Walks through the City of York. By R. Davies ... Edited by his widow (Elizabeth Davies)

Introduction

. When in compliance with the wishes of the few surviving friends of our early days, who had listened with pleasure to my dear hushand's " Walks through the City of York," I consented some time ago, with the kind assistance of my valued friend Canon Raine, and my dear Hushand's nephew, Robert Hardisty Skaife, to collect and arrange them, I hoped to have found them as they were then read, but I regret to be obliged to confess that I have searched diligently but in vain for them. The " Walks " which I now give to my friends are only the rough copies from which those " Walks" were taken. I must trust therefore to the kind indulg ence of those who then so appreciated his labours to pardon and overlook all my deficiencies. I have now every reason to believe that the " Walks" read at the Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical

INTRODUCTION.

. Society, and at the York Institute, St. Saviourgate, were destroyed in the spring preceding my beloved Husband's lamented death. They contained short memoirs of some of the men of eminence who inhabited the principal houses in the city, and who are named in the streets through which we pass. I am quite aware my Husband fancied, as these had been taken out and printed separately, either by himself or by Mr. Fairless Barber in the Yorkshire Archæological Journal, that this circumstance would deprive the "Walks" of much of their interest, but I know that many of those friends who will welcome my gift possess the memoirs I have alluded to in those publications, and I have there fore the more readily complied with their request. Many of the " Walks" are precisely as my Husband read them, and those who remember his lucid and simple style will believe that I have strictly followed him in his survey of the city — adding nothing of my own, but merely arranging the materials, which were very abundant. The lives of the persons to whom I have alluded as the occupants of some of the most important residences in the city were, —

INTRODUCTION.

. III Marmaduke Rawdon, Pavement. Christopher Brook, Pavement. Pope and his Maternal Ancestors, Pavement. Sir Thomas Herbert, Petergate. Sir Martin Lister, St. Helen's, Stonegate. Dr. Burton, Blake Street. Francis Drake, St. Martin's, Coney Street. The Fawkes' of York, St. Michael le Belfrey. The delicate state of my health for the last two years has retarded the completion of this labour of love, but I shall rejoice if it be deemed a worthy and enduring memorial of my beloved Husband. ELIZABETH DAVIES. The Mount. No. I. BURTON STONE TO JEWBURY. ANTIQUARIAN WALKS THROUGH THE STREETS OF YORK. No. I Burton Stone to Jewbury* N our daily walks through the highways and bye-ways of our ancient and venerable city we can not fail to observe that the mediæval character, by which much of our street architecture was distinguished so recently as in the early part of the present century, is now rapidly disappearing.

The quaint and picturesque abodes of our ancestors are daily giving place to modern structures as trim and insipid as plain bricks and mortar, formal sash windows, and pseudo-classic doorways can combine to make them. Should a few specimens of the solemn old timber houses of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, with their peaked gables and overhanging fronts, be permitted here and there to stand, they are robbed of their bold projections and the grotesque carvings with which they were so richly decorated, and all is rubbed smooth and plain to satisfy the prevailing taste for monotonous neatness and mawkish simplicity. Scarcely a month passes that does not witness the removal of some monument of former days. Even the antient and * This Paper was read at the York Institute, 14th February, 1854.

Some years afterwards Mr. Davies made the following memorandum on the original MS.: " This was my first reading in public." — R. H. S. B significant names of some of our streets have not been spared, but have been needlessly abolished, and unmeaning and inap plicable substitutes adopted. An attempt to snatch from oblivion some of these bygone things, — lo recall to your observation some of the few vestiges of antiquity that still remain in our streets, and connect them with historical associations before all traces of their original aspect and external forms are wholly swept away, — may not be deemed altogether useless or uninteresting. I propose to make this attempt by asking you to accompany me in an imaginary ramble through some of our streets and lanes, our highways and bye-ways ; and if I shall occasionally point out to your notice structures of comparatively recent date, or introduce a sprinkling of personal anecdote suggested by the localities on which we happen to touch, it may serve to relieve in some degree tbe dryness of antiquarian detail Should you suspect that I am about to lead you into a beaten and therefore uninviting path, that I am asking you to explore with me a field already carefully and diligently investigated, — lam ready to acknowledge that your suspicions are not entirely groundless.

