; there are two parts of a Tree of Jesse in the two central windows of the south aisle; the remaining windows of the south aisle all contain 15th-century glass. The reredos, communion rails, door screen, and chairs are of the 18th century. There are two chests and a stamped leather altar frontal of the time of Charles II. There is a rare example of a 'chalice' brass with an inscription in memory of William Langton (d. 1466), one-time rector of the church.
The custom of ringing a 'curfew' bell from the church at 8 o'clock each evening was observed in 1872 and maintained at least until 1931. There are six bells: (fn. 786) one of them is probably a pre-Reformation bell. The plate comprises a silver cup with cover, a silver paten, a silver flagon, a pewter flagon, two pewter plates, and a brass alms-dish. Two pewter flagons are recorded in 1764. (fn. 787) The registers begin in 1598. (fn. 788) The church is the only one in York to possess a pre-Reformation account book. (fn. 789)
The church of ST. MICHAEL-WITHOUTWALMGATE BAR is mentioned in 1279 when the endowment, together with that of St. Peter-leWillows, was said to be insufficient to support a priest in both churches and the archbishop suggested that they should be united. The church was at that time appropriated to Kirkham Priory (E.R.) though probably only in relation to the advowson. (fn. 790) St. Michael's and St. Peter's were not united in 1279 and St. Michael's is not otherwise mentioned until 1365 when it was united with St. Lawrence's, whose vicar was to pay a pension of 13s. 4d. in compensation to the priory. (fn. 791) The pension is not mentioned in the Valor as an obligation of St. Lawrence's. A site for the church on the south side of Lawrence Street just outside the bar has been suggested. (fn. 792) No trace has survived of the parish.
The church of ST. NICHOLAS, Lawrence Street, which was appurtenant to St. Nicholas's Hospital outside Walmgate Bar, had parochial functions from at least 1280 when the king, as patron of the hospital, arranged that a priest or clerk suitable for serving parochial needs should be sought out and presented to the archbishop. (fn. 793) The church was valued at £8 in 1291 but this valuation probably included the hospital. (fn. 794) How the cure was exercised in the later Middle Ages is not known. The church survived the 16thcentury reorganization and in 1586 St. Edward's was united with it. (fn. 795)
The church continued to be used for parochial purposes—although to what extent or under what conditions is not known—until 1644, when it was destroyed in the siege of York. (fn. 796) The parish was then depopulated and the church was never rebuilt. (fn. 797) Some remains of the fabric were still to be seen in the early 18th century and in 1730 stones from it were used to make a pavement along Lawrence Street. (fn. 798) The church lay on the south side of Lawrence Street about 650 yards west of Walmgate Bar. (fn. 799) Three bells were saved from the ruin in 1644 by Lord Fairfax and given to St. John's, Ouse Bridge End. (fn. 800)
The parish retained its identity for secular purposes until 1900 and is marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852.
The church of ST. OLAVE, Marygate, was founded by Earl Siward of Northumbria before 1055 when he was buried in it. (fn. 801) It was given before 1086 by Alan, Earl of Brittany, who had received it from the Conqueror, to Stephen, a monk of Whitby, as a foundation grant for what was later to be St. Mary's Abbey. (fn. 802) Nothing is known of how the church was served in this early period. The church was presumably used conventually until replaced by the abbey church, the foundation stone of which William II is said to have laid in 1089. (fn. 803) For most of the Middle Ages the church seems to have been regarded as a chapel appurtenant to the abbey. Rights over parishioners (omne jus parochiale tam in vivis quam in mortuis) living in Gillygate were the subject of a grant dated between 1161 and 1184. (fn. 804) The church was appropriated to the office of the Sacrist of St. Mary's. To judge by the valuation of 1291, the sacrists thus acquired a valuable rectory, but they seem to have neglected the needs of the parishioners using the church. (fn. 805) In 1390 an attempt by the parishioners to make St. Olave's fully parochial was successfully countered by the abbey who protested that perons only met there and offered oblations by their permission. (fn. 806) In 1466 the church was reconsecrated and new arrangements made for the parishioners: the church was still served by a chaplain from the abbey. (fn. 807)
The fate of the rectory and advowson at the Dissolution is not known; in 1558 the Crown granted the advowson of St. Olave's and the tithes of Fulford and Clifton—which, as will be shown, by this time constituted the rectory—to the archbishop. (fn. 808) This appears to have been only a temporary arrangement, for in 1573 the rectory and advowson were granted by the Crown to Thomas Eyms, (fn. 809) and in 1586 to Sir Christopher Hatton. (fn. 810) In 1622 the rectory was granted by Sir Thomas Littleton to William Robinson, (fn. 811) and the advowson probably came into the hands of the Robinson family about the same time. Certainly Sir William Robinson held the advowson about 1736. (fn. 812) By the 19th century rectory and advowson were in the hands of the de Grey family, later earls de Grey, and descendants of Robinson. (fn. 813) In 1871 the daughters and coheirs of Earl de Grey exchanged the advowson for another outside York and the patronage of St. Olave's was thenceforth exercised by the archbishop. (fn. 814) No vicarage had been ordained under the agreement of 1466 but at least from 1622 institutions were made to 'the vicarage'. (fn. 815)
In the Middle Ages the rectory comprised tithes not only from St. Olave's parish adjacent to the church in Clifton and Rawcliffe, but from lands of St. Mary's in Fulford, Askham Bryan, Knapton, and Upper and Nether Poppleton. The tithes in Knapton and Poppleton were granted to the archbishop in 1544 (fn. 816) and those in Askham Bryan to lay impropriators in 1588. (fn. 817) All these tithes appear to have been separated from the rectory in the 16th century and nothing more is heard of them in connexion with the church. The holdings in Fulford, however, although they too were alienated, (fn. 818) retained some connexion with the church, for in 1716 (fn. 819) the impropriator paid a salary to the incumbent of St. Olave's and in the 19th century this payment took the form of a yearly sum for 'St. Olave's lights'. (fn. 820)
The rectory was valued at £26 13s. 4d. in 1291. (fn. 821) Only £5 10s. was said in 1341 to be subject to ninths from the York portion of the parish; the West Riding portion, comprising Upper and Nether Poppleton and Knapton, rendered £9 6s. 8d. as subject for ninths; the value of the Fulford portion was not stated. (fn. 822) In 1535 the sacrist of St. Mary's, as rector, expected profits of £55 2s. 3½d., comprising great and small tithes from St. Olave's, Fulford, Askham Bryan, and Knapton. (fn. 823)
As has been said, tithes from the West Riding portion of the rectory were alienated in the 16th century and lost, and those in Fulford became of concern only to the curate or vicar. The tithes that formed the greater part of the rectory were dealt with in the following ways. Those from a few acres of land in Clifton were commuted under an inclosure award of 1763. (fn. 824) Those from the larger part of the parish in Clifton and Rawcliffe comprising 630 a. of arable and pasture were merged in the freehold by the impropriator, Sir William Robinson, under Section 71 of the Tithes Commutation Act. (fn. 825) A further block of tithes was commuted by the Commissioners for £99 but never apportioned and so, like the remainder, was merged and lost. (fn. 826) A small award to the Prebend of Strensall was similarly never apportioned. (fn. 827)
The value to the vicar or curate is not recorded before 1716; a salary of £8 was then received from the impropriator of the tithes of St. Olave's (comprising St. Olave's, Clifton, and Rawcliffe); £3 6s. 8d. was received from the Crown for the rectory of St. Giles's, together with tithes of gardens and two moduses of 2s. 6d. each for other small tithes in that parish; the impropriator of the tithes in Fulford gave a salary of £4 a year and 'head-lands' there, given to St. Olave's by the parishioners, were let at £4 8s. 6d. Easter offerings and fees were received from all three parts of the parish. The income was similar in 1764, although moduses in St. Olave's parish had risen to 17s. 6d. (fn. 828) The benefice was augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty by lot in 1767 and 1786 and with £200 from the parliamentary fund by lot in 1810 and with £1,200 in 1814. (fn. 829) In 1825 the income from tithes in Fulford had disappeared; £8 was received for those in Clifton and Rawcliffe, and the churchyard was let for £1 1s.; part of the Bounty augmentations had been laid out in land at Kirkby in Cleveland (N.R.) and let for £10. (fn. 830) The benefice was further augmented by £200 in 1851 to meet a benefaction. (fn. 831) In 1863 the benefice was said to be worth £130. (fn. 832) It was endowed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners out of the Common Fund with £90 a year in 1871. (fn. 833)
There were no chantries in the church.
