York Historic Environment Record

Parish church. C14 arcades and south wall, refaced in C19; tower c1400, lantern rebuilt 1837; mid C15 clerestory; chancel demolished and east end rebuilt c1780, remodelled 1887; north wall and west end rebuilt 1834; vestry 1850-55, enlarged 1912. Ceilings repainted 1987. Rebuilding of east end by William Bellwood; remodelling by Fisher and Hepper, carving by GC Milburn. MATERIALS: magnesian limestone ashlar on chamfered plinth of rubble stone; C18 masonry vertically tooled; asphalt and lead roofs. PLAN: truncated cruciform plan with 3-bay aisled nave and clerestory, south vestry and embraced west tower. EXTERIOR: east end of chancel and transepts flanked by offset buttresses with gargoyles and crocketed pinnacles. East window of 3 cinquefoiled lights with cusped reticulated tracery in 2-centred head between similar transept windows, all with moulded sillstrings. Towards west end of north side, C18 panelled door with 2-centred head and C12 closing ring in form of a dragon swallowing a human figure. South side buttressed, with projecting gabled vestry at western end, with squat diagonal buttresses surmounted by gabled crocketed finials and board double doors on wrought-iron hinges: square-headed windows of 2 and 3 cinquefoiled lights in extension. North and vestry doorways are chamfered with coved hoodmoulds on corbel stops. North side has five 3-light windows, south side four. Clerestory bays on both sides articulated by pilaster buttresses with gargoyles, originally surmounted by crocketed pinnacles: one remains on south side. Square-headed windows are of 3 cinquefoiled lights. 2-stage west tower surmounted by octagonal lantern. West window of 5 cinquefoiled lights beneath panel tracery in 2-centred head, flanked by offset buttresses. North and south faces have small pointed doorways to aisle roofs; clock face above each. Belfry openings on each face are of 3 cinquefoiled louvred lights in flattened 4-centred heads with hoodmoulds, above belfry string. Lantern is buttressed with crocketed pinnacles and gargoyles between tiered lights of twin cinquefoiled openings with panel tracery in 2-centred head. Parapet composed of cinquefoiled openings beneath crocketed gablets. Aisle west windows are of 3 cinquefoiled lights. All window openings are hollow chamfered and have coved return-stopped hoodmoulds, except the east window which has corbelheads: all, except the west window, have reticulated tracery in the head. All parts of church including vestry, clerestory and tower, are encircled by coved eaves string beneath embattled parapets, raked up over gables
and aisle ends. INTERIOR: east window set in rebuilt former chancel arch. North and south arcades, incorporating original transept arches at east end, spring from octagonal columns and responds with moulded capitals and bases. Westernmost arches die into tower piers. Nave arcades have a continuous hoodmould, former transept arches hoodmoulds on C19 carved headstops. Arches springing from arcade easternmost columns and half octagonal responds to north and south divide transepts from aisles. All arches are 2 centred and double chamfered. Tower arches are 2 centred, of 3 chamfered orders and die into octagonal piers and half octagonal responds. South west pier contains tower stair door in pointed chamfered opening. C12 masonry survives over east window arch and tower arch. C15 nave and chancel roof panelled with moulded ribs, with carved and painted bosses at intersections. C19 aisle roofs panelled to imitate nave roof on half trusses filled with cusped ogee arches between vertical struts. FITTINGS: include: hexagonal pulpit on tapered pedestal with cusped panel sides between multi-tiered colonnettes ornamented with jewel carvings and grotesques; sounding board capped by voluted panels carved with winged cherub heads; both inscribed with texts, sounding board dated 1634. Oak lectern on square pedestal, buttressed between crocketed canopied niches housing late C19 carvings of the Evangelists (from St Crux). Fine early C20 reredos of marble/alabaster and oak. Three Mayoral Boards: one painted with cyphers for W3R, 1696, and G2R, 1736, and incorporating mace bracket; two others from St Crux, one with W&M cypher, the other painted with Royal Arms and City of York Arms together with W&M cypher. Three Benefaction Boards. Two hatchments, one at west end in fluted frame with rosette paterae probably George III; the other over vestry door from St Crux, d.1688. MONUMENTS AND BRASSES: include: north aisle: coped grave cover with interlace carving and dragons at each corner; marble tablet to Sgt. Major J Polety, d.1829, by Plows, with added tablet to brother Charles, d.1838; tablet to Tate Wilkinson, d.1803, and Jane his wife, d.1826, by Taylor; brass to Robert Crathorn, Kt., d.1482; framed brass to Robert Askwith, d.1579, from St Crux; inscription plate to Roger de Moreton, d.1382, and Isabella his wife, d.1412, from St Saviour's. South aisle: pedimented oval tablet to Ursula Wyvill, d.1790, her husband and daughter; marble sarcophagus tablets to James Saunders, Lord Mayor, 1818, d.1824, and Robert Bishopricke, Surgeon, d.1814, by M Taylor. Tower south-east pier: stone tablet to Henry Richards, d.1783. Chancel north-west pier: steel plate, engraved and enamelled, to Stephen Jalland, killed at Gallipoli, 1915. Glass: west window contains C14 glass removed from St Saviour's church: other glass C19, by Kempe. Fittings from churches of St Crux and St Saviour, St Saviourgate (qv) transferred when St Crux was demolished 1887-88, St Saviour declared redundant 1969. (City of York: RCHME: The Central Area: HMSO: 1981-: 1-5).
Listing NGR: SE6042151736

