Secular Buildings: Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

MOUNT, THE—See BLOSSOM STREET p. 62, and pp. 127–8.

MOUNT EPHRAIM, like Cambridge Street and Oxford Street, was laid out in 1846 and completed by 1851 as terrace housing mainly occupied by railway employees (see p. 128).

MOUNT PARADE, laid out in 1823, seems to have been the earliest example in York of a new type of development, the suburban road planned for genteel residences. The little terrace faces S.W., with a series of small front gardens towards the roadway. Building proceeded slowly, and only nine houses were occupied by 1830: five by gentry, one by a coach-guard and one by a stone and marble mason as his private house. Some houses were not finished until c. 1840. Cumberland House, on the S.W. side of the Parade, was built c. 1834 (see p. 128).

MOUNT TERRACE was developed on a building lease of 1824 as a terrace of five houses with a larger house at the end towards the Holgate Road, built by 1827 and occupied by 1828. Like Mount Parade, which it adjoins, this was a genteel development of the suburbs (see p. 128).

NORTH STREET. This name, already Nordstreta by c. 1090, was applied from the 13th century to the whole of the street running N. from Micklegate near to the W. bank of the Ouse and then turning W. on a line parallel to Micklegate. This latter part of the street has long been known as Tanner Row, from a quarter of tanneries which lay along it and in the area between it and the city wall. In the 14th century and later the tanners formed a large proportion of those parishioners of All Saints' North Street rated to subsidies or identifiable in other ways. At a later date the street had some association with the building trades: bricklayers, joiners, masons, and sand and timber merchants. A few persons of higher standing had houses there, and Peter Atkinson senior, the architect, built his own house (No. 26, now demolished) on a site he acquired in 1776. The important yard of William Stead (1752–1834), stone and marble mason, was at Nos. 36, 38, from 1802 onwards.

(101) Houses, Nos. 6, 10 (Fig. 65), with the yard and subsidiary buildings, formed in the 18th century a single property in a number of tenancies. The freehold belonged to John Playter, a coal merchant, who sold it in 1788 to John Dodsworth, ironmonger, and John Dodsworth, brewer, for £850 (YCA, E.95, f. 67). The premises later passed to Thomas Cattley, who in 1819 conveyed them to Caleb Fletcher and Christopher Scarr, wholesale grocers (E.97, f. 93v.). The yard was still used in part as a coal-yard, but there was also a small garden containing a garden house, and the main house was said to have been occupied by John Playter, John Dodsworth brewer, and Thomas Cattley successively as a private residence. This refers to No. 10, built in the first half of the 18th century, along with some of the subsidiary buildings towards the river, probably warehouses; these also included a timber-framed building of the late 16th century with a roof carried on sole-pieces and with diminishing principals (see Sectional Preface, p. lxxiv). Though fragments of reused timber found during demolition might suggest that No. 10 was on the site of an earlier timber-framed house, it was No. 6 that appeared to have been the original messuage, built in the late 16th century. This was originally of three storeys and attics, jettied to North Street and to the narrow lane on the S.; its top storey was removed in the 18th century, leaving part of a 17th-century staircase in the front attic. Along the lane stretched a rear wing, in part of late 16th-century build, but extended in the late 17th century, when the range was cased in brick. An important staircase was built in this range and the plaster ceiling and part of the main stair light are of c. 1700. In the first half of the 18th century, when No. 10 was built, the whole front to North Street was redesigned as a single unit to include No. 6, and faced in brick. Early in the 19th century new sashes with thin glazing bars were inserted in most windows, and a shop front in the ground floor of No. 10. Before 1850 (OS 1852) the central passageway between Nos. 6 and 10 had been widened to S. to form the present carriageway to the yard.

The front to North Street is in Flemish bond and has a brick plinth with weathered offset. The shop front in No. 10 takes the place of two original windows, of which the flat arches remain. On the first floor are three tall sash windows with stone sills and flush frames in each half of the front, and a blind recess placed centrally. The N. window retains its original heavy glazing bars. The coved lath-and-plaster cornice to No. 10 is original; to S., over the central bay and No. 6 is a late 18th-century timber cornice with modillions. The roofs are covered partly with pantiles, partly with plain tiles. The back of the main range is of brickwork in random bond. The S. end of the front range has been underpinned with brickwork of the early 19th century, but the framed jetty survives on the first floor. The S. elevation of the back wing, towards the lane, has a brick casing of the late 17th century throughout. Above the ground floor is evidence of a former moulded brick and tile string-course, which survives on the E. end. There is a brick plinth cut by a wide modern opening beneath two windows (early 18th-century). The staircase window consists of two late 17th-century mullioned and transomed windows placed one above the other with inserted glazing bars of the late 18th century.

There are cellars built of stone and brick beneath the whole building, with timber ceilings. In No. 6 the ground floor front room, though converted to a shop, retains an important decorated plaster ceiling (Plate 186) of the first half of the 17th century shortened to N. by the formation of the carriageway. In the back range some of the rooms have stop-chamfered beams carrying chamfered ceiling joists of the 17th century. The late 18th-century staircase has turned balusters with square knops and a swept rail, without newels. Above is a plaster ceiling with a shaped panel containing a wreath surrounded by leaves and flowers within an oval (c. 1700). When the staircase in this position was formed in the 17th century, a main chimney stack was removed, but the 16th-century breast still remains in the cellars.

Above the front range the Attics are reached by a late stair formed within the remains of the original staircase, of which a moulded rail and two oak newels with attached half-balusters survive. This staircase evidently led to the upper storey, taken down when the house was transformed and refronted in the early 18th century. The roof is of the early 18th century, of softwood, with large tie-beams (10 in. by 8 in.) and principals and collars (all 12 in. by 3 in.). Over the back range is a loft containing two original 17th-century oak trusses.

In No. 10 the front room on the Ground Floor, now a shop, is lined with bolection-moulded fielded panels, under a heavy cornice. In the E. wall is a door of three fielded panels, with original L-hinges. In the S.E. corner is a fireplace with Adamesque surround (Plate 73) and a Carron hob-grate (Plate 73) decorated with trumpets, entwined ribbons and Prince of Wales feathers, probably for George IV when Prince Regent (1810–20). The Staircase has square newels, a heavy handrail and turned balusters (Fig. 17f), two to each tread; every third baluster has a twisted shaft. On the First Floor the main front room has painted pine panelling with bolection mouldings and raised panels. Demolished 1963; the 17th-century plaster ceiling from No. 6 re-erected in the King's Manor for the University of York.

(102) House, No. 19 (Plate 187), originally of the early 18th century, consists of a main block towards the street and a gabled wing behind, possibly but not certainly a somewhat later addition. Internally the building has been much altered, especially in recent years, and the original ground-floor plan completely destroyed by the formation of a carriageway to S. and an inserted shop front. At first floor one front room has original panelling. The staircase is of the late 18th century.

On the E. front four sash windows to the upper storey have stone sills which appear to have been lowered about 1 ft. or more; the window heads extend to the timber eaves cornice. The back wing is of red brick (Plate 187). All the openings in the S. elevation have elliptical arched heads formed of a single course of headers. The W. gable is mostly in stretcher bond but with occasional courses of headers; the gable parapet is of good tumbled brickwork. The N. side, completely stuccoed, was formerly a party wall with an adjoining building now demolished, of which parts of a stone chimney survive.

Internally few old features survive. The late 18th-century staircase has turned balusters with square knops, moulded and swept handrail, and square newels; from first floor to attic the design is simplified. In the attic is a short length of reused 17th-century balustrading (Plate 187). A first-floor room has original panelling with bolection mouldings, surmounted by a plaster cornice.

(103) House, No. 26, was presumably designed by Peter Atkinson senior (1725–1805), as he bought the site for £150 in 1776 and later occupied the present building (YCA, E.94, f. 182; E.97, f. 137). In the present century the ground floor was structurally altered to make a through carriageway; steel girders support the upper floors which comprise front and back rooms with a staircase between them.

The front, in Flemish-bonded red bricks of high quality, has gauged brick arches to all windows. At ground floor only the angles remain, the carriage opening occupying most of the frontage. At first floor are two sash windows with flush moulded frames and a stone band at sill level, now flush but probably originally projecting. The second floor has two almost square sash windows. Above is a wooden cornice with shallow modillions and dentilling, returned at both ends.

On the first floor is a very good late 18th-century fireplace surround in Adam style, with carved pine applied decoration, of honeysuckle motifs, to the frieze. The marble slip remains in situ, but the surrounding wooden moulding is badly damaged and the firegrate has been removed. Both rooms retain their cornice and skirting. The Staircase, in poor condition, has slender turned balusters and a slender mahogany veneered handrail. Over the stair well was originally a large glazed rectangular fanlight above a coved ceiling, now blocked. Demolished 1966.

(104) Church Cottages, No. 31 North Street and Nos. 1, 2 All Saints' Lane (formerly Church Lane), are owned by the Church now and probably ever since their construction in the late 15th century (Plate 185; Fig. 66). They face the N. side of All Saints', North Street. Evidence for the period of construction is the S.E. corner post, with embattled cresting and rose-like paterae. The timber framing and roof structure with common rafters, crown-posts and collar-purlins, are typical of York buildings of that period (Fig. 13c).

The building comprises a two-storey range of six unequal bays, and a small wing at the E. end. It formed three dwellings each occupying two bays, that at S. end having a small hall in the projecting wing. The upper floor is jettied along the S. side and across the E. gable end. No original openings remain intact, as windows and doors have been replaced at various times. However, it is possible to conjecture a reconstruction of the first-floor windows to S., where a series of pegs occurs in a horizontal line on some of the studs and braces, midway between the wall-plate and bressumer; they serve no structural purpose now, but originally must have carried a horizontal timber, or a series of brackets, and suggest shallow oriel windows of timber construction, with sills pegged to the main timbers. In the second bay from E., a small 18th-century oriel window exists, probably replacing a similar one. The N. elevation is largely rebuilt in brick and the W. gable is partly covered by a later structure. Internally there are exposed joists to the ground-floor rooms and a dragon-beam to the S.E. angle. All three dwellings have fireplaces inserted in the 18th century, and no evidence remains of any earlier form of heating. The central and W. cottages have simple steep staircases of ladder-like appearance and of uncertain date, replacing original ones which must have been similar, as the arrangement of the joists to accommodate them remains unaltered. The upper rooms of the central and W. cottages are open to the roof.

(105) Houses, Nos. 46, 48, 50, include buildings of two main periods. No. 46, possibly late 17th-century, is two-storeyed and in stuccoed brick, with a pantiled roof. A central carriageway has been driven through it. Nos. 48 and 50, to N., are a pair of late 18th-century cottages. Adjoining the rear of No. 50 is a pair of three-storey houses of c. 1840, in brick with one course of headers to four of stretchers. All internal fittings have been removed. Demolished 1965.

