York Historic Environment Record

The Strays of York, of which Monk Stray is one, are the residue of vastly greater areas of common land on which the Freemen of York had the right from time immemorial to depsture their cattle. The inclosure allotments made to the city in the 18th and 19th centuries created the strays in their modern form; they were vested in the corporation to be held in trust for the use of the freemen of each ward. The allotments account for the whole of Bootham, Monk, and Walmgate strays; in the case of Micklegate Stray the allotments were added to the freemen's already extensive pastures of Knavesmire and Hob Moor. Allotments to Monk Ward formed a stray of about 131 acres. As the result of the inclosure of Heworth Moor and the extinction of half-year rights in the suburbs of the city by the Act of 1817, an allotment of about 118 acres was made to the freemen; this was supplemented by a further 8 acres bought with the compensation for half-year rights extinguished on other ground, and profits from leasing part of the stray enabled another 5 acres to be added in 1826. From: 'Common lands and strays', A History of the County of York: the City of York (1961), pp. 498-506. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36385 Date accessed: 12 January 2012.