The church comprises (fn. 834) nave with north and south aisles, tower, and modern vestry at the west end. The prevailing style is of the 15th century but it is of 18th-century construction since the church was largely rebuilt about 1721. It is said to have been much damaged while being used as a platform for guns in 1644. Little of the ancient structure remains. A chancel was built out from the east end in 1879 by G. F. Jones and the chancel arches were reconstructed in 1908 by J. F. Doyle. There is some ancient stained glass in the east window.
There are 6 bells. (fn. 835) The plate comprises, in silver, 2 cups, 2 patens, a flagon, 2 modern cups, and a silver gilt ciborium. (fn. 836) The registers begin in 1538 and are all but complete; they have been printed up to 1644. (fn. 837) There are churchwardens' accounts from 1773 to 1880 and rate-books from 1714 to 1784. William Etty (1787-1849), the painter, is buried in the churchyard.
The extent of the 'parish' in the Middle Ages is difficult to assess. It is certainly likely to have included those parts of Clifton, Rawcliffe, and Heworth that in modern times have been deemed part of it. St. Giles's was united with St. Olave's in 1586 (fn. 838) but it seems likely that the act of union only confirmed an already long established arrangement, for the pension paid by the Crown to the curate in 1716 (fn. 839) suggests that St. Giles's had been part of St. Mary's Abbey endowments at the Dissolution. The status of the detached portions in the West Riding is very obscure and that of the Fulford portion only a little less so. Part of Fulford was undoubtedly a chapelry of St. Olave's at least as late as 1764, (fn. 840) and this had probably been the case from early times and certainly from 1349 when a chapel was reconsecrated there. (fn. 841) Some time after 1764, and probably before 1825, (fn. 842) Fulford became a parish in its own right. Thereafter St. Olave's parish comprised the Clifton, Rawcliffe, and Heworth portions, together with St. Giles's, that were marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852. Within this area lay detached portions of St. Michael-le-Belfrey.
The parish, which now comprises only a small area round the church, has been reduced in size by the formation of St. Philip and St. James, Clifton (1871), (fn. 843) Holy Trinity, Heworth, (fn. 844) St. Thomas's, and St. Luke's.
The church of ST. THOMAS, Lowther Street, was built between 1853 and 1854 and was consecrated on 22 August in the latter year. (fn. 845) The church was assigned a Consolidated District on 1 May 1855 out of part of St. Olave's parish lying due north of the city. (fn. 846) The living is a vicarage in the gift of the archbishop. The church is built of stone and is cruciform. There are galleries in the transepts and a bell turret over the west end. There was accommodation for 500 when the church was built and the cost was about £2,500. G. F. Jones of York was the architect. The chancel was enlarged in 1899. (fn. 847)
The church of ST. LUKE, Burton Stone Lane, was built between 1900 and 1902 and was preceded by an iron mission room in Shipton Street. (fn. 848) St. Luke's was consecrated on 12 April 1902 as a chapel of ease to St. Thomas's. (fn. 849) It was separated from St. Thomas's and united with St. Olave's in 1910. (fn. 850) A licence for marriages was granted in 1920 and the church was assigned a consolidated chapelry in 1930. (fn. 851) The living is a vicarage in the gift of the archbishop. The parish comprised a rectangular area running along Burton Stone Lane adjacent to St. Thomas's parish. The church (fn. 852) is built of brick with Ancaster stone dressings and comprises nave and chancel under one continuous vaulted roof. It was intended to have side aisles but the plans were not completed. The architect was W. H. Brierley of York. The pulpit is said to have come from St. John's, Ouse Bridge End. There are no bells. The plate is modern and comprises 3 cups, 3 patens, 2 flagons, and a ciborium.
The church of ST. PETER-LE-WILLOWS is first mentioned in 1279 when Kirkham Priory (E.R.), who held the advowsons of this church and St. Michael-without-Walmgate Bar, wished to unite the churches because the endowments were insufficient to support a priest for each: (fn. 853) the union did not take place. A claim by the hospital of St. Nicholas to a third part of the church was first met by a pension of 1 mark paid to the hospital. The priory eventually assigned lands to the hospital in settlement of this claim and a rent in respect of this property was still being paid by the priory in 1357. (fn. 854) The church was confirmed by the archbishop in 1303 as the possession of the priory (fn. 855) who held it until the Dissolution.