(106) House, No. 62, was built probably shortly before 1760. In 1761, when sold by William and Ann Peckitt (parents of the glass-painter) to William Fentiman, it was described as 'all those two houses . . . now divided into several tenements' (YCA, E.94, f. 36v.); this and the existence of two staircases indicate that it was designed from the beginning as two dwellings, in one of which the Peckitts had been living. The house underwent extensive refurbishing, including renewal of the roof, in the first half of the 19th century, probably 1833. A deed of 1834 refers to 'all those four dwelling-houses or tenements ... adjoining to and behind the same ...', but no reference is made to these in a deed of 1832, nor any earlier deeds; the scar of these dwellings, with a chimney breast, is visible to the rear. Later the S. room on the ground floor was converted into a warehouse, and the rear buildings were demolished.

The elevations are of brick in an irregular stretcher bond, and the roof is of plain tiles. Inside, the house is in two separate tenements, described as (A) and (B), to N. and S. respectively.

(A) On the ground floor, a central doorway leads into a passage. The staircase, approached through an archway at the end of the entrance passage, has turned and moulded balusters with square knops, a closed string, and moulded handrail; this last is discontinuous at the turns, where it is swept up to a turned and moulded newel.

On the first floor, the W. room contains a fireplace with a wooden moulded surround with a dentilled cornice shelf; the early 19th-century hob-grate is decorated with oval medallions containing seated figures and with dolphins. On each side of the fireplace is a cupboard with a door of six fielded panels. On the second floor, the partition between the W. and E. rooms is of planks 10 in. wide with a central rail 4½ in. deep, chamfered on both arrises.

(B) The ground floor, though converted, retains the staircase. This has a closed string, moulded and turned balusters with square knops, a simple handrail and plain square newels. On the first floor, the W. room contains a fireplace with painted stone surround which has a cambered head with a central key-block carved with a scallop-shell. Above the fireplace is a plain frieze with shaped ends and moulded cornice shelf. Owing to the collapse of the ceiling of the second floor, the roof over the whole house is visible; it is of c. 1830–40 and divided into three bays by two king-post trusses. The king-posts, enlarged at the foot to carry raking struts supporting the purlins and at the top for the abutment of the principals, carry a plank ridge; there is one purlin on each side, slightly offset in adjacent bays, halved through the principal and fastened on the other side. Demolished 1957.

(107) House, No. 64 (Fig. 67), was perhaps the 'new built house for sale' in 1772 (York Courant, 2 June), but probably part of an earlier structure remains, some of the brickwork of the W. and N. walls being of the 17th century.

The street front (Plate 188), in Flemish-bond brickwork, has a brick plinth and a timber cornice with modillions and dentils. The entrance has a door-case, a good example of the period, with slender fluted side pilasters with simple caps and bases, carrying fluted brackets supporting a pediment; the door, with semicircular glazed fanlight above, has six sunk panels with applied raised moulding. The spandrels over the fanlight and the tympanum contained applied composition ornament, but this is either decayed or in part broken away. Two windows retain their shutters. An original lead rainwater head with part of the down-pipe and three holdfasts decorated with fleurs-de-lis survive. The hipped roof is covered with pantiles.

A warehouse, built against the W. side, has been demolished, exposing housings for joists at first and second floors. The brickwork is of three types, narrow (4 courses rising 9½ in.) and mostly in stretcher bond to ground floor, modern to second floor, and the rest, though in stretcher bond, very similar to that of the S. elevation to the street. At the back, the N. elevation is extensively defaced by modern openings, and the upper walling is in larger brickwork than the remainder. It retains a number of original openings.

Inside, on the ground floor is a central entrance hall with a stair hall beyond and entertaining rooms to each side: to N.W. is a large Kitchen and to N.E. a scullery and larders. There are small cellars. The Staircase has a closed string, turned newels and balusters and a moulded handrail. Demolished 1957. Late 18th-century fireplace surrounds from the ground floor reset, one at 8 Water End, Clifton, York; one at Skelton Hall, York.

NUNNERY LANE, formerly Baggergate, probably the road of the 'badgers' or hucksters, was a suburban lane between the city moat and a series of gardens and orchards. No extensive housing development took place until c. 1829. See p. 128.

OXFORD STREET was laid out in 1846 as terrace housing for railway employees; demolished in 1962. See p. 128.

PARK STREET, a side street off The Mount, was begun in 1836 with No. 7, built by Thomas Rayson senior, one of York's leading building contractors, as his own residence. Nos. 9 and 11 soon followed, but it was not until after 1847 that the rest of the street was developed. Like Mount Parade and South Parade, this was laid out as a single-sided street, with gardens opposite to each house on the S.W. side. See p. 128.

QUEEN STREET, formerly a branch of Thief Lane, had been named by 1830, but those houses which have survived later street-widening were mostly built in the 1840s, after the coming of the railway. See p. 129.

RAILWAY STREET, at first named Hudson Street, in honour of George Hudson the railway promoter, was being laid out in 1846 as part of the approaches to the (old) Railway Station but no houses were built until after 1851. (Renamed George Hudson Street 1971).

ROUGIER STREET was laid out in 1841 as part of the new approaches to the (old) Railway Station and was mostly built by 1843. It was named after the family of Rougier, proprietors of a large comb-making factory and of much of the area. Almost all the houses were demolished in 1961. See p. 129.

ST. MARTIN'S LANE, a narrow lane, was Littlegate in the 13th century; in 1282 it contained twenty tofts owned by sixteen proprietors. Later it provided some accommodation for light industry and warehousing.

(108) Warehouse, No. 12, was built in the late 17th century, apparently as a warehouse, on an L-shaped plan, with a substantial main range and a smaller wing at the S.W. corner, both having interconnecting vaulted basements with external entry only. That the building was not originally a dwelling is proved by the absence of original fireplaces, the very small number of original windows, and the lack of any evidence of former partitions. The floors, with their substantial joists, appear to be later replacements. A small wing at the S.E. corner is an early addition.

The E. elevation, where not concealed by stucco, is of stretcher-bond brickwork with every sixth course in headers and with a band at first-floor window-sill level. To the first floor and the attics are original windows with elliptical arched heads of one course of headers. The gable end has tumbled brickwork; to the S. the lowest part of the gable parapet and the kneeler courses are incorporated in the E. wall of the loftier S.E. addition. The S. elevation of the S.E. addition is mostly masked by modern additions; the gable parapet is in tumbled brickwork, obscured by later stucco. In the W. wall, on the first floor is an early 18th-century window with sliding sashes with thick glazing bars. In the S. wall of the main range the central entrance to the basement is original, the ground-floor entrances are not. Centrally on the first floor is a late 17th or early 18th-century window with pegged frame.

ST. PAUL'S SQUARE was not laid out until c. 1855. No. 46 (see p. 129) is an earlier house adjacent to Holgate Road.

SKELDERGATE, mentioned in the 12th century, was the main dockside street of York, running parallel to the W. bank of the Ouse below the Bridge. On its eastern side were the Queen's Staith and wharves, with the Crane at the S. end, together with warehouses. On the inland (W.) side were the houses of prosperous merchants. At the Crane was the quay (The Old Wharf) at which all foreign merchandise was landed and stored in bond; and until the late 19th century this was the port of York at which seagoing vessels docked.

In 1282 the Husgable Roll shows that there were sixty-eight tofts in Skeldergate, rather more than half the number in Micklegate, to which it ranked second among the streets of York to S.W. of the river. That this large and important thoroughfare should take its name from the shield-makers, as suggested by the forms of the place-name, seems almost inconceivable, apart from the fact that there is no evidence of any kind that shieldmakers, or any related craftsmen, ever worked here. It appears more probable that the name is a corruption from ON skelde, a shelf, and refers to the position of the street on the strand of the Ouse, beneath the low cliff, terraced in Roman times, above which stood Bishophill; alternatively, the name may be derived from a person, Skjoldr, by analogy with Skelderskew in Guisborough (EPNS, North Riding, 149). See also p. 129.

(109) House, No. 16, early 19th-century, was originally a dwelling, but in the latter part of the century it was converted to a malt house by removal of the first floor, roof and partitions, leaving only the outer walls. A heating chamber was inserted, with the malting floor at the level of the original first-floor window sills. At ground level a passageway runs on all four sides, between the outer walls and the furnace. The building is of brick with slate roof. The street front, of two storeys and five bays wide, was originally symmetrical. The central entrance is a later 19th-century replacement; the windows have flush moulded frames, segmental arches and red brick dressings. Above the oversailing courses which formed the eaves cornice the brickwork has been heightened by four courses. The malting floor, of glazed, perforated tiles, approximately 12 in. square by 2½ in. thick, is supported on angle irons. Demolished 1965.

(110) Warehouse, Nos. 18, 19, has been formed from two houses, both of the early 19th century though of separate builds. Only the fronts now survive. They are of three storeys, of brick in Flemish bond and with slate roofs. No. 18 has a first-floor sash window with flatarched head in rubbed brick; the second-floor window has a sliding sash. There is a timber cornice with simple mouldings. No. 19 has two windows with sliding sashes, stone sills, and stone lintels engraved to imitate voussoirs and keystone. There are projecting timber eaves supported on coupled brackets. Demolished 1965.

(111) Houses, Nos. 21, 22, were built as a pair in c. 1740. In the late 19th century, the whole of the ground floor of No. 21 was removed to make a carriageway through to commercial premises behind. It is doubtful whether any window in either house retains its original frame and glazing, and three original window openings on the first floor of the Skeldergate front of No. 21 have been blocked.

The front to Skeldergate, of two storeys and six bays in width, has been greatly altered. The back elevation towards the river, of three storeys and in good quality Flemish-bonded brickwork, has a band at first-floor level and a secondary band at the level of the sills of the first-floor windows. The entrance has a semicircular head, and the window beside it a segmental head. To the first floor are three windows with flat arches of fine rubbed brick, four courses deep, with saw cuts simulating joints. To the second floor are three smaller sash windows with flat arches of rubbed brick, three courses deep.

Inside No. 22, the Staircase has a moulded closed string, turned balusters of uniform height with square knops, and rectangular newels; on the landings the newel posts are rather narrow but extend across the handrails of both flights (1¾ in. by 5¼ in.); at the top of each flight, the upper moulding of the handrail is swept up to the newel. Exposed in the attics is the front principal and collar of a collar-beam roof truss supporting two purlins.

(112) House, No. 48, probably of very early 18th-century origin, was considerably modified by the addition of a storey later in the century; the entrance is also of the later date. Further alterations belong to the Regency period, when the staircase was reconstructed.