It is impossible to discuss any question relating to the former condition of our city without having recourse to that great storehouse of facts and in formation which we possess in the work of our venerable historian, Francis Drake. Of his name, and of his labours, I must necessarily in the course of our excursions make frequent use ; but I hope to be able to impart to you the knowledge of some circumstances and occurrences which maj' have eluded his research, or which he did not possess the means of discovering, or which have happened since his toils were ended. Nor must I omit to speak with respect of the more recent labours of Mr. Hargrove, or to express my obligations for the information afforded by his " History and Description of the ancient City of York," published in the year 1818, of which I have occasionally availed myself.

And, if some of the information which I propose to present to you shall not recommend itself to you by the charm of nov-elty, you will not, I am persuaded, be sorry to have your memories refreshed upon subjects which can never lose their interest in any assembly of the citizens and inhabitants of York. I shall be content if at the conclusion of my Paper you feel disposed to say to me, in the words of the poet — By thee transported, we securely stray Where winding alleys lead the doubtful way The silent court and opening square explore, And long perplexing streets, untrod before.* To commence our first Antiquarian Walk, we will imagine ourselves to have assembled upon that which was a few years ago considered to be the great high road from York to the North, at a point where the extremity of the legal boundary of the city in this direction was denoted by a way-side cross, of which no part now remains but the base or pedestal, a large square block of stone, in modern times known as Burton Stone.

Near this spot, on the northerly side of the high road, stood a way-side hospital with a chapel dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, which was commonly denominated the " Maudlin Spital." When in the days of the Plantagenets and the Tudors the city sent forth her military levies to aid the sovereign in resisting the incursions of his enemies the Scots, here the civic troop was mustered under the command of their captain, who was usually one of the Lord Mayor's esquires, as they were called, either the sword-bearer or the mace-bearer ; and, previously to their commencing their march to the North, * Gay's Trivia, i. 5. here the Lord Mayor and his brethren the aldermen assembled to make their last inspection of the citizen-soldiers, and bid them finally farewell. The lane leading from this point to the forest of Galtres was formerly called Chapel Lane, but is now called Burton Lane.

This prefix is, no doubt, of modern origin, and pro bably derived from a family of the name of Burton, who in the seventeenth or eighteenth century were considerable pro prietors of the land adjacent. Mr. Drake describes the street called Bootham as extending to a wooden gate anciently called " Galmhawlith." The gate so called was, most pro bably, placed not across the high North Koad but at the entrance of Burton Lane, at the other extremity of which stood the gallows of St. Mary's Abbey, and hence, perhaps, the name of the gate — Galman-hithe, Gallows-gate, A.S. Galga, Gallows. The long and spacious highway or street leading in a nearly direct line from Burton Stone to Bootham Bar has been for many centuries past called Bootham. a name which in early records is given to a vill or burgh belonging to the abbat and convent of St. Mary's, the limits and bounds of which, from their proximity to the city, were the occasion of frequent disputes between the Abbat and the Corporation.

In the third year of Edward I. (1275) the abbat obtained a judgment in his favour " pro villa sua de Boutham juxta Eboracum et libertatem ejusdem contra majorem Eboraci, in qua sunt limites villæ de Boutham." That the victory gained by the abbat did not put an end to his differences with the city is obvious from the circumstance of a commission having o been issued in the 24th year of Edward III. (1350), "ad perambulationem faciendum," between the Abbat of the Blessed Mary of York and the Mayor of the city of York, respecting Bootham. A few years previously, viz. in the ninth year of the same reign (1335), the Abbat had obtained a grant of " pavagium pro burgo suo de Boutham," which was, I believe, an authority to levy a rate for defraying the expense of maintaining the highways of the burgh.

