York Historic Environment Record

YORK SE5951NE MICKLEGATE 1112-1/15/689 (South side) 14/06/54 Church of Holy Trinity and wall attached to south-east GV I Holy Trinity Priory church of the Alien Benedictine Abbey of Marmoutier; now Parish Church: wall attached to east corner comprises lower courses of south wall of choir and chancel of original church, and now forms footings of the wall on south side of the garden of Holy Trinity Rectory, No.81 Micklegate(qv). Early C12 crossing piers, north end of west front, and wall attached to south-east corner incorporating reconstructed mid C14 window; 5-bay nave with fragment of triforium c1180, and early C13 arcades; tower of 1453, the lower stage formed from remains of north aisle. Church remodelled post 1536, when nave was re-roofed with C15 timbers and embattled parapet added. 1850 south aisle rebuilt during restoration; 1886-7 chancel and vestry rebuilt. 1902-5 west front reconstructed retaining parts of early C13 west door; west bay of nave re-roofed and north porch added, incorporating parts of early C13 north doorway. 1850 restoration by JB and W Atkinson; 1886-7 work by Fisher and Hepper; 1902-5 restoration and reconstruction by C Hodgson Fowler. MATERIALS: dressed sandy limestone and magnesian limestone with some gritstone; chancel of rockfaced sandstone; west end of limestone ashlar; south aisle of dark red brick in English bond. Roofs of tile and slate. Rectory garden wall of red brick above lower courses of sandy limestone. PLAN: two-and-a-half bay chancel, 5-bay nave and south aisle, north porch and north-west tower, with Chapel of St Nicholas on ground stage. EXTERIOR: buttressed east end on chamfered plinth. East window of 5-lights with panel tracery in 2-centred head, with moulded sill string and hoodmould. Coped gable with gable cross. Chancel north side has two 3-light windows with panel tracery in 2-centred heads, over moulded sill string. Surviving north- west pier of early C12 crossing, with half cylindrical north respond, divides chancel from nave. Chancel south side obscured by adjacent buildings. Former nave north arcade blocked with three C19 3-light windows, two with reticulated tracery, one unfinished. Moulded eaves string beneath embattled parapet. 2-storey buttressed porch, built on footings of former north aisle, incorporates part of original north door. Doorway arch is 2-centred, of 3 orders, of which the inner is original and has twin filleted shafts with moulded capitals and bases separated by band of continuous nailhead moulding; outer orders have shafts with moulded capitals, one original on east side, and bases, one original on west side, separated by bands of coarse dogtooth moulding. Restored C15 panel-traceried door with inset wicket. Lancet window above has floral stopped hoodmould. In east return, square-headed window of 3 lights with cusped ogee heads. In west bay of south aisle is 2-centred window of 2 lights with cusped tracery; above is reconstructed portion of triforium arcade. Clerestory of three dormer windows with diamond lattice glazing. Tower of 5 stages with embattled parapet and offset angle buttresses, north-east one on chamfered plinth. North-east and north-west buttresses are stop chamfered on two lowest stages. Ground stage incorporates part of original north aisle wall on chamfered plinth, and chamfered lancet window beneath 2-centred arch on jamb shafts with roll necking and nailhead moulded capitals. Hoodmould on floral stops and double chamfered sill string. On north, east and west faces, belfry has a chamfered round-headed louvred opening recessed beneath round arch on jamb shafts with roll necking and moulded capitals. Moulded string at belfry level. West end buttressed with pilasters, north one original retaining vestigial twin gabled niches on west face, and one similar niche on north face with trefoiled head and nailhead moulded capitals. South buttress reproduces these features. North jamb of west door original. 2-centred doorway arch of 4 orders, the inner of paired filleted shafts, the outer plain, 2 detached with annulets, 1 attached, with moulded capitals and bases. Double doors with scrolled C-hinges and wrought-ironwork. On either side are arcades of 2 pointed arches on side shafts, corbelled in centre. Continuous dogtooth hoodmould over both arcades and door. Above, arcaded window of 3 pointed lights, stepped over door, on filleted shafts with moulded capitals; corbelled hoodmould. Moulded string to eaves beneath embattled parapet with gable cross. 1-2 courses of former south wall of choir and chancel visible in The Rectory garden beneath later brick courses; incorporates reconstructed window of 4 cusped pointed lights beneath curvilinear mouchette tracery, in chamfered surround with 2-centred head and hollow chamfered mullions. INTERIOR: 2-centred chancel arch of 3 orders springing from foliate corbels attached to former crossing piers. Piers are square on plan with attached shafts now embedded in later construction. North and south arcades of 5 bays, the north blocked and forming nave north wall: of 2-centred arches of three chamfered orders on octagonal piers and responds with roll necking, hollow chamfered capitals and abaci, and waterhold bases, some renewed. On south-east face of first pier of north arcade is an escutcheon carved with the arms of Micklethwait. Above each pier of both arcades is an attached triple shaft with continuous annulet moulding, formerly the lower half of vaulting shafts. At west end of nave on north side, one bay of original triforium survives, with triple arched arcade of blind lancets with chamfered heads on shafts with moulded capitals and bases. Segment-arched west door on slender jamb shafts with foliate capitals, beneath corbelled hoodmould. Triple lancet west window on shafts with moulded capitals separated by bands of continuous dogtooth moulding, beneath hoodmould. St Nicholas Chapel on tower ground stage has a lancet in north and west walls. Roofs. Chancel has C19 hammerbeam roof. Nave roof is of 7 bays, of collar trusses with kerb principals and slightly cambered tiebeams; two trusses to east have moulded ties, the seventh a demi-angel boss. FITTINGS: Fonts: west end of nave, possibly C18 octagonal bowl on C19 shaft and C15 base, with scrolled cover dated 1717 around upper rim, and 1794 around the lower. At east end of south aisle, disused octagonal font bowl. In outer porch to east of door, reset stoup in C19 surround. At west end of south aisle, medieval altar slab with incised crosses. Coffin lids: in porch, C13 lid with foliated cross. Behind pulpit, stone lid reused in C17 with brass inscribed to Alderman Micklethwait, d.1632. Amongst numerous fragments of carved stone, the following are reset: St Nicholas Chapel, C11 dragon, waterleaf capital, the upper part of a double coped graveslab and fragments with black letter inscriptions. Inner porch, west wall, mid C12 acanthus capital. Other carved and moulded fragments found on the site over a period of time are loose in the church. Reredos by G Hodgson Fowler. Hatchment dated 1832 on wall of south aisle. STAINED GLASS: east and west windows by Kempe; also west window in nave, and window in St Nicholas Chapel. MONUMENTS: include marble wall monument on south-west crossing pier, to Dr John Burton, d.1771, physician and author, and wife Mary: parchment scroll draped over a Gothick-traceried tablet, weighted down by the two volumes of his Monasticon Eboracensis, and an urn. Dr Burton was the model for Dr Slop in Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy. (Bartholomew City Guides: Hutchinson J and Palliser DM: York: Edinburgh: 1980-: 220-221; City of York: RCHME: South-west of the Ouse: HMSO: 1972-: 10-16). Listing NGR: SE5987651540