The benefice is called a vicarage in 1535; it was then valued at £1 11s. 6d. clear, the income being derived from personal tithes (18s.), oblations (6s.), and the farm of two tenements (10s.). (fn. 856) It was proposed in 1548 to unite the benefice with St. Margaret's; (fn. 857) the church had evidently been disused for some time: together with the churchyard it was immediately sold by the corporation to Alderman John Northe for £1. (fn. 858) The act of union was completed in 1586. (fn. 859)
A licence to alienate lands to found a chantry in the church was granted to Nicholas Swanland and Robert Halton in 1396. (fn. 860) The chantry was at the altar of the Virgin and cantarists were admitted to it at least between 1400 and 1431. (fn. 861)
The church lay on the west side of Long Close Lane, off Walmgate, just inside the bar: remains of the fabric have been found. (fn. 862) The parish comprised a small area around the church. It retained its identity for secular purposes until 1900 and is marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852.
The church of ST. PETER-THE-LITTLE is first mentioned in a document dated between 1121 and 1128 when the advowson was confirmed to Durham Cathedral Priory. (fn. 863) An agreement made between 1162 and 1167 assigned the church to the archdeaconry of Cleveland but this was probably only a temporary arrangement. (fn. 864) The Priory of Durham retained the advowson until the Dissolution when it presumably passed to the bishops of Durham or the Crown: the church was, however, by this time almost extinct. (fn. 865)
A document of 1225 confirmed a pension of 1 mark due to Durham Priory from the incumbents of St. Peter's. (fn. 866) The pension had apparently lapsed by 1535; the rectory was then valued at £2 6s. 6d. comprising tithes from gardens, lenten tithes, and all other oblations. (fn. 867)
It was proposed in 1548 to unite the church with All Saints', Pavement, and it was then agreed that the mayor should sell the church for £40. (fn. 868) The churchyard, and apparently the church, were sold in 1549 to Miles Newton for £1 6s. 8d.; in 1555 the site was 'noisefully used' by the local inhabitants and Newton was asked to remedy the matter. (fn. 869) The act of union with All Saints' was completed in 1586. (fn. 870)
The church lay on the east side of Peter Lane: a few courses of stone that probably formed part of the fabric were still to be seen in a wall in Peter Lane in 1958. (fn. 871) An examination of the foundations about 1910 revealed a structure that had consisted of nave and chancel without aisles and a tower at the west end. (fn. 872) The parish was small and lay west of the church: it retained its identity for secular purposes until 1900 and is marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852.
Licence was granted for the alienation of lands in support of a chantry at the altar of the Virgin to Stephen de Settrington in 1349. (fn. 873) In 1535 the chantry at this altar was valued at £3 13s. 1d. clear, the income being derived from rents in the city. (fn. 874) In 1546 the chantry, said to have been founded by John Settrington at an unstated date and to be at the altar of St. Margaret (although called 'the chantry of Our Lady'), was valued at £4 18s. 4½d. clear. The chantry was then said to have been at one time three, which had decayed and had been united in 1526. (fn. 875)
Licences to alienate lands for the support of a chantry (in one case said to be at the altar of St. Mary) were granted to John de Akum of York in 1349. (fn. 876) Similar licence was granted to John de Acum the Younger in 1359 for a chantry at the altar of St. John the Baptist. (fn. 877) The chantry, said to have been founded by John and Joan Acom, was valued at £4 3s. 4d. in 1535; the chaplain then received a pension from Byland Abbey of £4. (fn. 878) Neither of the Acum chantries is mentioned in 1546 but the pension from Byland was then attached to Swetemouth's chantry at the altar of St. John the Baptist. (fn. 879)
Licence for the alienation of lands in support of a chantry was granted to Robert and William Swetemouth in 1350. (fn. 880) The chantry was being served in 1356 (fn. 881) and three years later inquisition was taken prior to licence for alienation of lands by John de Akum for the support of this chantry. (fn. 882) In 1388 the chantry was said to be at the altar of St. Margaret. (fn. 883) The valuation of Acum's chantry in 1535 probably refers to Swetemouth's chantry. In 1546 the chantry was said to be at the altar of St. John the Baptist and to have been founded by Robert Swetemouth in 1358: it was valued at £3 18s. clear and derived its income from the pension from Byland. (fn. 884)