It seems not improbable that the vill or burgh of Bootham occupied the greater part of the ground which is now included within the walls of St. Mary's Abbey. After that inclosure was made the vill or burgh of Bootham would cease to have a distinct existence, but the name continued to adhere to the highway and the city gate or bar to which it led. " Extra portam de Bouthum " is a phrase used in a document of the reign of Edward III. Jn a record of the reign of King Richard II. one John de Eoucliffe is described as " morans in Bouthum." He was the owner of the windmill in Chapel or Burton Lane which long bore his name, but afterwards acquired the title of Lady Mill, and is now called Burton Mill. A vessel-load of timber belonging to him was brought to the landing-place on the river Ouse at Marygate end, and, wishing to have it landed and conveyed by his carts through the street of Marygate to his residence in Bootham, he found the passage obstructed by a ditch or trench which had been dug across the highway by the order of William de Stayn greef, monk and bursar of St. Mary's Abbey, in order to assert the exclusive right of the Abbat to the road along Marygate, — a claim which the Abbat found that he could not lawfully maintain.

Mr. Drake says that Bootham (meaning the street so called) takes its name from a hamlet of booths erected here by the Abbat of St. Mary's when he held his fair. I have shown you that the street took its name from the vill or burgh through which it passed, and Mr. Drake's etymology is there fore scarcely applicable, as the vill must have been in exist ence before the Abbat could have held any fair in it : aud most probably the name of Bootham was of earlier origin than the foundation of the abbey. ANTIQUARIAN WALKS THROUGH YORK. The first object which invites a passing notice is the long range of low brick dwellings, of a somewhat singular aspect, known as Ingram's or Lady Irwin's hospital. The only part that possesses any architectural attraction is the central porch or entrance, which appears to have been formed of the spoils of some antient church or other building of the Norman character, and when we discover who was the founder of the hospital we may shrewdly guess at the locality from whence this sculptured arch was brought.

The hospital was built, in the year 1640, by Sir Arthur Ingram, of Temple Newsam, Knight, whose city residence stood on the north side of the Minster, upon the site of the ancient palace of the Archbishops of York, and had, perhaps, been constructed out of the ruins of that noble edifice. And we may plausibly conjecture that a portion of those ruins found their way into Bootham. As not a vestige of Sir Arthur Ingram's house now remains it is interesting to find a graphic description of it given by a person who visited our city in the year 1634. From the top of the Minster (to which our traveller had ascended, as most travellers do) the tourist and his companion beheld as it were under them " a second paradice, wherein lived a generous, free, and grave old knight of great revenue, Sir Arthur Ingram; they speedily descended to goe thither, and had free passage to their own hearts' desire.

The first moietie of an houre they spent in his rare gardens and curious long walkes, which were adorned with many kinds of beasts to the life, with most lively statues in several shapes and forms. A pleasant fair tennis-court, a delightful large bowling ground newlie made, curiously contrived fish-ponds ; all which made up another sweet little citie. A place it is, so pleasant to all the sences as art and nature can make it. The other half houre they spent in his rich mansion, where they found as much contentive variety within as before without ; his store of massie plate, rich hangings, lively pictures, and statues, rich 150te pearle glasses, fayre stately 500te organ, and other rich furniture in every room, prince-like ; his family and attendants, court-like ; his free and generous entertainments, Christmas-like.

Here (the traveller concludes) we desired heartilie (having such free libertie as was given us) to have spent another houre, but that time would not allow it." * In this luxurious abode King Charles the First was lodged during his long sojourn at York in the memorable year 1642. Nor can we be surprised that he should have preferred it, for his residence, to the gloomy apartments of his own palace of the manor. On the same side of Bootham as Ingram's Hospital, and a little nearer the city, stood, three or four years ago, a rather unsightly structure, which was originally the York cock -pit, although occasionally used as an assembly-room. It was con verted into a dwelling house by the late Mr. Anthony Thorpe, and was the place of his residence for several years. The memory of Mr. Thorpe we must hold in respect, as one of the founders of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society.

