Talbot Court
Talbot Court is a gated courtyard off Low Petergate. Access is flanked on one side by 62 Low Petergate, currently a restaurant but previously York College for Girls. On the …
York’s first Minster
York’s first minster church was a small wooden affair, built during the reign of King Edwin of Deira, following his conversion by the Gregorian missionary Paulinus in 626AD. Famously described …
Alma Sophia, Minster Yard
The Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin describes how he and the then Archbishop of York – Eanbald – built a church in honour of the previous Archbishop – Ælberht. Dedicated to Holy Wisdom (Alma …
Bedern Hall
Dating from the 14th century, Bedern Hall was the refectory, or dining hall, for York Minster’s choristers. Known as Vicars Choral, there were 36 of them. A bridge, now destroyed, …
Gray’s Court
Grays Court is possibly the oldest continuously occupied house in the United Kingdom. Dating back in part to 1080 and commissioned by the first Norman Archbishop of York to provide …
Lady Row
Dating from the 1320s, they were built for the Minster’s priests. The cottages are notable for their overhangs where the upper floors project into the street beyond the lower floors. …
St William’s College
A unique non-monastic religious building, St William’s College was named after Archbishop William Fitzherbert, who was canonised in 1227 and became York’s patron saint. The college was founded in the …
Dean’s Park
This small, leafy park, along with the Minster and a number of surrounding buildings, were part of the Liberty of St Peter, a walled city-within-a-city that was outside Mayoral jurisdiction. …
Roman Basilica
In 306AD, Constantine was visiting the fortress at York when his father died. The Sixth Legion immediately hailed him as Emperor, an event most likely to have happened in the …
St Anthony’s Hall
In 1446 King Henry VI granted a charter which founded the Guild of St Martin. A hall and a chapel were subsequently built on the site of an earlier chapel, …
St Michael-Le-Belfrey
The building dates from 1525, so its origins are not strictly medieval. However, a church has probably been located on this site since the 8th century. The church’s name has …
St Mary, Bishophill Senior
All that remains of this church, demolished in the 1960s, is a community garden, which is situated alongside a snickelway called Carr’s Lane. Excavations revealed that the church stood on …