York Historic Environment Record

Houses and shops, for which several 15th century leases survive, were built on the bridge, as awell as a stone cross and an almshouse or Maison Dieu for women.

An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 3, South west (London, 1972) pp. 49 (Monument 20)

A small Maison Dieu, or almshouse, stood at the west end of Ouse Bridge opposite St William's Chapel. Documents of 1490, 1590 and 1596 refer to women only. The date of foundation is unknown, but records indicate that in the 13th century it was mismanaged and fell into disuse before being refounded in 1302. It is mentioned in several 14th and 15th century wills, and as the city Maison Dieu received 10s. 0d a year from the city chamber. The main income was from the rents of seventeen properites within the city; in c.1377 this amounted to £4 12s 2d which ws distributed to the inhabitants as bread each Friday. The Bridgemasters Accounts in the 1440s record ' to poor women in the Maison Dieu on Use Bridge 7s'. The last referent to the Maison Dieu is in 1596. In 1367 'Novae latrinae, Anglice, les New Pryves' were installed in an arch of the bridge below the Maison Dieu.

Wilson, B and Mee, F. 2002. 'The Fairest Arch in England' Old Ouise Bridge, York, and its Buildings' The Archaeology of York Supplementary Series. pp. 54.

NMR Information

Sources
1 Union Terrace : excavations in the Horsefair
Microfiche in pocket inside back cover 1989 by J D Richards, C Heighway and S Donaghey
vol.11, fasc.1
2 Medieval religious houses in England and Wales 1971 by David Knowles and R Neville Hadcock pp.408

NMR, NMR data (Unassigned). SYO2214.

RCHME, 1972, RCHME City of York Volume III South-west of the Ouse (Monograph). SYO64.