In the annual report of the Council presented to the Society in Feb ruary, 1831, Mr. Thorpe (whose death took place in the preceding year) is said to have been " one of those whose liberal spirit planted the germ which has since produced such abundant fruit in the now extensive geological treasures of this Society ; and his name deserves to stand up on its records as that of a man who, when the interest of the extraordinary discoveries at Kirkdale was at its height, in giving his own collection of those rare remains, saw and embraced the proper moment for effecting by a personal sacrifice an im portant public object." A little further and we arrive at the street of Marygate. * Brayley's Graphic Illustrations, p. 95. ANTIQUARIAN WALKS THROUGH YORK. The venerable round tower with its conical roof, that greets our sight at the entrance to this street, betokens our approach to the boundary of St. Mary's Abbey, at the north-west angle of which this bastion is placed.

As there is nothing in the aspect of this end of Marygate to invite us to enter the street, I will direct your attention to the opposite side of Bootham, where stands a building usually styled " The Old Maids' Hospital," which was erected about the year 1740. Mrs. Mary Wandesford, the maiden lady by whose benevolence this useful institution was founded, was a resident in York, and was descended from Christopher Wan desford, Esq. of Kirklington, in Yorkshire, the earliest and most warmly-attached friend of the great Lord Strafford, by whom he was left in charge of the government as Lord Deputy of Ireland when Strafford returned to this country, in 1640, to brave the storm of popular discontent and vitu peration. The house now occupied by J. R. Mills, Esq., is worthy of notice as having been the residence of Edward Pigott, Esq. who, during the latter part of the last century, successfully cultivated the science of astronomy.

The observatory in which he pursued his studies was a small building or summer house in the garden behind Mr. Mills's house, which -was taken down a few years ago by a former owner of the pro perty for the sake of the lead that covered the roof. It is remarkable that at this period our city could boast of having among its residents two gentlemen, moving in the same rank of life, both highly distinguished for their attainments in astro nomical science. The volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society for the year 1785 (or 6) contains a Paper by Mr. Pigott " On those stars which the astronomers of the last century suspected to be changeable." And in the course of his essay he adverts more than once, in a complimentary manner, to his contemporary and collaborateur, John Goodricke, Esq. whose contribution to the same volume of Transactions is a Paper " On the discovery of the period of the variation of the light of a star near the head of Cepheus."

This Paper is dated " York, June 28, 1785." Mr. Good ricke at that time lived in Lendal, in the house afterwards occupied by the late Mr. James Atkinson. In the same year Mr. Pigott communicated to the Royal Society a Paper con taining his determination of the latitude and longitude of York, from a variety of astronomical observations, in the con ducting of which he does not omit to acknowledge the assist ance he had received from his friend Mr. Goodricke. The Paper is dated " Bootham, York, March 16th, 1786," and in the course of it Mr. Pigott mentions " our observatorv, O %/ 7 which (he says) is in Bootham, about 400 or 500 yards N.W. of the Minster." A supplementary communication from Mr. Pigott upon the same subject, dated only two months later, contains the following passage relating to Mr. Good ricke: — "This worthy young man exists no more; he is not only regretted by many friends but will be a loss to astronomy, as the discoveries he so rapidly made sufficiently evince."

If we now turn our faces towards the other side of Bootham, we shall observe a row of mean-looking houses extending from the round tower at the end of Marygate nearly as far as Bootham bar, and almost wholly concealing from our view the embattled stone wall which formed the northern boundary of the domain of St. Mary's Abbey. The ground upon which the houses now stand was not built upon until after the period of the Dissolution of Monasteries. In the fifteenth year of King Henry VII. (1500) a serious dispute arose between the abbey and the city as to the ownership of this slip of ground, and a long correspondence on the subject took place between the Bishop of Carlisle, then Lord Abbat of St. Mary's, and the Lord Mayor and his Council, which was terminated by a reference to the King, who decided in favour of the city.