The church of ST. SAMPSON, Girdlergate, is first mentioned in 1154 when it was granted, cum pertinentiis, by King Stephen, together with St. Benet's, to Pontefract Priory. (fn. 885) The parson (persona) of the church witnessed a grant dated between 1175 and 1190 (fn. 886) and it is not clear whether the rectory or only the advowson was appropriated to the priory by Stephen. By 1226 the advowson was in the hands of the archdeacons of Richmond but in January 1276 both the prior and the archdeacon presented to the living, though with what result is not known. (fn. 887) In 1281 the archdeacon presented but in January 1312 the king directed that the right to the advowson should be investigated and later in the same year the archdeacon presented to the living. (fn. 888) Between 1334 and 1383 the advowson reverted to the Crown though on what grounds is not known; (fn. 889) a further inquiry into the dispute was instituted in 1339. (fn. 890) The church was firmly in the hands of the Crown in the late 14th century: in 1394 Richard II appropriated it to the college of vicars choral in consideration that they should resume collegiate life. (fn. 891) Pontefract Priory then quitclaimed all right in the church. (fn. 892) No vicarage was ordained but the vicars choral were bound to provide a chaplain, who should be removable at their will, to serve the church. (fn. 893) The church remained in the hands of the vicars choral until 1934 when the advowson was given to the chapter. (fn. 894)
It was proposed in 1548 to unite St. Helen's, Stonegate, with the church but this was not carried out; (fn. 895) Holy Trinity, King's Court, was united with it in 1886. (fn. 896) Even with the addition of Holy Trinity, St. Sampson's is a small parish; it lies in the centre of the city.
The value of the rectory before its appropriation to the vicars choral is not known. Under the appropriation all profits of the church fell to the college which was not charged with the payment for the endowment of a vicar or for payment of any sum to the parishoners; a pension of 6s. 8d. was paid to the archbishop. (fn. 897) Under an ordinance of the chapter of 1399 10 marks from the profits of the church were to be devoted to the common expenses of the hall; 2s. were to be paid to each vicar present at the yearly obit of Richard II and Anne; ¼d. to each present at the daily anthem and collect for St. John the Baptist; and the residue for the repair of tenements and for miscellaneous purposes. (fn. 898) Account rolls for the church between 1411 and 1420 show the rectory to have been worth £23 11s. 7d. made up from tithes (presumably from orchards and gardens), oblations, mortuary fees, and rents. The portion devoted to the hall of the college was then half the earlier sum but the payment for celebrating the collect for St. John the Baptist much increased; a pension of 20d. was paid to the chapter. In 1472 receipts are said to have totalled £7 7s. 11d., deriving from fees, mortuaries, rents, and oblations; the pension to the chapter had then been increased to 10s. (fn. 899)
The church was not valued in 1291 or in the Valor. In 1546 it was valued at £6. (fn. 900) In 1649 there was said to be neither minister nor maintenance for the church. (fn. 901) In 1764 the sub-chanter of the minster was said to pay 20d. at every visitation for the living'; two augmentations by lot from Queen Anne's Bounty had been received in 1746 and 1758 and the £400 laid out in lands at Fulford which brought in a net rent of just over £16; 10s. was received from an anniversary sermon. (fn. 902) The rent from the Fulford lands had increased to 50 guineas by 1825; a benefaction of £200 from Peter Johnson, Recorder of York, had been met in 1763 by an augmentation and laid out in land at Great Cowden (E.R.); an augmentation by lot in 1801 had been used to purchase land at Clifton which was let for £7 10s.; an augmentation by lot from the parliamentary fund of £400 in 1812 was invested in stock and the church received another of £200 in 1823. (fn. 903) In 1863 the living was said to be worth £109. (fn. 904)
Four or perhaps five chantries are recorded in the church. One was founded by Hugh Botoner (or Botomer) at the altar of the Virgin in 1336; (fn. 905) it was valued at 40s. clear (from rents in the city) in 1535, and at 50s. 4d. in 1546 and 1548. (fn. 906) Licence was granted in 1379 for the alienation of lands by the executors of Nicholas de Burton to found a chantry, also said to be at the altar of the Virgin; priests were appointed to it at least until 1422. (fn. 907) It was alleged in a plea in 1268 that one Matthew had bequeathed a rent of 2½ marks to maintain a chantry at the altar of the Virgin; it is not known whether this was a predecessor of either of these last two chantries. (fn. 908) Licence was granted in 1405 to John, son of William de Helmesley, to alienate land to found a chantry at the altar of the Holy Trinity. (fn. 909) Nothing was known of Burton and Helmesley chantries at the Dissolution. Licence was granted in 1489 to the executors of John Kar, an alderman, to alienate lands for foundation of a chantry at the altar of St. Nicholas. (fn. 910) In 1535 a pension of £5 6s. 8d. was received from Rievaulx Abbey (N.R.) and the clear value was £4 14s. 8d.; in 1546 the pension was paid by the Crown and the net value was £4 11s. 3¼d. and slightly more in 1548. (fn. 911)
The church comprises (fn. 912) a nave with north and south aisles and a tower over the west end. The style is of the 15th century but the church was rebuilt, with the exception of the tower, in 1848. The tower is probably not earlier than the 15th century though it has an older appearance. The reredos is composed of painted tiles; there are some fragments of ancient glass at the west end. There are two chairs in the vestry dated 1631. The 17th-century altar was brought from Holy Trinity, King's Court.
