York Abbey (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
St Marys Abbey; The Kings Manor

In the civil parish of York.
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of York.
1974 county of North Yorkshire.
Medieval County of Yorkshire Ainsty & York.

OS Map Grid Reference: SE59945217
Latitude 53.96207° Longitude -1.08957°

York Abbey has been described as a certain Palace, and also as a certain Fortified Ecclesiastical site, and also as a certain Urban Defence.

There are major building remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

C12 Benedictine abbey and monastery. Originally founded as the minster of St Olave at Galmanho before 1055, it was refounded as a Benedictine monastery as part of an exchange of land between the Archbishop of York and monk Stephen of Whitby by 1068. Following a visit by William Rufus circa 1086-9, the church was found to be too small for the brethren and William granted land adjacent to the church to expand the abbey. A new church was built and rededicated to St Mary. It was the first monastic establishment founded in Yorkshire after the Conquest and became one of the wealthiest abbeys of the order and had a mitred Abbot who sat in the House of Lords. The chief portions remaining are the late C13 north aisle with arcading and traceried windows, the adjoining west wall and doorway, most of C13 precinct wall, towers and gatehouse. Licence to crenellate granted in 1318. The abbey precinct wall forms part of York Town Wall. The Abbot's House, constructed by Abbot Sevier 1485-95, altered and rebuilt in 1541, additions of 1572. Offices of the King's Council of the North and occasional royal residence 1539-1641. (PastScape)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1318 July 12 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004919, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number yo12
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1257128 , 1257129 , and others
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1406756; 56602; 58182.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MYO1080; MYO1079.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Peter Addyman (ed), 2015, British Historic Towns Atlas Volume V: York (Oxbow Books for the Historic Towns & York Archaeological Trusts)
  Wilson, Barbara and Mee, Frances, 2009, St Mary's Abbey and the King's Manor, York: The Pictorial Evidence (York Archaeological Trust)
  Dean Gareth, 2008, Medieval York (The History Press)
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 119
  Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 319
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 282-5
  Pevsner, D. and Neave, D., 1995, Buildings of England: Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (London, Penguin) p. 181-6
  Thurley, Simon, 1993, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England (Yale University Press) p. 50, 57
  Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works Vol. 4: 1485-1660 (part 2) (London) p. 355-64
  Waterman, R.D., 1980, The Bars and Walls of York: a Survey. An Assessment of their Condition and State of Repair (City Engineer's Department)
  RCHME, 1975, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of York Vol. 4 the North-east (London, HMSO) p. 3-24
  RCHME, 1972, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of York Vol. 2 The Defences (London, HMSO)
  Knowles, David and Hadcock, R Neville, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longman) p. 82, 487
  Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 111
  Tillott, P.M. (ed), 1961, VCH Yorkshire: City of York p. 357- online transcription
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 407 online copy
  Grainge, W., 1855, Castles and Abbeys of Yorkshire p. 183-95 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Coulson, C., 1982, 'Hierarchism in Conventual Crenellation: An Essay in the Sociology and Metaphysics of Medieval Fortification' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 26 p. 69-100 see online copy
  Whittingham, A.B., 1971, 'St Mary's Abbey, York: an interpretation of its plan' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 128 p. 116-46
Guidebooks
- Wilson, C. and Burton, J., 1988, St Mary's Abbey, York (York)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Stamp, A.E. (ed), 1932, Calendar of Close Rolls Henry III (1256-59) Vol. 10 p. 315 (Permission to build wall) view online copy (requires subscription but searchable) alternative online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1903, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward II (1317-21) Vol. 3 p. 190 (licence to crenellate) online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1909, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1354-58) Vol. 10 p. 84-6 (dispute between abbey and town. Details rights and obligation regarding wall) online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Speed, John, 1611-12, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain online copy
  Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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