The street elevation (Plate 189), of four bays, is in stock brick with good red brick dressings. There is a handsome late 18th-century entrance in the second bay from the E. (Plate 63). A change of brickwork occurs at sill level on the second floor. The late 18th-century moulded cornice is of timber. The W. part of the rear elevation projects some 8 ft. To the W. of an outbuilding, on the ground floor is a large sash window with a flat arch in rubbed brick; on the first floor are two sash windows with segmental arches of brick headers and ashlar sills. There is a lead rainwater head and fall-pipe; opposed fleurs-de-lis decorate the holdfasts.

Inside, the ground-floor rooms to the rear are in derelict condition. The N.W. room, with a simple 18th-century plaster cornice, has two windows with simple architraves and, in the S. wall, a doorway with moulded architrave and a dentil cornice above a swept frieze. The Staircase has a closed string, slender balusters (Fig. 18s) and mahogany handrail. Up to the half-landing above the first floor it is of c. 1820; thence it is of early 18th-century date with substantial turned balusters (Fig. 17c).

On the first floor, the N.E. room has in the S.E. corner an angle fireplace with moulded surround and frieze and with a cast-iron firegrate enriched with urns and foliage typical of the late 18th century. The N.W. room, redecorated in the Regency style, has a reeded plaster cornice with floriate paterae at the angles. The window and a doorway to the landing have reeded architraves with square angles and paterae; and in the S. wall the white marble fireplace has reeded jambs with incised circular paterae. Demolished 1964.

(113) House, No. 51, was built in the late 18th century; it is of moderate size with an entrance passage running through the house at one side and the staircase opening off the passage, between the front and back rooms. It has been extended for use as offices.

The street front (Plate 189) is built in Flemish bond with a plain string at first-floor level and a narrower band joining the sills of the first-floor windows. Over the windows are flat arches of gauged rubbed brick. The entrance has a simple late 18th-century door-case with flanking pilasters and an open pedimental hood supported on brackets; over the door is a semicircular fanlight. At the wall head is a timber eaves cornice enriched with dentils and modillions. Inside, on the ground floor the entrance passage is spanned by simple arches at the entries to the stair hall from both front and back. The Staircase has slender turned balusters of stained softwood and a swept handrail; there are no newels. In the first-floor N. room is a modillion cornice.

(114) Saw-mill, No. 52, was built for John Henry Cattley; the foundation stone was laid in May 1839 (Yorkshireman, 18 May). The walls are of brick and ashlar and the roof is covered with slates and asbestos.

The street front (Plate 189; Fig. 68) is symmetrical and of five bays, those at the ends projecting slightly. The five ground-floor round-headed arches were originally open. Most of the rear elevation is obscured by later additions. Near the middle are two semicircular arched openings and to the E. is a doorway with a segmental arch of brick headers. On the first floor are two casements, a wide central opening and a doorway further E., all with segmental brick arches. The openings to the second floor have been blocked with brickwork. The hipped roof has seven king-post trusses of heavy scantling, with oblique struts and a ridge-beam; the main joints are reinforced with iron straps.

(115) House, No. 53, incorporates some remains of an 18th-century building which belonged to John and Dennis Peacock, timber merchants. In its present form it dates from c. 1840, when it was acquired by J. H. Cattley, owner of the adjoining saw-mill, No. 52 (114), with which it is roughly contemporary. The ground floor has been altered, but the first floor remains as planned and is unusual in having two small internal rooms or large cupboards. The wing behind retains parts of the red brick walls of the earlier building.

The street front is of white brick in Flemish bond. On each floor are two windows, those on the ground floor being offset to balance the doorway; this last has a later door-case. The windows of the top floor are shorter than those below. The openings have flat arches of rubbed brick, plastered soffits and jambs, and stone sills. The wooden eaves cornice is supported on shaped brackets. The roofs are of slate. In the rear elevation, the two windows lighting the stair have round heads and stone sills. In the rear wing, the S.E. wall, which is of four storeys, incorporates older brickwork up to about 12 ft., which is not bonded in to the brickwork of the later house. The S.W. wall is also of older red brick in the lower part and has a central vertical strip of red brick up to about two-thirds of the wall height, which may be an earlier chimney incorporated in the later wall.

Inside, the ground floor has an entrance passage leading through to the stair hall, which is demarcated by two arches across the passage. In the side walls are two corresponding arched recesses enclosing doorways to the front room and to the adjoining premises. In the stair hall the arched opening to the passage is matched by an adjoining arched recess, which may also have been a doorway to the front room. The main Staircase has turned balusters (Fig. 18t) and an open string with shaped ends to each tread. The service staircase in the rear wing has square balusters and newels. The large front room on the first floor has an elaborate plaster cornice and a white marble fireplace surround. The windows have splayed jambs and moulded architraves. In the ceiling is a gas fitting suspended from a large circular feature of radiating acanthus leaves. The rooms on the second floor have fireplaces with very simple surrounds, excepting one in the rear wing which has a timber surround with sunk panels and a mantel shelf with ribbed edge.

(116) House, No. 55, now divided into three flats, was built in the late 18th century. It has been greatly reduced in size since 1850 by the removal of a block of buildings, possibly service quarters, from the back. Little of architectural merit remains since rebuilding and alterations following upon war damage in 1942. The house was in a single occupation until after the middle of the 19th century, the last private occupier, from c. 1825, being John Kirlew, a merchant. By 1879 it was 'two messuages formerly in one' occupied by the owner William Parker, an engineer and millwright, and Joseph Burill (Title deeds, Ings Property Co.; Directories).

The street front, rebuilt or cased, has coarse brickwork to the ground floor and cement rendering to first floor. The W. half of the rear elevation is cement rendered, presumably covering the rough brickwork left when the back range was demolished; the windows of this elevation are modern. Inside, the only feature of note is the Staircase, with turned balusters with square knops, a closed string, turned newels and a swept handrail.

(117) House, No. 56 (Plate 189), is a large town house built in the second half of the 18th century, probably to designs by John Carr. The site belonged before 1760 to George Pawson, a York merchant who moved to London and leased the 'house, garden and cellars' to tenants until 1769, when he sold the freehold to Ralph Dodsworth, merchant, Lord Mayor of York in 1792. Dodsworth was Sheriff in 1777–8, and since it was customary for the sheriffs to entertain in their own houses, it seems likely that the present building dates from about that time. After Dodsworth's death in 1796 the house was let to Thomas Smith the younger, a York merchant, who bought the freehold in 1807 for £2,615, including the cellars, two other houses and a riverside warehouse. In 1825 Smith conveyed No. 56 alone to William Cooper for £900, and on his death in 1841 it was inherited by his son Henry Cooper, who was the occupant, with the 'garden, warehouses and wine-vaults in Skeldergate' where he carried on business (Title deeds, Ings Property Co.; Rate Books of St. Mary Bishophill Senior, at St. Clement's; Directories). The house was greatly disfigured in c. 1925 by driving through it a carriageway to give access to a yard at the rear, for which important rooms have been destroyed and a service wing has been demolished.

The street front is shown in the accompanying drawing (Fig. 69) with the two destroyed windows reinstated, and in Plates 189 and 63; it is of brick with ashlar dressings. The ashlar plinth which projects well forward formerly carried iron railings. The windows have fine brick splayed arches, five courses deep, the voussoirs being single large gauged bricks with saw-cuts simulating joints. The central window on the first floor has a moulded and eared architrave with a pulvinated frieze. The flanking windows have moulded cornices above the brick arches. The pedimented cornice is of timber. At the apex and on either end of the pediment are stone-capped plinths, those at the ends carrying urns. The W. side elevation is in good quality brickwork, with the first-floor band returned from the front elevation. On the first floor, to the S., is a Venetian window which originally lit the staircase. At the back, the S., all the brickwork excepting that of the W. extremity and the uppermost part and pediment, is irregular as a result of the demolition of a great bow window and the domestic wing. A lunette window remains in the pediment but all the other openings are modern.

Inside, the ground-floor plan originally comprised two reception rooms divided by a central entrance passage leading to a stair hall at the rear with the staircase leading off at right angles. The E. room retains most of its original fittings; it has a moulded skirting and dado, the latter enriched with wave motif, and simple panels above formed by stucco mouldings, the panel over the late 19th-century fireplace in the E. wall having a central urn and swag enrichment at the head; the plaster cornice is enriched and the ceiling is delicately patterned with scrolls, roundels, etc. (Plate 61).

The former stair hall has been greatly altered by the blocking or destruction of the arched openings in all four walls. The surviving pilaster-responds to the archways have sunk panels modelled with beribboned husks and simple caps enriched with acanthus foliage; there is a modillion cornice throughout. The original main staircase has been destroyed, and a modern staircase, incorporating some of the original balusters and part of the handrail has been inserted in the entrance passage. A late 18th-century fireplace surround (Plate 73) has been removed.

The first floor has been greatly altered by conversion into flats and insertion of partition walls. The E. room remains intact, with original fittings; at the S. end is a recess with enriched soffit and flanking Tuscan pilasters, and quarter pilasters. A fireplace in the E. wall has marble slips, moulded surround, flanking pilasters with sunk panels decorated with ribbon bows and corn husks, and fluted consoles supporting a cornice shelf; the unusual frieze has six raised elongated octagons with linking bars and containing carved flowers with swirling petals. The cast-iron grate is of c. 1835.

(118) The Plumbers' Arms, No. 61 (Plate 46; Fig. 70), of two storeys and attic, consisted for the most part of a timber-framed house of c. 1575, which was jettied on the N.E. front to the street and had two large projecting brick chimney stacks on the N.W. side. In c. 1600 a three-storeyed annexe (a on plan), jettied on both upper floors, was added in the N. corner. At the same time the space between the original brick stacks was enclosed to form a closet on each floor (b). The wainscotting throughout the house may well have been inserted then or shortly after. In the early 18th century a staircase was added on the S.E. (c); this structure had become enveloped in 19th-century brick additions. During the late 18th century a large, two-storey bay window (d) was added on the S.W. end of the original house. The premises did not become a public house until after 1850 (Benson, iii, 166; Directories). The building was demolished in 1964, when valuable dating evidence came to light.

The original front to Skeldergate was rendered over some of the timber framing. Fixed to the butt ends of the joists of the jettied floor was a fascia board carved with Renaissance egg-and-dart ornament. The fascia boards of both jetties of the N. annexe were copies of the foregoing. All the openings in the front were of the early 19th century and later, though the modern casement window projecting on timber brackets on the second floor of the annexe possibly replaced an earlier window of similar design. The N.W. side of the building was mostly covered by adjoining late 19th-century premises. The S.E. side was masked by a 19th-century brick addition of two storeys, replacing an older addition. The back (S.W.) elevation was mostly rebuilt in the late 18th century when the bay window was added, though the original tie-beam was retained in the rebuilt gable.