Derived from English Heritage LB download dated: 22/08/2005

The church of ALL SAINTS, Pavement, is first mentioned in Domesday Book when the Bishop of Durham held the patronage of the rectory of the gift of the king. (fn. 66) Alexander the priest of the church is mentioned in a document dated between 1160 and 1170. (fn. 67) An agreement made between 1162 and 1167 placed the church in the archdeaconry of Cleveland but this was probably a temporary arrangement and the church has since that time been in the archdeaconry of York. (fn. 68) The advowson probably formed part of the foundation grant of Durham Cathedral Priory and had certainly been given to the priory by the bishop by the early 12th century. (fn. 69) After the Dissolution the patronage went to the Crown where it remained until 1868 when it was transferred to the archbishop. (fn. 70) St. Peter-the-Little was united with All Saints' in 1586, (fn. 71) St. Crux in 1885, (fn. 72) and St. Saviour's in 1954. (fn. 73) All Saints' parish lay around the church entirely within the city walls.
A pension of 8 lb. of wax was said to be due to the rectory from the church of St. Mary, Castlegate, in 1267; the rectory was not valued in 1291. (fn. 74) The rector paid a pension of 50s. to Durham in the 13th century (fn. 75) but this is not mentioned in 1535 when the clear value was 73s. 4d., comprising lenten tithes and oblations. (fn. 76) The church was said to have neither minister nor maintenance in 1649; the common reputed value of the benefice in 1665 was £14. (fn. 77) In 1716 the benefice derived an income of £4 from property; an unspecified sum from two houses; £1 from a house in the churchyard of St. Peter-theLittle; 10s. from land; £1 5s. from anniversary sermons; and Easter offerings and surplice fees. (fn. 78) The benefice was augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty by lot in 1763 and again in 1764 to meet a benefaction. (fn. 79) One of these sums was laid out in lands at Strensall (N.R.) which in 1825 were let for £9. (fn. 80) In 1764 income from rents amounted to £61 19s.; one of the parish houses was then occupied as a parsonage. (fn. 81) The benefice was augmented with £800 from the parliamentary fund by lot in 1815. (fn. 82) In 1825 the benefice was said to receive an income from rents of £254 16s. arising out of lands in Youlthorpe (E.R.), and Skirpenbeck (E.R.) and houses and other property in Tadcaster and York. (fn. 83) These lands and properties were probably those in the same places given to the church in the Middle Ages as endowments for obits and charitable funds and valued altogether in 1548 at £3 1s. 2d. (fn. 84) It is not clear how far these endowments were used to augment the benefice. (fn. 85) The benefice was said to be worth only £100 in 1863 and £148 in 1868. (fn. 86) The rectory never appears to have drawn any income from great tithes and possessed no glebe.
There were at least six chantries in the church. Licence was granted in 1311 to Thomas de Alwarthorpe to alienate lands for the foundation of a chantry at the altar of St. Mary; the chantry was still being served in 1418 when a presentation was made to it but is not recorded at the Dissolution. (fn. 87) Similar licence was granted to the executors of Andrew de Bolyngbrok in 1316 for founding another chantry at the same altar, for the souls of Andrew and Stephen de Bolyngbrok. The chantry appears to have been refounded in 1472; it was known in 1546 as the chantry for Stephen Bolyngbrok when its clear value was £3 18s. 3½d. (fn. 88) Similar licence was granted to Henry de Belton in 1337 to build on a plot of land in the graveyard of the church and apply the improved plot to the foundation of a chantry also at the altar of St. Mary. The chantry appears to have survived until at least 1502 but by the Dissolution had probably been absorbed into the other chantry at the same altar. (fn. 89) Similar licence was granted to Robert de Ampleford in 1378 to alienate lands to the chapter who were to provide a chaplain at the altar of St. Peter and who held the advowson. The chantry was valued at £5 4s. 8d. clear in 1535, £4 17s. 10¼d. in 1546, and £5 2s. in 1548: the income was derived solely from a payment of the chapter of £5 13s. 4d. a year. (fn. 90) Similar licence was granted in 1383 to Iseult, relict of John de Acastre, who founded the chantry at the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr three years later. In 1535 the clear value was £4 13s. 2d., in 1546 £4 19s. 6d., and in 1548 £6 13s. 8d. (fn. 91) Similar licence was granted in 1401 to William de Pounfrayt (later Pounfrett) for founding a chantry at the altar of St. John the Baptist and St. Katharine; it was valued at £2 6s. 8d. clear in 1546 and £3 1s. in 1548. (fn. 92)