The letters which passed on this occasion disclose a curious fact. " When we brake our wall three years past to make our postern (the bishop observes in one of his letters, alluding to the gateway and tower near Bootham bar), you did not dispute our right to do so ; and then (he continues) I, with the advice of my brethren and our council, proceeded further in making of our postern and the tower there, for the ease of us and our monastery, and the honour of the same, and for the strength and defence of the city." Aye, replies the Lord Mayor, but why did we not interfere ? — because, when we re monstrated, " your lordship answered and said that the king's good grace, then in his noble viage toward Scotland, wold rest within your monastery, and for his pleasure and passage to the minster ye ivold make the said postern."

Hence we learn distinctly the time when this now crumbling arch and dilapi dated tower were built, and the purpose for which an opening was made in this part of the abbey inclosure. In the year 1585 " the house that is builded at St. Mary gate-end " is mentioned, and it is probably the same house that is now standing there, which bears the marks of consider able age. The remainder of the ground between that house and Bootham bar, which was at that time vacant, was let by the coloration in portions — thus, from the bar to the manor gate produced 8d. annual rent, between the gate-tower and the next tower 12d., between that and the next tower 2s., and so on. At what time, or upon what occasion, the Cor poration ceased to be the owners of this property, I am unable to tell you. Opposite to the manor gateway is the street of Gillygate, " so called (says Mr. Drake) from a parish church which antiently stood in it, dedicated to St. Giles."

By the deed of 1585, for uniting parishes, the church of St. Egidius in Gelygate is ordered to be united to that of St. Olave extra Bootham bar. Whether the church were actually standing at that time may be doubted. In an enumeration made in the year 1428 of thirty-nine parish churches in the city and suburbs which were then subject to taxation, St. Olave is mentioned, but St. Giles does not appear. A lease, dated about half-a-century later, describes the cimiterium or churchyard of the parish church of St. Julian as being adjacent to land in Gillygate. Mr. Hargrove observes that Drake does not state where the church of St. Giles stood, but he is informed by an antient MS. that its site was near the middle of the street on the north-west side. Gent describes it to have been opposite the Lord Mayor's Walk ; and the remains of stone walls and other appearances yet existing in that situation are in favour of the accuracy of Gent's state ment.

At what peiiod the Lord Mayor's Walk acquired that honourable appellation I have not discovered. I suspect that it was formerly regarded as a continuation of Gillygate, and known by that name, and that the end nearest Monk gate afterwards obtained the name of Newbiggin — probably when the first houses were built in that part of it. A document of the date of 1650 mentions a house, garden, and orchard, situate in Newbiggin, alias Jellygate, within St. Maurice parish. Passing through Bootham bar we enter the street called Petergate, a name (Mr. Drake says) derived from its neigh bourhood to the cathedral. In this part of the street, which is distinguished by the name of High Petergate, a few timber houses remain, but none of them present any remarkable features. A spacious mansion on the south side of the street, of which Mrs. Norcliffe, of Langton, is the owner, was formerly the residence of Sir Edward Stanhope, of Grimston, near Tadcaster, and afterwards of the eminent ecclesiastical lawyer Henry Swinburne, Esq. of whose representatives it was purchased, in 1665, by Sir Thomas Herbert, Baronet, the faithful attendant of King Charles I. In this house he resided until his death, which occurred on the 1st of March, 1681-2.

His great-grandson, Sir Thomas Herbert, the fourth baronet, sold the family mansion in Petergate, in 1723, to William Turner, Esq. of Stainsby in Yorkshire.* Two of the principal gates of the cathedral close opened into Petergate. One of them (called High Minster-gates) was opposite to Lopp Lane, and adjoining to it stood the court-house and the antient prison of the Liberty of St. Peter. The other gate of the cathedral (called Low Minster gates) was opposite to Stonegate, and led to the south entrance of the church. Mr. Drake observes that these gates, which were both standing when he wrote, were antiently closed every night, but in his time were constantly open. Most of us remember the archway of the gate opposite to Lopp Lane, but all trace of the Low Minster-gates has long since disappeared.