There is one bell and a sanctus bell. (fn. 913) The plate comprises, in silver, two cups and a paten; there are a plated flagon, a brass alms-dish, and a modern paten. (fn. 914)
The church of ST. SAVIOUR, St. Saviourgate, is first mentioned in William II's confirmation of his father's gift of the church to St. Mary's Abbey, dated between 1088 and 1093: like the remainder of St. Mary's property it does not appear in Domesday Book. (fn. 915) The advowson was held by St. Mary's until the Dissolution when it passed to the Crown. (fn. 916) The Crown presented in the 17th and 18th centuries but in 1870 Emma Crofts and J. L. Foster of York and Abraham Horsfall of Leeds were patrons. In 1933 the patronage was transferred to the archbishop by the then patron, William Watson of Ashton-underLyme. (fn. 917)
St. John's, Hungate, and St. Andrew's, St. Andrewgate, were united with St. Saviour's in 1586, instead of with All Saints', Peaseholme, as had been planned in 1548. (fn. 918) The benefice and parish of St. Saviour's were united with All Saints', Pavement, in 1954. (fn. 919) In 1955 the church was leased at a nominal rent to the corporation for use as a store for the Castle Museum. (fn. 920)
The rectory was not valued in 1291 but it was noted that a pension of 10s. was paid to St. Mary's. (fn. 921) In 1535 this pension was paid to the refectorian of the abbey; the rectory was then valued at £6 9s. 4d., comprising Easter tithes (£2), great tithes in Heworth (£2 10s.), and rents and oblations 16s.; pensions were received from the White Friars of York (£1) and from the guild of St. Anthony (3s. 4d.); (fn. 922) £1 2s. 10d. was paid out in reprises. (fn. 923) In 1649 and 1664 the rectory was said to be worth £20, comprising £6 in tithes from Heworth and the remainder in the value of the parsonage house. (fn. 924) In 1716 the income was derived from tithes and rents in Heworth and tithes of orchards and gardens; from Easter offerings; from a pension of £2 from the Crown (in lieu of tithes of Lady Tryer) and one of 3s. 4d. from the corporation, which no doubt was in lieu of St. Anthony's pension. (fn. 925) The benefice was augmented in 1730 from Queen Anne's Bounty to meet a benefaction from the 'Revd. Mr. Robinson' of Leeds which in 1764 was laid out in a house at Idle in Bradford. In this latter year and in 1825 the income was otherwise derived from the same sources as in 1716. (fn. 926) In 1863 the benefice was said to be worth £133; (fn. 927) it was endowed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1864 with £14 a year. (fn. 928) The tithes in the extramural portion of the parish in and beyond Heworth were commuted for £120 under an award of 1845. The lands had comprised 127 a. of arable, 227 a. of meadow and pasture, and nearly 19 a. of gardens. (fn. 929)
There were at least eight chantries in the church— probably the largest number of any city parish church. A priest was admitted to a chantry at the altar of the Virgin in 1281: he was presented by Mariot, relict of Robert Verdenel 'of the Marsh' in York, who was perhaps the founder. (fn. 930) Priests were presented in 1303, when Sir Simon de Barneby held the advowson, and in 1307, when the parishioners presented. (fn. 931) Incumbents were presented at least to 1521 but the chantry is not recorded in the Reformation surveys. (fn. 932)
Licence to alienate lands for the support of a chantry at the altar of the Virgin (fn. 933) was granted to Adam de Spirydene (later Spyreden and rector of the church in 1308) in 1332. (fn. 934) The chantry was valued at £2 12s. 4d. clear in 1535. (fn. 935) In 1546 the income, derived from rents in York and Marton in Cleveland (N.R.), was £4 1s.; in 1548 it was only 6s. greater. (fn. 936)