The church comprises (fn. 93) nave with clerestory, north and south aisles, a vestry on the south side (built in 1855), and a lantern tower surmounting the nave at the western end. The prevailing style is of the late 14th and early 15th centuries though the fabric has been much renovated in modern times; the clerestory and lantern tower were perhaps built between 1475 and 1501. The chancel was removed in 1782 to enlarge the market place in Pavement. The northern and southern parts of the churchyard were removed in the 17th century for street widening so that only a small part remains on the west.
There is a pulpit and sounding board of 1634. The lectern, which comes from St. Crux, is a good example of 15th-century woodwork. On the north door there is a 13th-century handle of which the ring, however, is thought to be modern.
There are four bells of which one is a sanctus bell. (fn. 94) In 1912 the plate comprised, in silver, two cups with covers, a third cup without cover, a salver and two flagons; there were also a pewter flagon and a brass almsdish. (fn. 95) The registers begin in 1554 and are complete; they have been printed up to 1733. (fn. 96)
Amongst rectors of the church were James Raine (1868-96) and his son, Angelo (1937-56), both local antiquaries; John Watson (1896-1925), sub-dean of the minster and an author of Sunday-school books; and George Trevor (1847-68) who is said to be the first clergyman to introduce in York the use of the surplice in the pulpit and to take the 'eastward position' at the altar.
The church had strong links with the corporation: 39 mayors are said to be buried in the church and yard (fn. 97) and the church was from time to time used for meetings of the council in the 15th century. (fn. 98) In 1667 the mayor and aldermen were building themselves a pew in the church to replace that in the minster which they wished to vacate because of a dispute. (fn. 99)
The charger upon which John the Baptist's head had lain was said to be in the church about 1386 but was then surrendered to the 'king's chapel'—presumably the chapel in the castle. (fn. 1) From: 'The parish churches', A History of the County of York: the City of York (1961), pp. 365-404. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36375 Date accessed: 20 March 2013.

Bells: Four bells is included on the list bells of historic significance.
Bell 1 and 2 are c1450 by J Hoton. Another dates to c1500 by an unknown founder. Another dates to 1633 and was founded by William Oldfield. CARE No. 43/203

NMR sources:
1 Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date) OS 1:2500 1963.
2 List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest DOE (HHR) City of York Mar-1997 995-6
3 Corpus of Anglo-Saxon stone sculpture, volume 3 : York and eastern Yorkshire 1991 by James Lang 79-80

Related objects:
BF060202 ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, YORK File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued. Copyright, date, and quantity information for this record may be incomplete or inaccurate.

OP08104 A view of All Saints Pavement Church, York from the north-east, with a few people in the street including a man with a bicycle

OP08130 Exterior view of All Saints Pavement Church, York from the north

OP08131 Exterior view of the tower of All Saints Pavement Church, York and adjacent buildings to the north-west

OP08132 All Saints Pavement Church, York viewed from the south-west with two boys standing in the middle of the street

OP08133 A view of the hexagonal pulpit in All Saints Pavement Church, York