The building technique of the timber framing and the roof construction of the original house were revealed during demolition. The close-set studding had infilling of bricks set on edge and keyed to the framing by mortar, the studs being grooved to form the key (Fig. 71). The simple commonrafter roof had single side purlins and arched collars at intervals along it; the rafters fitted into notches cut in the wall plates.

Inside, the ground floor was divided into two rooms from the first by a timber-framed partition wall, but the latter had been replaced later in brick. Each room had in the N.W. wall an original brick fireplace concealed by a modern one. The front room, with access to the annexe, had moulded ceiling beams intersecting at the centre. The S.E. partition consisted of panelling of c. 1600, brought forward from the outer wall to leave a passageway behind. The rear room had been sub-divided on the S.E. with panelling reused as partitioning. The early 18th-century staircase in the S.E. addition had squaresection newel posts with attached half balusters, finely-turned oak balusters (Fig. 17g), a closed string and moulded handrail.

The first floor originally comprised one large room heated by two fireplaces in the N.W. wall. When the house was wainscotted a partition wall of timber studding was inserted under the south-western transverse beam, creating two rooms, each with one fireplace. The front room, which had squaresectioned transverse and longitudinal ceiling beams intersecting at the centre, was panelled throughout. The annexe room entered from it was also panelled throughout, and behind the panelling were found shop-made timber-framed windows (see p. lxxviii) of two, three and ten lights, that of ten lights in the N.W. wall being transomed; all had been blocked. The rear main room was also fully panelled. Removal of the panelling and the 18th-century fireplaces in both rooms revealed the original 16th-century brick fireplaces; they had four-centred arches with hollow chamfers continued down the jambs to simple run-out stops. Between the two chimney-stacks a small closet had been formed and the original timber-framed wall cut through for access to it; the closet contained a two-light timber-mullioned window. A similar addition had been made below on the ground floor. The room on the second floor of the annexe had timber-framed walls (Plate 48) with two and three-light mullioned windows, all shop-made as before. Demolished 1964.

SOUTH PARADE was a terrace of twenty houses to be built by the York Commercial Building Company, consisting of forty subscribers. A foundation stone was laid in 1824, and by the end of the next year the first three houses were assessed to the rates. By 1827 Nos. 1–11, 13–15 and 17 were inhabited, and all were completed by the end of 1828. No. 16 was the home of Thomas Rayson, senior (1764–1836), from 1828, and it is probable that he was the contractor for the series; at No. 17 the first occupier, from 1827 to 1833, was Peter Atkinson (II), architect, very likely the designer of the terrace. The parade was designed as a venture in relatively high-class housing for genteel occupiers, on a larger scale than that provided by Mount Parade (q.v.).

SWANN STREET was built as small-scale terrace housing in 1828–9; it was demolished by 1967. See p. 129.

TADCASTER ROAD is a continuation of The Mount and Mount Vale, leading to Dringhouses. See also pp. 116–18 and 129.

(119) The White House, Nos. 238, 240 (Plate 196), was built in the 17th century; it is called 'New Inn' in an engraving by John Haynes, dated 1731, when it was still a simple oblong on plan. In the later 18th century additions were made to N. and W., and the whole house remodelled inside and out. An angle, formed by the added rooms, was filled by a one-storey extension in the 19th century, when various offices were erected against the W. side. For a long time this was called the Gallows House, being opposite 'Tyburn', the York gibbet on the Knavesmire. In the 19th century it became a starch factory; then it was used by the York and Ainsty Hunt as kennels, and later became licensed again, as the White House Inn. Eventually the proprietors, the Station Hotel, allowed the licence to lapse (J. W. Knowles, York Notes MS., 1890, 72–3) and the premises became a laundry, later divided into two houses.

The front elevation, plastered and colour-washed, with a low stone plinth of flagstones set on edge, is of brick, part refaced in the 18th century. To N., at ground floor, is a sash window with shutters, each with three fielded panels. The doorway, to N., has a round-headed opening with a radial fanlight, fluted pilasters, and a plain frieze with triglyphs, supporting a moulded and dentilled pediment. There is a plain doorway further S. The fenestration is irregular with hung-sash windows and projecting bay windows. At the eaves is a cornice with dentils and modillions, and there are two fluted urnshaped water heads (late 18th-century).

On plan the original part of the house comprises a straight range of three rooms, all with fireplaces, and an entrance hall. The two rooms to S. share a common chimney with fireplaces back to back and an entrance lobby at the side of the chimney. The N. room is separated from the others by the entrance hall and has a chimney projecting boldly on the N. end wall. The original open fireplaces, with openings spanned by chamfered oak beams, have been partly filled in to receive later firegrates. The staircase (Plate 86) in the entrance hall has a moulded rail and string, and turned balusters; it is of the early 18th century. The first-floor fireplaces have surrounds of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. There is some 17th-century panelling in one of the bedrooms but it is reset. Demolished 1955.

TANNER ROW with TOFT GREEN formerly constituted a part of North Street and was a back row at the northern end of the tofts along Micklegate. To some extent this street has always constituted a service road for Micklegate properties, with warehouses, coach-houses, stables and other subsidiary buildings linked to main burgages on the Micklegate fronts of the tofts. However, many of the back plots had been severed at an early date, and this allowed part of Tanner Row to be developed as an independent street. As its name denotes, many of these properties belonged to tanners, and this area was for long almost exclusively devoted to the leather industry.

Toft Green, though a name now applied to a street, was in mediaeval times a public open space next to The King's Toft, a royal holding on which stood the King's Houses and the royal chapel of St. Mary Magdalene. Soon after the Conquest the houses and chapel were in the keeping of the Maleshoures family, who held by serjeanty of finding benches for the County Court of Yorkshire and wax for the county seal. This implies that the King's House was then the administrative centre for the whole county, and this may have been so before the Conquest. These arrangements had become obsolete by the 13th century, and in 1227 the site and chapel were granted by Henry III to the Dominican Friars. The friars were later permitted to extend their boundaries, but when they wished to take in the whole Green in 1307 it was found upon inquisition that Toft Green, 17 perches long by 11 perches from the highway to the city ditch, was the only place in York large enough for the assembly of show of arms, the only spot for erecting military engines of defence, a common market from time immemorial, and the place of duel for trial by combat. This last function was evidently a survival from a period when the Shire Court was held here.

Toft Green was also the place where the properties of the guilds taking part in the Pageant Plays were kept, and became alternatively called Pageant Green. A Friday cattle-market continued to be held here until after the end of the Middle Ages, and a Wednesday swine-market had only been discontinued 'very lately' when Hargrove wrote in 1818. By that time, however, most of the area had been taken up by the New House of Correction, a prison for the City and Ainsty, finished in 1814. In 1839 this disappeared when the whole area was acquired by the York & North Midland Railway for the (old) Station. See also pp. 128, 133.

(120) House, No. 1, with No. 39 North Street, of two storeys has walls of brick and plastered timber framing with tiled roof. It was built in the late 15th century as a Wealden house having an open hall with a two-storeyed block on the E. side, jettied to both N. and E.; there was another jettied block on the W. side of the hall, but not communicating with it. Probably this represented part of a similar two-block Wealden house (cf. Med. Arch. VI–VII (1962–3), 216). This W. block was rebuilt or refronted in brick in the 18th century (G. Benson and J. England Jefferson, Picturesque York (1886), pl. 7). It fell into disuse towards the end of the 19th century and by 1929 had been demolished. In the early 17th century the hall and E. block were divided into two tenements: the hall was divided into two storeys, the new floor being jettied out to match the flanking jetties, and a central chimney-breast and two staircases inserted. In the early 19th century further internal alterations were made. The roof was completely renewed probably when the W. block was demolished, and the building, after lying derelict for some time, has recently been renovated. It is of great interest as one of the most northerly recorded examples of the Wealden House.

The North Elevation to Tanner Row is plastered above chamfered rubble base-courses which carry a wooden sillplate. Centrally there is a 19th-century doorway, and to W. a horizontal sliding-sash window of the early to mid 18th century. At the E. end is the corner post with moulded and carved cap (Plate 48) above which it curves out to carry the end of the dragon-beam. The upper storey is plastered with a jetty, the E. half original, the W. of the early 17th century.

The East Elevation to North Street, mostly rendered in cement, retains the chamfered rubble base-courses as far as the first doorway. On these rests the sill-plate. Next to the corner post is an early 19th-century bow window, and to S. of this the original doorway to the house, altered in the early 19th century. To S. of this is a second doorway, entirely of early 19th-century date. The plastered upper storey is jettied with later windows. The South Elevation, now cloaked by the adjoining house, has been rebuilt in brick.

The West Elevation, timber-framed with plastered gable, was originally the partition between the hall and the W. range. The plain framing is exposed and shows at the N. end the twin corner-post construction required by the Wealden design (Plate 48). Pegholes and one surviving curved strut indicate that the roof was probably of the standard York crown-post type (cf. Fig. 13c). The existence of the W. range is shown by grooves and mortices in the W. face of the main timbers.

On the Ground Floor the E. room has the timber-framing exposed. In its N. wall is an original opening (now blocked) for either a window or an open shop-front (see p. lxxviii). In the E. wall are the two jamb-posts of the original doorway; part of the chamfer is visible on the S. post. The rebuilt W. wall has an early 19th-century grate inserted into the 17th-century chimney-breast. To S., behind a later brick partition is a staircase, probably of the 17th century, with wooden octagonal newel post. The W. room, which formed the lower part of the hall, has no original features visible, but in the S.E. corner is a second staircase also with an octagonal newel post.

On the First Floor the E. room retains the original framing in the N. wall; the layout suggests two small oriel windows, similar to those in Church Cottages, North Street (104). The W. room represents the upper half of the open hall, but the timber-framed N. wall is of 17th-century date except for the corner posts at each end. These belong to the jettied blocks flanking the hall, and each carries a small solid spandrel-piece to support the eaves across the front of the hall (Plate 48). The E. and W. walls also retain the original timber-framing. Near the N. end of each is the corner post of the original front wall of the hall. These posts carry the original N. wall-plate and under the floorboards, the corresponding middle rail. There is an intruded chimney-breast in the middle of the E. wall.

(121) House, No. 7 (Plate 190), goes back to the late 17th or early 18th century, but the only early feature is the upper part of the staircase which has bulbous balusters characteristic of that period. The front is of the later 18th century, as are also some internal features, such as the doors to the front rooms. It might, therefore, appear that the house is of late 18th-century date with parts of a reused staircase, but from the irregularity of the plan it seems more likely that an earlier house was refronted. There is nothing to indicate that the building was originally timber-framed, or that it had any relationship to the Old Rectory (No. 7A, (122)), adjoining on the W. In the S. wing some work was done in the first half of the 19th century; the back door has mouldings of c. 1840, and the lower part of the staircase has square balusters, which may be of the same date.

