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York

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The City of YORK

[Transcribed information mainly from the early 1820s]

"YORK, a city, borough, and town-corporate and an Archbishop's see. It contained, in 1823, 22 parishes."

Important notes on York, its parishes and the data on these pages
A lot of the information contained on this and other pages concerning the parishes in the city of York is extracted from what seems to me to have been a mountain of books, and edited to try to make sense. Even the parishes are not straightforward, some having detached parts outside (without) the city, but within the Ainsty. Others have detached parts outside the city and in one of the Ridings just to cause me (and you) more confusion. In this latter case, there is an appropriate parish entry in that Riding. So far as I can ascertain, the Minster (dedicated to St. Peter) had no parish associated with it.

Prior to 1547 there were several other churches in the city which at that date were deemed superfluous to requirements and were pulled down, their associated parish being united with a remaining parish. These are given in the appropriate parish pages.

I have included within the York pages a lot of history pages from several sources for further reading. If you are looking for people data, then there are lots of names included with the Directories of Trades and Professions. Hopefully I have managed to link all this data together so that it is easy to navigate, but please tell me about any link errors, or errors in the "facts".

The Parish churches are as follows: As mentioned above, The Minster (St. Peter's) has no associated parish.


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Archives & Libraries

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Cemeteries

  • Hugh Murray has set up a site for York Cemetery. The Cemetery opened in 1837.
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Churches

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Church History

  • York Minster
    • York Minster occupies the land between Deangate and High Petergate in the centre of York. The Minster began as St Peter's Chapel, a typical small, wooden Anglo-Saxon construction which was built especially for the baptism of King Edwin of Bernicia & Deira on Easter Sunday in 627. Almost immediately afterwards, Edwin ordered that this chapel should be rebuilt in stone on the same site. This work was probably completed during the reign of King (and Saint) Oswald (633-642).
      Over time it was enlarged, surviving the Viking occupation of the city in 867 and the subsequent Scandinavian kingdom which held Yorkshire until 954. It was badly damaged by fire in 1069 when the Normans finally took control of the city from its Anglo-Saxon defenders. Something is known of the early versions of York Minster, but so far no archaeological evidence of them has been uncovered. The Normans built a completely new Minster, removing the old one entirely.
      The Norman Minster was built on a fresh site to replace the old fire-damaged Saxon Minster. Around 1080, Thomas of Bayeux became archbishop of York and started building a cathedral that would grow into the present Minster. Work was completed around 1100, and the base of some of its distinctive columns can be seen today in the Undercroft. There was a fire in 1137, after which the church was enlarged at both ends, although perhaps not as a direct result of the fire. In 1215 Walter Gray became archbishop of York. He began transforming the Norman church into the present Minster. The south and north transepts were added, although not completed before his death. In 1291 work began on the nave (at the western end), completed by about 1360. Then the Lady Chapel was added to the east end and the quire was completed by about 1405. In 1407 the central tower collapsed and work on its replacement was not finished until 1433.
      Between 1433-1472 the western towers were added and the work was finally completed. Between 1472-1829 the Minster changed very little. In February 1829, Jonathan Martin deliberately started a fire in the quire which destroyed the entire east end roof and timber vault and all the wooden furniture. Eleven years later a second, accidental, fire destroyed the nave roof and vault. On 9 July 1984 fire broke out in the south transept after the Minster had been hit by lightning.
      St Mary-ad-Valvas probably lay alongside the early Minster. Nothing is known of its foundation, and it is not mentioned until 1329, by which time the work on the modern Minster was well underway and parish churches were proliferating throughout York. Perhaps considered more as a chapel at the Minster doors (and hence perhaps the name, 'ad-Valvas'), it was demolished in 1365 'to enlarge the walks about the Minster', and the benefice was united with St John-del-Pyke. [by The History Files]
  • A transcript of York Baptist Church History
  • A transcript of York Congregational Church History
  • A transcript of York-St Saviours Gate Congregational Church History
  • A transcript of York-Lendal Chapel Congregational Church History
  • A transcript of Salem Chapel Congregational Church History
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Church Records

  • A list of Burials in York Minster between 1634 and 1836 transcribed by Colin Hinson from the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 1870.
  • A list of entries for Marriages in York Minster between 1681 and 1765 in the Minster Registers has been transcribed by Colin Hinson from the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 1870, complete with Bride and Groom indexes.
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Description & Travel

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Directories

  • Transcript of Kelly's Directory of York for 1901 done in 1981 by John Lindley. This transcript contains only those streets within the city walls. The grid references are not based on the O.S. maps, but on a mythical point of origin somewhere in Clementhorpe and were produced by John. Streets A to L, and streets M to Z.
  • More of the entry of "professions and trades" in the Baines's Directory of 1823, of the North Riding.
  • More of the entry of "professions and trades" in the Baines's Directory of 1823, of the North Riding.
  • Transcript of the entry of "professions and trades" in the Baines's Directory of 1823, of the North Riding.
  • Transcript of the entry of "professions and trades" in the Pigot's 1829 Directory, Yorkshire section.
  • Transcript of the entry of "professions and trades" in the White's Directory of 1840, Yorkshire section.
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Gazetteers

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History

  • A transcription of the History of York from Baines's Yorkshire. This is a large and fairly detailed History, from before the Romans to 1823.
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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SE603518 (Lat/Lon: 53.958782, -1.082496), York which are provided by:

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Memorial Inscriptions

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Societies

  • The Guild of Freemen of the City of York exists for the benefit of all freemen of York and to maintain the heritage of the gift of freedom in the city. It is hoped that the gild web site will become a valuable resource for gild members, other freemen of York (and elsewhere) and interested non-freemen wherever they might live.
  • This parish is covered by the following Society: