Building record MYO1458 - Our Ladys Row

Summary

Believed to be the oldest row of houses in York. Constructed in 1316, each property features a pitched pantile covered roof and cantilever first floor 'jetty' which overhangs the ground floor. Lady Row is considered one fo the earliest examples in England of the medieval 'jettied' houses.

Location

Grid reference Centred SE 6045 5204 (10m by 40m)
Map sheet SE65SW
Unitary Authority City of York, North Yorkshire

Map

Type and Period (10)

Full Description

Formerly known as: Nos.61-65 GOODRAMGATE. Row of 9 tenements; now 5 shops and cafe. 1317 with later alterations; part Nos 60 and 62 rebuilt in late C18; part No.60 rebuilt and extended in early C19; altered in late C19 and C20.

MATERIALS: timber-framed; fronts plastered, except for Nos 60 and 62: right bay of No.60 has front and right return of incised render; left bay of Nos 60 and 62 have fronts of painted brick in Flemish bond. At rear, ground floor is orange-brown brick in random bond, No.64 plastered; upper floor of first bay of No.60 orange-grey brick in English garden-wall bond, second bay of Nos 60 and 62 red-brown brick in stretcher bond; remainder of row plaster. No.60 has part-tile, part-slate roof, hipped to right; remaining roofs are pantile; brick stacks to No.64 and between Nos 70 and 72.

EXTERIOR: Nos 60 and 62 have 3-storey 3-bay front, with jettied right return and 3-storey 1-bay extension further right: remainder of range is 2 storeyed, with attics to Nos 68 and 70, jettied first floor, and 7 bays. Right bay of No.60 has late C19 shopfront, returned to right, encasing dragon post, with deep fascia and moulded cornice on heavy grooved and scrolled consoles; shop door is three-quarter glazed and windows plate glass. First floor windows to front, return and extension are 4-pane sashes; on second floor unequal 12-pane sash to front, unequal 9-pane sashes to return and extension. Left bay of Nos 60 and 62 share C19 shopfront with moulded cornice between gableted brackets; No.60 has three quarter glazed door beneath overlight, No.62 half glazed door between half canted windows over sunk-panel risers. First floor windows to both are canted bays with 1-pane sashes and moulded cornices, and paired 1-pane sashes with painted sills on second floor. Raised band to second floor, and timber eaves board and guttering on console brackets. No.64 has C20 glazed door between canted and cantilevered shop windows of 4- and 5-lights: on first floor, two 2-light Yorkshire sash windows, one with 4-pane lights, one 6-pane lights.

No.68 has glazed and panelled door to right of reversed 3-light shop window: on first floor, one 2x8-pane Yorkshire sash and in attic, raking dormer with 2x3-pane Yorkshire sash. No.70 comprises 3 bays, right one with door to left of 2x6-pane Yorkshire sash window, left one with door to left of plate glass window: third bay has 6-panel door, two panels glazed, between small pivoting lights: on first floor, window to right is squat 8-pane sash; to left, 3x2-pane Yorkshire sash; in 3rd bay, fixed light with small inserted casement.

No.72 has glazed and panelled door to right of 3-light canted bay shop window and fixed light at left end: on first floor, 3x2-pane Yorkshire sash window. Rear: No.60 has 8-pane staircase sash in first bay. Second bay has pent porch with 4-panel door and fixed window to left.

No.62 has blocked doorway to right of 2-light casement window; both have 2-light fixed windows or Yorkshire sashes on first and second floors and brick dentilled eaves course. No.64 has 6-pane casement window and gabled dormer with 2x1-pane Yorkshire sash. No.66 has vestigial chimney stack with plain door and 2x6-pane casement inserted on ground floor, and two tiny casements on first floor; gabled dormer with 1-light staircase casement. No.70 has board stable door to left of 2x4-pane Yorkshire sash, similar larger window to right, and 9-pane fixed light above. No.72 has large casement window.

INTERIOR: partly inspected. Most framing is complete, though with some later alterations. This range is thought to be some of the earliest urban vernacular building surviving in England. Nos 60 and 62 were listed on 19/08/71.

(City of York: RCHME: The Central Area: HMSO: 1981-: 143).
Listing NGR: SE6045852048

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

Lady Row, Nos. 60–72 (even), a range of tenements standing between Holy Trinity churchyard and the street, is basically of plastered timber framing but partly faced or rebuilt in brick, and has pantiled roofs. A deed to build a range, 128 ft. long and 18 ft. wide, on the churchyard was granted in 1316, the rents to be used to endow a chantry of the Blessed Virgin in the church (CPR, 1313–17, 476–7). As built, the range was of two storeys, eleven bays long; generally each bay formed a single tenement with one room on each floor, but at least one tenement, and probably two, occupied two bays. A separate house, 24 ft. by 16 ft., was to be built in the churchyard for the chantry priest. In a late 16th-century rental, the range consisted of three cottages and one tenement let at 2s. each, three tenements at 2s. 4d. each, one at 4s., and one at 6s. (YCA, E76, 9). The house at the S. end was demolished, certainly no later than the mid 18th century when a new arched gateway to the churchyard was built in its place. The next two houses to the N. formed The Hawk's Crest p.h. between 1796 and 1819. The second and third bays from the N. end were rebuilt shortly before 1784 by John Lund as a pair of three-storey brick houses (YCA, E95, ff. 13b–14) and in the second quarter of the 19th century the house at the N. end of the range was heightened to three storeys and a narrow extension to it built over the old entrance to the churchyard adjacent. This last house was The Noah's Ark p.h. in 1878. In 1827 there was a proposal to open the churchyard out to the street by pulling down the whole range (YG, 24 Nov. 1827); though this was not carried out, the former chantry priest's house, described as 'dilapidated cottage tenements called Trinity Court', was demolished. The range is of considerable importance as the earliest timber-framed building surviving in the city. Though the external appearance has been greatly altered, the basic structure of seven bays remains largely intact.

On the front elevation the original infilling between the posts on the ground floor has been replaced by shop fronts and brickwork; several of the posts have greatly enlarged heads to support the jetty above. The first-floor wall is plastered and the windows are mostly Yorkshire sashes, none earlier than the 18th century. The back elevation, which was never jettied, is plastered, with brick facing lower down. No. 60, at the N. end, retains some main framing, though not directly visible; the first floor has a dragon-beam, indicating that the end wall was originally jettied towards the former churchyard entrance. Framing inside Nos. 64–72 is characterised by braces which are straight or only slightly curved. The posts have jowled heads of very angular shape; in the front wall, they have braces both up to the wall-plate and down to the sill but in the back wall they are braced upwards only. Within each bay the wall framing is of three widely-spaced studs only, and the cross-walls have similar widely-spaced studding. Inside No. 70, where there was a two-bay tenement, the third truss from the S. end of the range, numbered IIII because of the lost S. bay, has no partition wall below it and the posts, with small chamfers, have jowls of curved outline. The roof trusses, with cambered tie-beams, have tall unjowled crown-posts which have braces with a slight inward curvature and there are raking struts between tie-beams and rafters. Repair work has shown that the infilling in the roof trusses is of limestone rubble, possibly from the Minster Stone Yard, fixing being assisted by pegs driven into the side faces of the framing. Attic floors were inserted throughout the range probably in the 17th century. The fittings are nearly all modern.

Monument 222; City of York: RCHME: The Central Area: HMSO: 1981-: 143

NMR Information

Medieval and later range of tenements built on the east side of Holy Trinity churchyard. The houses are timber framed, of two storeys with an oversailing upper storey. The ground storey contains small 19th century shop fronts.

Full description

SE 60465205-O.S 1/2500, 1962)

1. GOODRAMGATE
5343 (west side)

19.8.71 Nos 60 and 62
14.6.54 Nos 64 to 72 (even)
(Our Lady's Row) [formerly listed as Nos 61 to 65 (consec)]

SE 6052 SW 27/258

I GV

2.
Medieval and later. A range of tenements built on the east side of Holy Trinity churchyard. Plastered timber frame, partly rebuilt in brick; 2 storeys; oversailing upper storey; Yorkshire sliding sash windows; 3 dormers; plain eaves; pantiles. Ground storey altered with inserted small C19 shop fronts. (RCHM Vol. V, Monument 222.)

List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. P.123-24 City of York, June 1983
2 List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. District of York, 14-MAR-1997

BF060639 LADY ROW (OUR LADYS ROW), 60-72 GOODRAMGATE, YORK


NMR, NMR data (Unassigned). SYO2214.

RCHME, 1981, City of York Volume V: The Central Area (Monograph). SYO65.

2017, Lady Row HER ST (Unpublished document). SYO2130.

Sources/Archives (3)

  • --- Unpublished document: 2017. Lady Row HER ST.
  • --- Unassigned: NMR. NMR data.
  • --- Monograph: RCHME. 1981. City of York Volume V: The Central Area.

Protected Status/Designation

Related Monuments/Buildings (2)

Related Events/Activities (2)

Record last edited

Jun 14 2020 11:43AM

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