The Front Elevation, of rather poor quality red brick in Flemish bond, has at first-floor level a projecting band three courses deep and at the eaves, a dentilled wooden cornice. On each floor are two sash windows with flush frames and arches of headers; those at ground floor have almost flat arches and those at first floor low elliptical ones. The 19th-century door has four panels and a simple pilaster-type surround. To the extreme W. is the door to No. 7A with a plain surround. The South Elevation, faced with stucco, has a Yorkshire slidingsash window at ground floor and a hung-sash window at first floor. The E. end of the front range is also stuccoed.

Internally, the doors are simple, with two or four panels, sunk or fielded, with ovolo-moulded framing. All the fireplaces have plain, unmoulded surrounds. The staircase to the first floor is early 19th-century, with square-section balusters, turned newels at top and bottom, and a swept, moulded rail. The upper part, to the attic, has turned bulbous balusters and a square newel with ball finial.

(122) The Old Rectory, No. 7A (Plate 190), bears on modern plaster at the back the dates 1498–1937; the latter is the date of a restoration undertaken by the Rev. P. Shaw when Rector of the adjacent All Saints' Church. No evidence for the date 1498 has been discovered, and the structure is probably of c. 1600 or later. The building is timber-framed in three bays; it originally had no chimney and there is no evidence of any internal partitions. This suggests that it may not have been built as a house, but because of its situation near the river frontage it would have been suitable for a warehouse. The house has been considerably altered by the insertion, probably in the late 17th century, of a central chimney-stack with back-to-back fireplaces at ground floor, and partition walls in both storeys. A spendid oak staircase of c. 1640 (fn. 1) (Plate 82), said to have come from Alne Hall, was inserted in 1937.

The elevation to Tanner Row is gabled, with jetties at first-floor and at eaves level; the ground floor has been rebuilt in brick with hung-sash windows; the upper part is stuccoed and also has later windows. On the W. side the framing is exposed; the windows, two blocked below and two renewed above, occupy original window positions.

Internally much of the original framing remains exposed in the E. and W. walls together with the chamfered beams and the joists which carry the upper floor (Plate 190); between the main cross-beams there are spine beams carrying the joists except in the N. bay where the joists run longitudinally to form the jetty. In the attic the floor is of gypsum carried on exposed timbers. The roof is carried on simple trusses with purlins framed to the principal rafters (Fig. 13l).

(123) House, No. 16 (Plate 46), is largely of c. 1820 but contains elements of an earlier structure, probably erected in the late 18th century and represented by lower features of whitish-red brick and the ashlar stone front.

In the early 19th century Sir John Simpson, corn factor, lived here, giving his name to Simpson's Yard at the back, later incorporated in Botterill's Horse Repository. He was Sheriff in 1826–7; Alderman 1834 and re-elected 1835; Lord Mayor 1836 and knighted that year, fined for Lord Mayor in 1847 and again in 1853; he died in 1854, aged 58. His firm, L. & J. Simpson, corn millers, suffered a great fire in 1820 (York Gazette & Herald, 14, 28 Oct.), and it is not certain whether the house was affected, but about this time a third storey and attics, in a large dark-coloured brick, were added. The front porch was formed, the entrance hall remodelled, and flues added to the earlier chimney stacks. Fireplaces with good surrounds and Carron grates, although in the later build, would conform better with the earlier work of the late 18th century and may have been moved from the lower storeys at the remodelling.

The three-storeyed Front Elevation has a gabled finish. Ground and first floors are in ashlar with some stucco, and part of the second floor has ashlar facing to a former gable some 10–15 ft. below the present gable. At ground floor stucco covers the plinth and lower wall up to a band at window-sill level. To W. is the entrance, of Regency date, with reeded pilasters to the opening and a simple entablature; the door, set back in the thickness of the wall, has six fielded panels, a segmental fanlight, reeded pilasters with lions' masks on the caps, and small flanking lights, blocked with shutters. Two large windows to E. have segmental heads and raised key-blocks. At first floor are three sash windows with flat 'arches', each of a single block, and a plain band at sill level; above is a moulded string-course. Set within a central round-headed recess at second floor is a sash window with plain ashlar sill and, on either side, a flush-framed sash window with plain sill and flat brick arch. The ashlar carries up over the central window, indicating that the building was originally of two storeys with attics, lit by a window in the gable. The Rear Elevation, mainly of whitish-red brick but with the top floor and attics of a later, larger brick, has a projecting plinth, three bricks deep, and above it a stone sill band. There are two doorways, a two-storey bay window and hung-sash windows under flat arched heads.

The house is divided by a central passageway between the front office and two back rooms, leading from the entrance hall on the W. to the staircase on the E. The fittings to the ground floor are all of c. 1820 or later. On the upper floors some of the rooms have been modernised but some retain their fittings of c. 1820. The third-floor fireplaces have iron grates by Carron of late 18th-century style.

The Staircase is all of one date: the two flights to the first floor have cantilevered stone treads, stone slabs at the half-landing and landing, and a moulded pinewood rail, under which an iron strap holds the tops of slender cast-iron balusters, copied from turned wooden prototypes with a square knop; at the bottom, the rail spirals over an iron newel of the same form as the balusters; the rest of the staircase has softwood treads on a cut string, a rail as before, and turned wooden balusters like the others but sturdier, incorporating some of c. 1830 which have a series of annulets at knop level. The main feature of the staircase is the extreme slenderness of its members; there are similar staircases at the Black Swan, Coney Street, and 18 Blake Street, both of the late 18th century. The skirting of the first three flights is different from that of the others, which is common to the upper floors.

(124) The Unicorn, No. 17, was originally a small 18th-century house, two-storeyed with an L-shaped plan comprising a range, one room wide, along the street and a wing extending to S. By 1804 it had already become The Unicorn public house, occupied by William Dale, and was owned by John Kilby, brewer of Tanner Row (YCA, E.96, ff. 30–1). In the first half of the 19th century a three-storeyed wing was built behind, filling in the angle between the former ranges and projecting further S. The original disposition of rooms has been lost in later alterations, and the interior is now substantially of c. 1840–50, or later.

The N. front was completely altered in the 19th century, though the upper windows could be in the original positions. The ground floor has windows and doors framed by timber pilasters and entablature of c. 1840–50. At the eaves is a timber cornice.

The whole of the ground-floor front range of the original building is occupied by the bar; simple moulded door architraves and the bar counter with panelled front are all of the mid 19th century.

TRINITY LANE already existed, under its present name, before the middle of the 16th century. It does not seem to have been of much importance, in spite of being the main link between Micklegate and Bishophill. In the 17th century it contained some light industry, as represented by the soap-boiling factory built by Nicholas Towers and long known as Towers' Folly (now No. 29). Through the 18th and 19th centuries its inhabitants included a few individuals of standing; among them was William Walton, Roman Catholic Bishop and Vicar Apostolic, who lived from 1774 until his death in 1780 in No. 25, now demolished (Rate Books; information from Rev. Fr. Hugh Aveling).

(125) Jacob's Well, a house of late mediaeval date, consisted of an open hall with a cross-wing to E.; it is impossible to determine whether there was also one to W. Another house of the same date now forming the S. half of the cross-wing, was originally a separate tenement. This common mediaeval form, of an open hall on the ground floor, is unusual in York. The hall was horizontally sub-divided by the insertion of a floor possibly c. 1600. By 1564 both tenements were in the possession of Isabel Warde, who conveyed them in 1566 to the parishioners of Holy Trinity as feoffees (Deeds in possession of the Feoffees). Isabel Warde, who died in 1569, was the last prioress of Clementhorpe Nunnery. In 1651 the property was described as belonging to 'the dissolved Priory in Micklegate' and in 1815 £130 was spent on it (ms book, Rectory, 45, 46). By 1822 it had become the Jacob's Well public house but in 1904–5, becoming unlicensed, it was purchased by the Rector and underwent extensive restoration to the designs and at the expense of Walter Harvey Brook; it is now used as a parish room for Holy Trinity Church.

The form of the original house presents some interesting features. The open hall was probably only one bay in length, the upper part of the W. wall being original; on the ground floor the hall was open to the room in the cross-wing to E. The entrance was on the N. side of the cross-wing and adjoining this now restored doorway are two original windows, each of three lights, in excellent condition. The ground-floor walls of the cross-wing, except to the N., are of stone and may be original or may have survived from an even earlier structure; otherwise, the whole structure was timber-framed, the cross-wing having first-floor jetties to the N. and E. The property now includes a two-storeyed brick-built section to N. of the cross-wing, and a third storey to the cross-wing, now inaccessible except by trap-door; either or both of these additions may be of 1815. Nothing survives of any cross-wing to W. of the hall, the modern rectory of Holy Trinity being built against that end. The very thorough restoration of 1905 included much replacement of old or lost timbers by new ones; the addition of a staircase to N. of the hall and a large bay window on the S. side; and restoration of the adjoining part of the cross-wing in the same style. A most important feature of the house is the pair of carved brackets supporting the canopy over the E. door; they came from the Old Wheatsheaf inn, Davygate, belonging to the Bishop of Durham (Cooper mss. 4, 13), and are now the only example of their kind surviving in York.

The stonework of the E. wing (Plate 191) is confined to the ground floor on the E., S. and W. elevations except on the W. side where it extends to the top of the first floor at the S. end, but in this upper part the bonding is rougher and the work is probably not original. At the S. end of the E. front, where the jetty has been lowered, the stonework gives place to brick. Timber framing with widely spaced studs is exposed on the first floor of the E. front to Trinity Street and in the N. end of the cross-wing but here the later addition covers much of it; the ground-floor doorway and original windows and the jetty (Plate 191) are visible internally. The jetties of N. and E. elevations meet with a diagonal dragon-beam. The hall was wholly timber-framed but on the N. side only the main posts and rail remain and on the S. the lower part has been rebuilt in stone with a modern bay window.

In the N. wall of the cross-wing the doorway has been restored and a canopy over it removed; the adjoining windows retain the original timber mullions of diamond section, but the glazing is modern. On the E. front the timbering at the S. end is not original and the doorway is modern but has late mediaeval carved brackets (Plate 191), from the Old Wheatsheaf, supporting the canopy. They are cusped with figures carved on the points of the cusps and the spandrels are decorated with an eagle, a Tudor rose, and conventional leaves and flowers. On the W. side of the cross-wing two 17th-century windows to the first floor have chamfered brick jambs and mullions. In the N. wall of the hall a modern window follows the design of the original ones.