Licence to alienate lands to found a chantry at the altar of St. John the Evangelist was granted to John de Hathelsaye in 1333. The chantry is said to have been united with Burton's chantry at the altar of St. James in 1468. (fn. 937)
Similar licence was granted in 1396 to William Frost who founded a chantry three years later at the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr (fn. 938) —later changed to the altar of St. John the Evangelist and once mistakenly called the altar of St. Thomas the Apostle. (fn. 939) It was valued at £4 10s. 4d. in 1535. (fn. 940) In 1546 the income of £10 9s. 11d. was derived from many small tenements and gardens in the city; reprises came to about £1 1s. (fn. 941)
In 1546 two chantries are recorded of the foundation of William Burton, one at the altar of St. James (founded 26 February 1408) and the other at the altar of St. Anne (founded 12 April 1408). (fn. 942) A licence to alienate lands for the first was granted to Burton in 1409 and two more for his chantries (unspecified) in 1399 and 1408. (fn. 943) The chantry at the altar of St. James was valued at £2 19s. 8d. in 1535 and £6 5s. 6d. in 1546; that at St. Anne's altar was valued at £2 9s. 4d. in 1535 and £6 1s. in 1546. (fn. 944) The income of both chantries was derived from rents in York.
Licence to alienate lands to found a chantry at the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr was granted to the executors of Richard Wartre (later Warter) in 1466. (fn. 945) It was valued at £5 6s. 8d. clear in 1535: in 1546 the gross income was £6, comprising a rent paid by the Crown out of the lands of Easby Abbey. (fn. 946)
A chantry at an unknown altar was founded in the church by Sir William Gilliott in 1513; it was valued at £3 13s. 4d. clear in 1535 and 6s. 8d. less in 1546. (fn. 947)
The church comprises (fn. 948) a nave with north and south aisles, a vestry, and a tower at the west end. The tower and probably a considerable part of the nave were rebuilt about 1450: this building, with the exception of part of the tower, was taken down in in 1844 and re-erected with new stone in Perpendicular Style. There is some 15th-century stained glass in the east window. When the church was leased to the corporation in 1955, the church furniture, which included a communion table and sanctuary chairs of the early 17th century, was placed in the chancel.
The tomb of Sir John and Lady Hewley, founders of the St. Saviourgate Chapel, was found beneath the sanctuary steps in 1850.
There are 2 bells, one of them a small sanctus bell. In 1764 there were 4 large bells and one small one but these had been reduced to the present ones by 1825. Two bells from St. Saviour's were exchanged for 3 bells from St. William's Chapel on Ouse Bridge in 1583. (fn. 949) The plate comprised in 1912, 2 silver cups, a pair of patens, a pair of flagons, a pair of pewter flagons, and a plated cup. The plate recorded in 1764 and 1825—a silver chalice with cover and two silver patens inscribed 1723—has disappeared; it was perhaps exchanged for some of the modern plate. (fn. 950) The registers begin in 1724; (fn. 951) there is a churchwardens' book for 1766-1930.
The parish comprised the area around the church: St. John's, Hungate, and St. Andrew's, St. Andrewgate, were annexed to this in 1586. Parts of the area north-east of the city between St. Olave's and Osbaldwick also lay in St. Saviour's.