In Petergate, a little way beyond the end of Lopp Lane, stands in a tottering and neglected condition Masham House, t a large and picturesque edifice, formerly belonging to the prebendary of Masham. This prebend, which was the most wealthy stall in the Minster, was suppressed at the period of the Reformation. Masham House was then granted by the Crown to Trinity College, Cambridge, but has recently again become the property of the church of York. At present we will not pursue our walk along Low Peter gate ; we will return to the High Minster-gates and enter the * I have gleaned this information from " A Memoir of Sir Thomas Her bert, of Tinterne, in the county of Monmouth, and the city of York, baronet," which Mr. Davies contributed, in 1870, to the Yorkshire Archæological and Topographical Journal.

Tbe above facts were evidently unknown to the author when he compiled his " First Antiquarian Walk." — R. H. S. * Masham House and some adjacent buildings were pulled down a few years ago. narrow street which is now called Little Blake Street,* but formerly Lopp Lane, a name it had enjoyed from an earlier date than the reign of Edward III. Mr. Drake's etymology of Lopp Lane is somewhat recondite. He thinks it may be referred to the Belgic word, loopen — currere, or to an image of St. Loup or Lupus that probably stood here. Gent calls it Lupe Lane, which, he says, was derived from the resem blance of a wolf being over the Minster-gates. I see no necessity to travel so far for a derivation. " Loppe " is a genuine Anglo-Saxon word which we Northerns still use to designate a certain lively insect, in modern English called a flea ; and the application of it to the name of one of their venellœ or lanes is characteristic of the humour in which our mediæval ancestors sometimes delighted to indulge.

The house f at the corner of Lopp Lane, fronting Petergate, now occupied by Mr. James Allen, has been sometimes mis taken for an inn from having the cross-keys sculptured in stone above the entrance, to denote its being the property of the Dean and Chapter. In the year 1766, Edward Duke of York, brother of King George III., visited York for the August races, and lodged at this house with Mr. John Clough, | a proctor, who then lived in it. In the year 1778 a house in Lopp Lane was the residence for a short time of Sir Charles Burdett, Bart., whose grand father, Sir Francis Burdett, of Burthwaite, had that title con- * All the houses on the east side of Little Blake Street, and some on the west side, have since been removed to improve the approach to the Minster from Lendal Bridge. The new street is now called Duncombe Place, in honour of that munificent dignitary of the Church to whom the citizens of York are so much indebted.— R. H. S. f This house has shared the same fate as those just mentioned.

A new range of buildings, erected by the Dean and Chapter, occupies the site, and "the cross-keys, sculptured in stone," are inserted beneath a corbelled-out chimney iu the north gable. — R. H. S. f Mr. Clough, who was also registrar to the Dean and Chapter, and a partner in the bank of Messrs. Garforth and Co. died very suddenly, 31st December, 1789, aged 58, and was buried in York Minster. — E, H. S. ferred upon him by King Charles II. soon after the Restora tion. In the sixteenth century the Burdetts of Burthwaite were among the most respectable and highly-connected families of the West Riding. Unhappily the first baronet was of ex travagant and profligate habits, and his paternal estates, which had been considerably impaired by litigation and other causes before he came into possession, soon passed from his hands to satisfy the demands of his creditors.

In the earlier half of the eighteenth century Elizabeth Lady Burdett, one of the Windhams of Norfolk, and widow of Sir Francis Burdett, the second baronet, who died in 1747, was a resident in the parish of St. Mary, Castlegate, York. Her eldest surviving son, Sir Hugh, the third baronet, was a clergyman in Kent, and another son, Charles, lived with his mother at York. Lady Burdett died at York in November, 1757, and was buried in the church of St. Mary, Castlegate. Before her death her son Charles had taken to wife Miss Jane Harrison, one of the daughters of John Harrison, who exercised the occupation of a pewterer at York. They had several children, most of whom died young ; only one daughter survived, who, being ill-treated by her stepmother, ran away and married a barber at Edinburgh. In 1760 Charles Burdett succeeded to the baronetcy upon the death, without issue, of his elder brother Sir Hugh, and in the year 1764 the pew terer's daughter, having lived to enjoy the title of Lady Burdett, departed this life.