Internally, at the S. end of the cross-wing, is a substantial chimney-breast at the E. side of which is a small room which is said to have contained a staircase; it is separated from the main room by a stone wall. The E. end of the hall appears always to have been open to the ground floor of the cross-wing. The hall is now divided into two storeys with an upper floor carried on a chamfered beam and chamfered joists. The roof over the hall consists of paired rafters and collars supported by side purlins and a central collar-purlin carried at the W. end by a crown-post truss (Fig. 13b).

(126) House, Nos. 2, 4, was originally a late 16th-century timber-framed structure of at least three bays, jettied to the street. In the early 19th century, the jettied front was replaced by a flush brick elevation, probably on the line of the first-floor jetty; the back bay was rebuilt and extended in Victorian times.

The S.W. front (Plate 188), is of stuccoed brick, with flushframed sash windows to each floor. The surround of the doorway to No. 4 (actually in the adjoining No. 6) has reeded pilasters carrying enriched brackets.

Some of the original framing is visible and on the second floor studs in the S.E. wall are all grooved for infilling (cf. Fig. 71) and numbered, and on an adjacent main post is a carpenter's mark (Fig. 11b). Demolished 1956.

(127) House, No. 6 (Plate 188), timber-framed and probably of the early 17th century, may have been jettied along the street front, but the front was rebuilt in brick, probably with the fronts of Nos. 2 and 4, in the early 19th century. The house consisted of at least two bays roofed parallel with the street; a central chimney breast was inserted in the 17th century. Enough of the roof structure survived to show that it had a slightly cambered tie-beam, with side purlins clasped between a collar and rafters. In the gable the studs (5 in. by 3 in.) are grooved for infilling and the rafters are pegged at the apex, with no ridge (Fig. 13k). Demolished 1956.

(128) House, No. 27, is the survivor of a pair built c. 1735 for Messrs Dawson and Hillary, wine merchants. The site was bought by Richard Dawson between October 1733 and January 1734/5 (YCA, E.93, ff. 75, 79, 80) and included a warehouse and cellars. By 1736 the house had been built (Drake, 265), and in 1740 Dawson advertised his property as 'a large convenient well-built House, with a garden and very large Cellars' (York Courant, 6 May). In 1746 he mortgaged the 'messuage and warehouse, counting house and cellars joining and under' (YCA, E.93, f. 183). Later in the 18th century the house was taken by William Tuke and his wife Esther to be a girls' boarding school under the auspices of the Society of Friends. The school opened on 1 January 1785 and continued until 1812, when it was taken over as a private venture, but closed in 1814 (H. W. Sturge and T. Clark, The Mount School, York (1931), 1–31). No doubt because of its extensive cellarage the building was again used by wine merchants and later became the Trinity House public house. In the early 19th century, narrow window openings in various places were replaced by broad ones. The house to E. was demolished before 1950.

The Front Elevation, of pale pinkish brick, has a plain plinth and, above the ground floor, a projecting band. A magnesian limestone cornice supports a brick parapet with stone coping. The main doorway has a round arch of rubbed brick with stone key-block and moulded stone imposts and a radial fanlight with very heavy glazing bars. The plan comprises a central entrance and stair hall with one room to each side and a wing projecting N. and W. All fittings have been removed from the ground floor. The staircase rises in three flights and has a moulded handrail swept upwards at each landing, a cut string and moulded newels and balusters. In a room on the first floor is a fine early 18th-century fireplace (Plate 70), with pine enrichment. A room to N.W., entered through an arched doorway with moulded architrave and panelled reveals, is panelled in two heights with moulded dado rail and skirting and fielded panels. The fireplace, set obliquely in the S.E. angle, has a moulded stone surround, with a heavy entablature and key-block. Demolished 1961; enriched fireplace from S.W. room presented to the York Civic Trust and in 1969 reused in Nos. 17, 19 Aldwark, York.

(129) House, No. 29 (Plate 188), basically a large 17th-century structure, four storeys high, has undergone such extensive alteration that its original form and use cannot be determined from internal evidence, though it would seem likely to have served some industrial purpose. The site seems to be that of a building, with large chimney-stacks and Dutch gables, seen on several of the early views of York and identified as Towers' Folly by Lodge (etching, 'The Ancient and Loyall Citty of York', no. 10). This implies that it was the soap-boiling factory built c. 1638 by Nicholas Towers (d. 1657), Sheriff at the time of his death (Skaife MS.). Its subsequent history is still obscure until c. 1800 when it became the horn and shell comb factory of John Nutt, a use which continued until after 1851 (Borthwick Inst., Rate Books of Holy Trinity Micklegate; Directories). In the next few years it was occupied by the Rev. Henry Vaughan Palmer whose daughter Henrietta, born here on 13 January 1856, was later an authoress under the pseudonym 'John Strange Winter' (T. P. Cooper, Literary Associations of the City of York, 7). It later housed St. Stephen's Orphanage for many years.

Of the first building there now survive the outer wall, much altered and with no original windows, but including the large chimneys on the S. side; internally one ground-floor fireplace at the W. end, and the basement. Later alterations include late 17th-century windows, since blocked or altered, and a very fine early 18th-century fireplace, now on the top floor. In the early 19th century the whole was completely remodelled and the central part heightened. Most of the existing windows and much of the fittings and decorations are of this date, though there has been subsequent alteration and subdivision of the rooms.

VICTOR STREET—see BISHOPHILL

ACOMB

Acomb lies on the W. side of York, beyond the hamlet of Holgate; it remained a rural parish in the Wapentake of Ainsty until its incorporation into the city in 1937. It was an ancient possession of the Church of St. Peter, York, from before the Conquest, though nearly one-eighth of its land belonged to the king until it was given by Henry I to the York Hospital. In 1222 the lordship of the manor was granted by Archbishop Walter de Gray in perpetuity to the Treasurer of York Minster, and the advowson of Acomb church was added 5 years later (C. T. Clay ed., York Minster Fasti, i, YASRS, cxxiii for 1957, 1958, 23). The manor of Acomb included the township of Holgate, though that formed part of the city parish of St. Mary Bishophill Junior, and also scattered parts of Clifton on the opposite side of the Ouse. It was a populous area in the 14th century, for there were over seventy households in Acomb and Holgate in 1379 (The Returns ... of the Poll Tax, YAS, 1882, 299). Acomb continued to be held by the Treasurers until the abolition of their office in 1547, when the manor passed to the Crown. In 1623 it formed part of an exchange whereby it reverted to the Archbishops, who leased it to tenants, for a long period members of the Barlow family, to whom it was sold in 1855.

Acomb consisted mainly of open arable fields and common waste until inclosure in 1776. The only houses were those in the village, mainly in Front Street but a few beside the Green and near the church. The Court Rolls refer to a number of houses as new built, lately rebuilt or to be rebuilt, in c. 1668 (roll of 1728), 1691–3 (Mon. 149), 1758, 1760, 1761, 1774 (two), 1783, and 1784 (YCA, deposited Acomb manorial records, and typed transcripts; H. Richardson, A History of Acomb, YPS, 1963; Court Rolls of the Manor of Acomb, YASRS, cxxxi (for 1968–9), 200, 248, 251, 252). See also pp. 123, 125, 130.

FRONT STREET is the main street of Acomb, running from E. to W., always with the main concentration of houses, occupying tofts regularly laid out on both sides.

(130) House, No. 2, was built in the second half of the 18th century; since then, fireplaces have been modernised and modern annexes erected to S. of the main block and at the S.E. corner. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Pickford family lived here. Mrs. Pickford was a Radcliff and her son Joseph took that name; he was created a baronet in 1812 (G. Benson, 'Notes on Acomb', AASRP, xxxviii, 93).

The house is nearly square on plan; the entrance hall between the front rooms gives access to a wide stair hall between the back rooms. The front is symmetrically designed, with a central doorway flanked by plain pilasters and shaped brackets supporting a cornice. On each side is a large three-sided bay window and at first floor are similar bays on either side of a sash window with a flat rubbed brick arch. Between the floors is a projecting brick band. Above, and running round the bays, is a dentilled cornice, and at each end is an oblong chimney-breast. At the back there is a new block to E. and a 19th-century addition projecting in the centre.

The Cellar has three divisions, each with a barrel vault; that to S.W. has an open fireplace between segmental-headed recesses, and some candle recesses. The Staircase has a moulded rail, a large turned newel at the bottom, with moulded cap and base and turned balusters with a square feature.

On the first floor two rooms retain 18th-century fireplaces and in one of the front rooms the original ceiling cornice is carried round the bay window showing the bay windows are part of the original design.

(131) Vine Tree House, No. 3, was built in the late 18th century incorporating some walling of an earlier 18th-century building. It became for a time the Black Swan public house. Most internal features date from the later 19th century, when a two-storey annexe was built at the N.W. angle.

The South Elevation, of yellowish red brick, has to E. a shallow curved bay window with two sashes, and a dentilled cornice. To W. is a doorway with plain pilasters and frieze, and a moulded canopy carried on modillions (19th-century). At first floor is a similar bay window and, over the doorway, a sash window with flat arch. On the E. side it is apparent that the wall to the top of the ground floor is of older brick, and that the first floor and the S. front are later. On the N. side is a large gable, with large sash windows on ground and first floors, and a small casement light to the attics.

Four rooms retain early 19th-century fireplaces, two of them being of marble. Demolished 1965.

(132) House, No. 4, of one and two storeys, with brick walls, was originally an early 16th-century cottage; it was extended in the 18th century, and has since been largely rebuilt and remodelled. The exterior, stuccocovered and with modern openings, is undistinguished.

A room to W., rebuilt on the old foundations, has a chamfered beam from an old house in Skeldergate. In the roof of a room to E. is a 16th-century moulded ceiling beam, said to belong to the original cottage. The room is panelled from floor to ceiling with oak wainscotting of the early 17th century said to have been brought from a house in Colliergate. The remainder of the house has 18th-century doors, with four fielded panels, and some reused beams.

(133) House, No. 6 (Plate 192), was built in the first half of the 18th century as an oblong block with a one-storey annexe to S., on which a second storey was built in the later 18th century. Another addition was erected against the W. gable and the openings in the N. front were modernised in the 19th century.

At ground floor, in a room to N.E., is a fireplace with an early 18th-century eared and moulded surround, beneath a pediment formed by two volutes and decorated with a shell and festoons. Above, added in the late 18th century, is a mantel, consisting of two fluted pilasters supporting a plain shelf, and a frieze decorated with a mask between two oval paterae. A room to N.E., at first floor, has a fireplace with panelled jambs, segmental head with enriched key-block, and oval paterae at the angles. In a room to S.E. is a late 18th-century fireplace with wooden surround and moulded mantel. The mid 18th-century Staircase has a heavy moulded rail, no string, and turned balusters.

(134) House, No. 8 (Plate 192), was built in the early 18th century; it was altered in the late 18th century, when the front bay was added, and has been modernised.

