The three Norman doorways of York are all curiously enough in the
Walmgate district. The nave of St. Denis was taken down in 1798; the
aisled choir and a modern tower now form the church. The old Norman
doorway to the nave was rebuilt with square pilasters instead of shafts
and forms the new entrance. In the north aisle was buried Henry, Earl of
Northumberland, who fell at Towton. Percy’s Inn, an old palace of the
Earls of Northumberland, stood opposite the church. The finest Norman
doorway is that at St. Margaret’s Church. The arch is of four orders,
adorned with the signs of the Zodiac. The piers have a double chevron
and carved imposts, whilst the shafts have carved caps. The gable is
surmounted with a crucifix.
Most of the churches were rebuilt or extended during the fifteenth
century. Many are famous for mediaeval painted glass. All Saints, North
Street, has some early fourteenth-century glass. Amongst later work is a
window illustrating the poem _The Prick of Conscience_ by Richard Rolle
of Hampole. It depicts the last fifteen days of the world, and under
each panel are two lines of the poem. Another window depicts the
“Corporal Acts of Mercy”. At St. John’s are portrayed events in the life
of the Baptist, while at St. Michael’s, Spurriergate, the “Nine Choirs
of Angels” are represented. In St. Martin’s, Coney Street, the west
window, painted in 1447, illustrates the life of St. Martin. The
clerestory contains fine figures of the four Doctors of the church, the
four Evangelists, and Saints Barbara, Catherine, Wilfrid, and Denis. The
east window at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, is dated 1470. The five lights
contain figures of St. George, the Baptist, the Holy Trinity which is
represented as Our Father in Pity, St. John the Evangelist, and St.
Christopher, with subject panels below. In another window is depicted
St. Olaf.
Of the monastic churches, the nave of the alien Benedictine Priory of
the Holy Trinity in Micklegate is still in use, it having been converted
into a parish church. Adjoining the Rectory is a half-timbered house,
still bearing the inn sign “Jacob’s Well”; it is now the Parish Room. It
was in the year 1472 the residence of two of the chantry priests of the
Priory Church. After the Dissolution it was purchased by Isabel Ward,
the last prioress of the Benedictine Nunnery of Clementhorpe, who lived
in it until her death in 1569.
York from the beginning of the fourteenth century to the end of the
eighteenth was famous for its church-bell founding. The later founders
were Oldfield, Smith, Seller, and Dalton, and many of their bells hang
in the turrets and towers throughout the northern counties. St. Mary,
Bishophill Junior, possesses two fourteenth-century bells, one is
inscribed in Gothic capitals and bears a stamp with a figure of the
Baptist. The other inscription is in bold black letter and bears a
beautiful stamp of the Annunciation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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