Medieval parish churches of York

York had around forty-five parish churches in 1300. Twenty survive, in whole or in part, a number surpassed in England only by Norwich, although few are currently used for worship. This article consists of, first, a list of medieval churches which still exist in whole or in part, and, second, a list of medieval churches which are known to have existed in the past but have been completely demolished.

Surviving medieval churches and those of which fragments remain in situ

All Saints, North Street

This church was founded in the eleventh century, but most of the present building is fourteenth and fifteenth century. It is attractively situated near the river Ouse and next to a row of fifteenth-century timber-framed houses. Externally, the main feature is the impressive tower with a tall octagonal spire. Internally there are fifteenth-century hammerbeam roofs and much medieval stained glass, including the Corporate Acts of Mercy and the "Pricke of Conscience" windows. The latter depicts the fifteen signs of the End of the World.

All Saints, Pavement

There has been a church on this site since before the Norman Conquest, but the present building is almost entirely fourteenth- and fifteenth-century. As with St. Denys (below), part of the building was demolished in the late eighteenth century: the east end (chancel and aisles) was removed so that the market-place in Pavement could be expanded. The present east end (originally the crossing) was rebuilt to a design by George Edmund Street in 1887, but the remains of the medieval chancel-arch can still be seen above the east window inside the church. The most noticeable feature of the church's exterior is the octagonal open-work lantern-tower of about 1400, which for many years housed a light for the guidance of travellers. Inside, there is a hexagonal pulpit of 1634, and a number of fittings from St Saviour and St Crux, whose parishes, among others, have been united with All Saints'.

St Crux, Pavement

This was the largest medieval parish church in York after its rebuilding in 1424, and a brick tower was added in 1697. It was closed around 1880 after becoming unsafe, and attempts to raise sufficient funds to rebuild it were unsuccessful. It was demolished in 1887, although some of the church's stonework was used to build the St Crux Parish Hall at the bottom of the Shambles. The Hall contains a number of monuments from the old church, and other fittings are now in All Saints, Pavement, to which the parish of St Crux was joined in 1885. Part of the stone wall of the fifteenth-century north aisle is still to be seen, and forms part of the southern exterior wall of no. 23, the Shambles and of the south wall of the snickelway which leads to Whip-ma-Whop-ma-Gate. The Hall is currently used as a cafe.

St Denys, Walmgate

This church, which stands in a churchyard raised above the level of the surrounding roads, is dedicated to St Denys, the patron saint of France and of Paris. There is evidence that the site was formerly occupied by buildings of the Roman and Viking or Anglo-Saxon periods. The present church is the chancel of the original medieval building, and occupies about one-third of its space - the west end was demolished in 1797, and the central tower (whose spire had been damaged in the Siege of York and was later struck by lightning in 1700) was replaced by the present tower in 1847.

St John, Micklegate

St John's became the York city Arts Centre in the 1960s, but is now a bar called 'The Parish'. A particular item of interest is the bells, whose ropes hang around the bar float! There is occasional ringing, however not very often.

St Lawrence, Lawrence Street

The present church is Victorian, but in its churchyard is the small tower of its predecessor (in which Sir John Vanbrugh was married in 1719). This dates back to the twelfth century, although its top storey was added in the early sixteenth century. The tower, which is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, has an impressive Norman doorway, formerly one of the entrances to the nave.

St Michael-le-Belfrey, High Petergate

Included here for completeness, as, strictly speaking, this is not a medieval church. The original church was completely demolished and rebuilt between 1525 and 1536, and the only part of the building surviving from the old church is the fourteenth-century stained glass in the east window.

St Olave's, Marygate

St Olave's (pronounced Olive) is situated within the walls of St Mary's Abbey, which was ruined at the Dissolution. It is dedicated to Olaf, patron saint of Norway. Thought to have been founded by Earl Siward of Northumbria before the Conquest, the medieval church was very severely restored in the 18th century. A new chancel was added in 1887-9 designed by G Fowler Jones, a York architect. This contains the five-light 15th-century east window.

Demolished medieval churches

• All Saints, Fishergate - located south of Paragon Street, this church was built in the eleventh century, when it was given to Whitby Abbey, or earlier. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it seems to have quickly fallen into disuse, and by 1549 had disappeared.
• All Saints, Peasholme Green
• Holy Trinity (also known as Christ Church), King's Court - largely rebuilt in the nineteenth century, closed in 1886 and demolished in 1937. Some of the gravestones from its churchyard can be seen in King's Square near the top of the Shambles, and at the Petergate end of the Square is a large inscribed paving stone commemorating the church.
• St Andrew, Fishergate
• St Benet, Patrick Pool
• St Clement, Clementhorpe
• St. Edward, Lawrence Street
• St George, Fishergate - suppressed in the sixteenth century and ruinous by 1644. Its churchard (with the gravestone of Dick Turpin) survives, and across the road (now George Street) is the Roman Catholic church of St George, built to serve the Irish community that settled in the Walmgate area after the Potato Famine.
• St Giles, Gillygate
• St Gregory, Barker Lane - demolished in the sixteenth century.
• St Helen, Fishergate
• St Helen on the Walls, Aldwark
• St. John-del-Pyke
• St John, Hungate - suppressed in 1586.
• St Mary ad Valvas
• St Mary, Bishophill Senior - demolished 1963. Some monuments and fittings were moved to St Clements, Scarcroft Road, and parts of the fabric were re-used in the Church of The Holy Redeemer, Boroughbridge Road
• St. Mary, Layerthorpe
• St. Mary, Walmgate
• St Maurice, Monkgate - demolished in 1876 and replaced by a new church, which itself was demolished in 1966. Some of its graveyard is still to be seen on the corner of Lord Mayor's Walk.
• St. Michael-without-Walmgate
• St Nicholas, Lawrence Street - part of the twelfth-century St Nicholas's Hospital. Survived until the 1644 Siege of York, when it was severely damaged by the Parliamentary forces' cannon fire. Lord Fairfax arranged for its Norman doorway to be re-erected at St Margaret, Walmgate, and the rest of the church's fabric was subsequently re-used or stolen.
• St Peter-le-Willows, Walmgate
• St Peter-the-Little, Peter Lane - suppressed in 1586.
• St. Stephen, Fishergate
• St Wilfrid, Blake Street - suppressed in 1585. The name was revived in 1760 for a Roman Catholic chapel on a different site, and in 1802 this was rebuilt on the site in Duncombe Place where the present Catholic church of St Wilfrid eventually replaced it in 1862-4.

External links

• Victoria County History article
• Campanology site with pictures and information about St Nicholas, St Crux, Holy Trinity King's Square, St Mary Bishophill Senior, St Maurice and St Margaret
• Official All Saints North Street site with images and guide to the stained glass

References

• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1995) [1972]. Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (2nd edition ed.). London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-071061-2. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Evans, Antonia (ed) (2002). The York Book. York: Blue Bridge. ISBN 0-9542749-0-3. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
• Wilson, Barbara (1998). The Medieval Parish Churches of York: the pictorial evidence. York: York Archaeological Trust. ISBN 1874454191. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)