In the N.E. room at ground floor, is a late 18th-century fireplace (originally at first floor) having reeded jambs bound with garlands of ivy, reeded lintel, and central panel decorated with Venus and Cupid (Plate 76). On the first floor, the fireplace in a room to S.E. has a late 18th-century basket grate with urns and festoons on the jambs. In another room is a late 18th-century fireplace with reeded jambs and lintel, and oval paterae at the angles.

(135) House, No. 9, was built in the middle of the 18th century; a two-storey extension was made to N. in the 19th century, and in modern times an annexe has been added to the N.W. corner and two shops built against the S. front.

The street front (Plate 135), partly obscured by later shops, has at first floor two windows, each with a rubbed brick flat arch. The E. side is symmetrically designed with a three-course band between the stages. The central doorway has a moulded cornice supported by shaped consoles (19th-century), and a window on either side; there are two similar windows at first floor. Both elevations have a modillioned cornice at the eaves and a dormer in the hipped roof.

The ground floor has been modernised but retains an 18th-century archway to the stair hall, having an enriched architrave and fluted pilasters with enriched caps. The Staircase has a moulded rail and string, heavy turned newels and turned balusters with a square knop. It is perhaps earlier than others of the same form in Acomb, having a marked string which the others omit (c. 1750). On the first floor are two simple 18th-century fireplaces. Demolished 1965.

(136) The White House, No. 12, was built in two parts in the first half of the 18th century, that to W. being perhaps the earlier; in the second half of that century a W. wing and staircase were added and a servants' stair inserted in the older part. The whole was remodelled in the early 19th century, when various windows were blocked, bay windows added, and the roofs remade in places, the S. wall of the W. range being raised to make the roof line correspond with that to E.

The elevations are irregular; there is a projecting band between the storeys and a small early 19th-century cornice at the eaves. The entrance doorway has reeded pilasters and shaped brackets flanking a rectangular fanlight and carrying an entablature with reeded frieze.

Internally, the cellars are covered by early 18th-century vaults. The main staircase, of the second half of the 18th century, has balusters alternately turned and twisted; the servants' staircase, with turned balusters, is of the same date. Several rooms have fireplaces of the 18th and 19th centuries, all of simple design.

Outbuildings etc. (i) To S.E. of the house is a block of buildings of four different dates, including a stable, brewhouse and dovecote of the early 18th century, and a coachhouse and cottage of the early 19th century. In the stables are two loose-boxes, entered under round-headed archways with moulded architraves, supported on a column and pilasters, with plain timber shafts and moulded caps. Under the dovecote, is a high room containing a large open fireplace with a big copper at its side. (ii) In the garden, to S., is a small brick summer-house, square and with hipped pantile roof. The door is of early 19th-century Gothic type. (iii) Many stones used in the garden rockeries have deeply cut 13th-century mouldings, and perhaps came from St. Mary's Abbey. House and outbuildings demolished 1960.

(137) Manor Farm, No. 14, which formed a single building with No. 14a (138), was erected in the late 15th or early 16th century, perhaps the house of the 'farmer' of the manor before the Reformation. It later became the Manor house but in the late 19th century it was divided into two cottages, and new windows, doors and staircases inserted. It is the only timber-framed building remaining in Acomb, and the oldest house.

None of the framing is visible on the exterior, but some is exposed internally and is remarkable for its massive size. Ceiling beams on the ground floor are all cased but good framing is visible on the upper floor, in general consisting of heavy posts carrying wall-plates and supporting large tiebeams. In the cellar is a large chamfered beam and oak joists. In the roof, the principal rafters are about 1 ft. 6 in. square, and chamfered, and there are collar-beams and queen-posts.

(138) House, No. 14a, comprises a central portion built in the late 15th or early 16th century, which was originally a wing of the Manor Farm (137), rooms to N. not much later in date and having similar framing, and to S. a brick kitchen of the late 17th or early 18th century. At the end of the 18th century the earlier walls were largely recased in brick, and the section connecting this wing to monument (137) may have been removed at this time. The scullery was added in the 19th century and most of the windows were renewed in the same century.

Internally some of the heavy timber posts and beams are exposed. Repairs to the N. wall have shown that it consists of studs and infilling of old narrow bricks. On the upper floor are a number of 18th-century doors showing two panels on one side and vertical planks on the other.

(139) House, No. 17, was built in the middle of the 18th century on an L-shaped plan against No. 19; its S. front was altered at the end of the 18th century. Most of the fireplaces were inserted at the beginning of the 19th century, when a large bay window was built, extending the dining room to N., and a passage constructed, giving access to a new kitchen to N.W.

The S. front, plastered and with rusticated quoins, has at ground floor two large sash windows and a doorway having fluted engaged pillars with moulded bases and foliated caps, supporting a simple entablature. Between the stages is a band, and at first floor are three windows similar to those below. The early 19th-century cornice has coupled gutter brackets and the roof is of large Westmorland slates.

Internally, 18th-century fittings include panelled doors, window shutters and dado panels under the windows, and the main staircase which has a moulded rail, no string, a square newel at the top and a cluster of four balusters at the bottom; the balusters are turned, with a square knop, alternate ones being twisted. Demolished 1966.

(140) Laburnum House, No. 19, was built in the early 18th century, but in the middle of that century a new extension was built to E. (No. 17, (139) above), and this part deteriorated. In the 19th century, it lost most of its old features.

The S. front, originally symmetrical and with a band between the storeys, has a central doorway with fluted pilasters having moulded caps, a light of four panes between fluted friezes, a moulded cornice above, and door with six fielded panels (late 18th-century). The windows all had sliding sashes under segmental arched heads, but some have been replaced by hung sashes. The only original fittings remaining are doors of two or three fielded panels with angle hinges. Demolished 1966.

(141) The Lodge, No. 21 (Plate 193), built in the late 17th or early 18th century on an L-shaped plan, with a side entry leading to the kitchen in the N.W. wing, was originally of two storeys. In the late 18th century a third storey was added to both ranges; two bay windows were inserted in the S. front, each extending over two floors; other openings were altered, the whole was plastered and, internally, rooms were altered. In the 19th century and modern times, sashes were rehung, some windows altered, and annexes built in the angle at the back.

The S. front has a doorway with plain pilasters, a moulded canopy, and door with six fielded panels and a fanlight above (late 18th-century); it is symmetrically designed except that to W. is a small sash window with flat arch and key-block, representing the original entrance to the kitchen wing. Bay windows flank the central doorway and the second floor has five narrow windows with late sashes. At the eaves is a cornice with modillions and dentils, the E. half being slightly deeper than that to the W. At both ends of the elevation are late 18th-century waterheads; the pipes have two fleurs-de-lis at each junction, a feature common in York at the end of the century. On the other elevations there is a brick band of two courses between the floors.

Internally the only original feature remaining is the staircase, with closed string, square newels and turned balusters (Plates 84, 87). In most of the rooms skirtings, cornices, and doors are of the late 18th century, contemporary with the addition of the third storey, and fireplaces have simple marble surrounds of the 19th century. In the kitchen are cupboards made up of reused early 17th-century panelling.

(142) Acomb House, No. 23, built in the first half of the 18th century, consisted of a symmetrically planned block, with a small scullery block projecting to N. In the later 18th century, the rooms to E., above and below, and the dining room were altered, a servants' staircase inserted, and attics added. In the early 19th century, the dining room was extended to N. by the addition of a large bay window, to W. of which was added an annexe and, to E., a porch with alcove above; the ground floor of the front bay was also remodelled. Gent's Ripon (1733, part 2, p. 4) mentions that Acomb is 'grac'd by a handsome antient seat of the Family of the Blanshards', thought to have preceded the present house. Successive inhabitants of the house since the late 18th century have been George Lloyd; Foljame; Ralph Creyke, M.P. for York; T. B. Whytehead and Major Lindberg (Benson in AASRP, xxxviii, 93).

At the centre of the symmetrically designed South Front (Plate 193) is a projecting bay with chamfered angles, the lower part forming a porch. On either side of the bay are windows with rubbed brick heads and key-blocks, and above a moulded cornice the second floor has small casement windows without key-blocks. The brick of the attic stage differs from that below; as the bay is nowhere bonded-in below this storey, it must have been added at the same time as the heavy cornice which carries round it. The East Side is gabled, with two chimneystacks; it has two late sash windows at ground floor; at first floor is an original window with early sashes and above is a round-headed stair light with rubbed brick arch and key-block, and square imposts, between two small blocked windows. On the West Side two chimney-breasts project. At ground floor, the original North Elevation is partly obscured by a porch with staircase alcove above, and a large bay window, all of the early 19th century. The staircase alcove is lit by a round-headed window with original glazing bars, reset. At first floor of the main block are four windows with rubbed brick arches, key-blocks, and early 18th-century ovolo-moulded sashes; and, above, a broad band and five attic casement windows as on the S. front.

The Entrance Hall has a moulded cornice, dado rail and skirting and doorways with moulded architraves, pulvinated friezes and dentilled cornices. The staircase hall is entered by a large round archway having fluted pilasters with moulded caps and bases, moulded architrave, large key-block, and jambs with plain panels on the inner faces. The front room to E., refitted in the late 18th century, has moulded cornice, dado rail and skirting, and heavy moulded architraves and shutters to the windows; the fireplace has a plain moulded surround with fluted key-block, a stone or plaster moulded and dentilled mantel, and an overmantel consisting of a simple moulded eared panel. On either side is a cupboard doorway with moulded architrave, large fielded panel above, and door of six fielded panels. In the S.W. corner is an early 19th-century built-in cupboard with fluted surround and plain panels. A front room to W., wainscotted from floor to ceiling in two heights, with deal bolection-moulded panelling, has an entablature with heavy modillioned cornice, moulded dado rail and skirting. The fireplace (Plate 194) has a light brown marble surround and panelled overmantel. Doorways to the hall and to cupboards have enriched architrave, enriched pulvinated frieze and cornice (Plate 67). The windows have heavy architraves enriched with egg-and-dart (early 18th-century). The Dining Room, to N.W., of late 18th-century character, with moulded cornice, dado rail and skirting, has in the W. wall a brown veined marble fireplace with enriched eared surround, a frieze of Adamesque character with central urn, small urns of flowers on either side, and slender festoons, and a cornice with key-blocks and dentils. The iron fireplace, itself of the same period, has swags on either side, coupled with an urn to right and musical instruments to left, and above are two medallions, each with a cherub, swags and festoons.

The Main Staircase (Plates 84, 195) has balusters alternately turned and twisted. From the half-landing, a round-headed archway, having fluted pilasters with moulded caps and bases, moulded head and key-block, leads to an alcove above the back porch; over it is a glazed cupola light. Inserted in rooms to S.E. and rebuilt at first floor the Servants' Staircase has a heavy moulded rail and plain string and turned balusters with a square knop (c. 1740–50).