The church of HOLY TRINITY was built between 1867 and 1869 in Heworth in the detached portion of the parish; it was consecrated in the latter year. (fn. 952) In 1870 the church was assigned a Consolidated Chapelry out of the detached portion of St. Saviour's with parts of St. Olave's and St. Cuthbert's, and this was extended in 1936 by the inclusion of parts of St. Cuthbert's, Huntington, and Osbaldwick parishes. The living is a vicarage in the gift of trustees. (fn. 953) The church is built of stone in Early English style and comprises nave and chancel with a tower in the north-east angle of the nave. There is accommodation for 280 adults and 134 children; the cost was £6,436 and the architect G. F. Jones of York. (fn. 954) The Revd. Jocelyn Willey, and later his relict, Lady Trevor Wheler, were greatly instrumental in building the church. There is a large wooden reredos made in Oberammergau. There is a mission chapel in the western part of the parish in Fossway; it was dedicated to St. Wulstan on 20 February 1940. (fn. 955)
ST. HILDA'S Church, Tang Hall, was built between 1933 and 1934. (fn. 956) It was consecrated in the latter year and in 1936 was assigned a Consolidated Chapelry out of Holy Trinity, Heworth, St. Lawrence's and Osbaldwick parishes. (fn. 957) The living is a vicarage in the gift of the archbishop. The church was built of local hand-made brick faced internally with cement: it was intended to comprise a nave of five bays, with a tower at the west end and a chancel of three bays, choir- and clergy-vestries, and a Lady Chapel. Only the chancel and two bays of the nave were built and the west end is boarded in with wood. The site was given by H. L. Swift of York and the architects were Ward and Leckenby of York. (fn. 958) The font and its 18th-century cover were formerly in St. John's, Ouse Bridge End, and the altar table and a sanctuary chair in St. Mary's, Bishophill, Senior. There is an oak bench inscribed 1644. A chalice with cover, a salver, and a flagon, which had been in the chapel in York castle, were given to the church in 1930; (fn. 959) a cup, paten, and dish, formerly belonging to Archbishop Vernon Harcourt, are also in the church.
With the annexation of its detached portion to Holy Trinity and St. Hilda's, St. Saviour's now comprises the area around the church bounded by the city wall and Foss Islands Road.
The church of ST. STEPHEN, Fishergate, is first mentioned in a document of 1093 or 1094 by which it was given to Archbishop Thomas I by William II in exchange for some land. (fn. 960) The church is mentioned again in 1290 and 1294 by which time it was appropriated to the chapter: the 'vicar' was then said to have all profits of the church and to pay the chapter a pension of 2s. (fn. 961) The graveyard of the church is mentioned in a document of the late 13th or early 14th century and appears to be located in Fishergate. (fn. 962) The church was included by Torre amongst those annexed to St. Martin's, Coney Street, in 1331 but is not so included after that date. (fn. 963) The parish and churchyard are mentioned in a will of 1405. (fn. 964) No remains of the church have been found and nothing is known of the parish.
The church of ST. WILFRID, Blake Street, is first mentioned in a charter dated between 1145 and 1148 when it is used as a landmark; (fn. 965) in another document of 1150-60, where it is similarly cited, it is called a monasterium. (fn. 966) In a grant dated between 1155 and 1165 Richard, son of Fyn, gave the patronage to St. Mary's Abbey; (fn. 967) Richard mentions the proprietary rights in the church held by his father and ancestors. The church is not, however, mentioned eo nomine in Domesday Book. In 1232 the rector obtained confirmation from St. Mary's of a grant he had made of some land in Blake Street belonging to the church. (fn. 968) Between at least 1300 and 1323 the rectory was held by John of Hemingborough, an official of the archiepiscopal curia and Dean of the Christianity of York from 1312 to 1313. (fn. 969) In 1388 the Crown upheld the rights of the rector, who had been provided to the benefice by the Pope, revoking its own presentation of a year earlier. (fn. 970) The close association of the Crown with St. Mary's appears to have led occasionally to the abbey waiving its right of presentation in favour of royal nominees. (fn. 971) The patronage continued to be held by St. Mary's until the Dissolution.
The church does not occur separately in the returns of 1291: in 1535 the clear value to the rector was said to be 40s. 8d. (fn. 972) In 1428 the benefice was valued by the civic authorities at £5 for taxation purposes. (fn. 973) No mention is made in the Valor of a pension to the abbey but one of ½ mark is said by Drake to have been payable to it. (fn. 974)
Under the Act of Edward VI it was proposed in 1548 to unite the parish with that of St. Michael-leBelfrey; (fn. 975) the union is not confirmed in the document of 1586 but later documents have deemed it to be so. In 1549 the churchyard and church ground were devised absolutely to Richard Goldthrop for 40s. (fn. 976) This grant, however, was evidently revoked, for in 1554 Goldthrop was granted the churchyard for £10 provided he made a convenient path through it 2 yards wide. (fn. 977)
The church lay on a site adjacent to the present Assembly Rooms and the churchyard extended to Lendal. (fn. 978) The parish lay around the church and entirely within the walls. It survived for secular purposes until 1900 and is marked on the Ordnance Survey Plan of 1852.
A licence for the alienation of land to found a chantry at the altar of the Virgin was granted in 1312 to Nicholas le Flemyng. (fn. 979) In 1388 chantry priests were associated with the church (fn. 980) but no chantries were returned for the church in 1546.