On the first floor are four principal rooms all with moulded skirting, dado rail and cornice. The Saloon to S.W. has enriched plaster panels, and heavy enriched modillioned cornice. The fireplace (Plate 72) has a brown veined marble surround and elaborate overmantel. The doorways each have an enriched moulded architrave, and entablature with enriched dentilled cornice and pulvinated frieze, below a large enriched panel; the doors have six fielded panels. The later 18th-century ceiling in shallow relief is painted in pale blue and pink, and at each end is an oblong panel (Plate 77). A bedroom to N.W. has a fireplace with simple moulded stone surround of the early 18th century, a dentilled cornice added later in the same century and an overmantel of an eared panel. Two bedrooms to E. are reached through a small plaster-vaulted lobby. Each room has a fireplace with bolection-moulded brown veined marble surround, a moulded and dentilled mantelshelf above (18th-century), and an overmantel of a simple moulded eared panel; on either side is a doorway with moulded architrave, large fielded panel above, and doors with six fielded panels.

(143) House, No. 25, was built in the early 18th century and modified in the second half of that century; the front was remodelled in the mid 19th century.

The symmetrically designed front has a central doorway with fluted pilasters, moulded caps and moulded canopy; and, on either side, a window with segmental rubbed brick arch and late sashes. There are three similar windows at first floor.

On the ground floor are fireplaces with panelled stone surrounds and shell decoration; doors have three or five fielded panels. The staircase has a moulded rail, no string, and turned balusters alternately straight and spiral; it is lit by a round-headed window. On the upper floor is a fireplace with enriched moulded surround and panelled overmantel; other fireplaces are simpler but one retains an old iron grate with scrolled and foliated arch.

(144) House, No. 27, was built in the second half of the 18th century with a through passage giving access to a front room, a central transverse staircase and a back room; an extension was erected at the N.W. corner later in that century. In the 19th century two small additions were made to N. and a bay window inserted in the S. front.

The S. front has a doorway with plain pilasters and a pedimental canopy supported on brackets, and a large Victorian bay window. Between the stages is a three-course brick band; the upper floor has three segmental-headed windows with 19th-century sashes. Above is a modillioned cornice, and a hipped Mansard roof with a late dormer. There are houses against the E. and W. sides. To N., on the E. side, is a gable with large segmental-headed sash windows to both floors and later windows to the attics.

Internally, all doors have six fielded panels and original furniture. The front room has a fireplace with moulded architrave, jambs with swags hanging from medallions, a frieze with oval paterae, and a moulded cornice; on either side is a round-headed recess with moulded imposts and moulded architrave to the arch. Archways similarly treated divide the entrance passage to give a spatially separate stair hall. The Staircase, rising to the attics, has a moulded rail, no string, a turned newel and turned balusters with a square knop. On the first floor, the front room has a fireplace like that below, but the original grate has a scrolled and foliated round iron arch, with an inner white marble surround.

(145) Tuscan House, No. 31 (Plate 47), was built in the early 18th century and remodelled in the second half of that century, when a new main front was erected, and a new staircase and stair light inserted. In the early 19th century various annexes were added.

Straight joints on either side show that the S. front is not original. At ground floor, which has a stone plinth, is a doorway with moulded architrave, and dentilled cornice supported on slender, shaped brackets, on either side of a frieze of triglyphs and moulded paterae; the door has six fielded panels. To E. is a three-sided bay window with sashes, and to W. a sash window with rubbed brick flat arch; there are similar windows at first floor. Each floor has a stone string, which carries straight across and acts as a sill to the windows. There is a semicircular light to the attics. The E. wall, has a two-course brick band between the stages and a wooden modillioned cornice.

In the entrance hall the window W. of the entrance has a seat formed of fielded panels. The staircase, at the back of the hall, has a moulded rail, no string, and turned balusters with a square knop and alternately twisted and plain stems; the plain balusters have all been removed, except those on the landing. At the bottom, a newel reproduces the form of one of the twisted balusters, but in much heavier form. To E. of the staircase a round-headed doorway with moulded architrave and key-block, and fielded panels to the spandrels and jambs, leads to a passage to the rear. The front room has a fireplace with fluted pilasters, and a moulded cornice (late 18th-century); the bay window has a dado of plain panelling, and hung shutters. In the kitchen behind, the fireplace has fluted pilasters with round medallions at the head and fluted panels on the lintel, on either side of a similar medallion (early 19th-century). In the cellar below are some reused oak joists and an ovolo-moulded beam, of the 17th century.

Upstairs, in the main front room the fireplace has a moulded architrave between fluted pilasters with moulded caps and bases, the caps having round paterae, and a cornice. Doors throughout the house have fielded panels, some with angle hinges and original locks. Demolished 1965.

(146) House, No. 51, built in the second half of the 18th century, has been modernised.

The symmetrically designed front has a central doorway with fluted pilasters, lintel of a shaped fluted panel, and moulded cornice (early 19th-century), between segmental-headed windows, that to W. enlarged. Above a brick band of three courses is a segmental-headed recess, between similar windows; in the roof is a dormer with low pitched gable and modillioned cornice.

There are six-panelled doors, of 18th-century type, throughout the house. On the ground floor, a room to N.W. has exposed oak joists slightly chamfered. The Staircase has a moulded rail, plain tapered newels with moulded caps and bases, a plain string, and turned balusters. At first floor, in a room to E., is a fireplace with moulded architrave and cornice.

(147) House, No. 67, has been very drastically renovated and, although perhaps of the original form, retains nothing of note but two 18th-century doors, each with six fielded panels. To E. of the doorway in the S. wall is set a white limestone slab, discovered during the restoration and inscribed in good lettering 'Elizabeth 168[4] Stafford'.

(148) House, No. 103, was built in the 18th century, and a range was added to N.W. later in the same century.

The symmetrically planned front has a central doorway with plain pilasters, having moulded caps and bases, and a moulded canopy; and, on either side, a sash window with shutters. Above is a brick band of three courses and, at first floor, two similar windows, with a segmental-headed recess between, below a two-course band. At the eaves there is a brick dentilled cornice. The W. gable has two bands and a small light to each floor, and the E. gable similar bands, with a further one at eaves level, and a small light to the attics.

Internally, the ground floor is modernised, except for a fireplace in the N. range, with plain stone surround and wooden dentilled cornice, and a chamfered beam in the same room. At first floor are several 18th-century doors, with two or four fielded panels.

(149) White Row, consists of six cottages which are wholly modernised, their present character being of 1920–30, but there is no doubt that they represent five houses built soon after 1691, the homes of five copyholders whose names are added at the end of the Court Roll of the Manor for 1693 but not mentioned in the Roll for 1691 (Acomb Manorial Records on deposit in the York City Library). The measurements of the present rooms agree with those in the document mentioned below, and during modernisation chamfered oak bressumers were removed from the fireplaces, and oak joists were seen when the ceilings were reinforced. A proposal to erect the houses (in the Manorial Records, undated, but on palaeographical evidence of the late 17th century) gives a plan and details (Plate 6). They were to be built in a row 186 ft. long, 13 ft. 6 in. wide, and with side walls 8 ft. high. The identification of the compartments is interesting, for only the five rooms marked 'A' were to have a habitable loft above, reached by a ladder. Otherwise, each house has a kitchen ('B') and a stable open to the roof ('C').

The walls are of brick covered with rough-cast but such brickwork as is exposed is all of the mid 19th century or later. The roof is covered with pantiles. Three wings have been added at the back. The original five dwellings, having been converted to six, now have more doors and windows than the original plan provided and no original features remain.

The building of five dwellings in one row must have represented an advanced design for rustic housing, despite the fact that rows of houses existed in the city of York from c. 1320. Each house was of 'long-house' type, with the entrance through a doorway into the stable, whence a doorway at the side of the chimney led into the kitchen, with the parlour, chambered over, at the far end. This plan is typical of small 17th-century farm houses in many parts of the west and northwest of England, especially Cumberland and Westmorland, but the compartments here described as stables were elsewhere more commonly cow-byres.

GALE LANE runs S. from the W. end of the village and was the way to the former Common Moor of Acomb called Acomb Knole. It was not built up beyond the junction with Front Street.

(150) House, No. 1, was built in the 18th century; at the end of the century, a chimney-breast and fireplace were added in a room to N. In the 19th century most of the present openings were formed and an annexe built to S.

The front is symmetrically designed with a central four-panelled door and a stepped brick cornice at the eaves. On the N. side a two-course band is carried across at eaves level. The windows are fitted with sliding sashes. The room to N. has a late 18th-century fireplace with plain wooden surround, moulded architrave and dentilled cornice. There are some doors with fielded panels.

THE GREEN lies behind the backs of the built-up plots on the N. side of Front Street, and to S. of the old road to Knapton. It is triangular, the apex lying to E. on the York Road, the W. side having formerly faced the open lands of the Chapel Field. The only early buildings were along the N.E. side near the Church.

(151) House, Nos. 17, 19, was built in the middle of the 18th century, an annexe being added to the W. end of the N. front a little later. In modern times, a large extension was built on the S.E. side.

The almost symmetrical front has a central doorway and open porch, with two round fluted pillars and corresponding pilasters with simple caps, supporting a moulded entablature with small central medallions, and a lead roof; the door has six fielded panels. On either side are large windows with flat brick arches and 19th-century sashes; there are similar windows at first floor, but over the doorway the original window has been blocked and a modern one inserted. To E. is a further bay, with a modern door and a window in original openings. At the eaves is a brick dentilled cornice.

The entrance hall has a moulded cornice, and a round-headed archway to the staircase has plain jambs and moulded imposts. The staircase has a moulded rail, low string, oblong newel and turned balusters with square knops (c. 1740). In the room to W., doors on either side of the fireplace, and to the hall, have six fielded panels. A first-floor fireplace has reeded jambs and lintel, oval angle pieces with paterae, an enriched mantel, and enriched architrave round the inner stone surround (late 18th-century). Some of the rooms have good doors with fielded panels.

(152) Danebury House, was built in the late 18th century. The front was remodelled in the 19th century and there have been further alterations to convert the house into three tenements. To W. is a 19th-century annexe (No. 3).

The plastered front was originally symmetrically designed, as shown by the remaining five second-floor windows. Below are 19th-century bay windows, three to each floor; there are doorways between the bays. There are three chimneystacks. The back has various late windows and a round-headed stair light.

There are doors with six fielded panels throughout the house. On the ground floor is a fireplace with moulded architrave, dentilled cornice, and stone inner surround; on the first floor are five fireplaces, each with plain wooden surround, moulded architrave and mantel; all are of the 18th century.

A Stable range, to N.E., has rusticated stone quoins. Further N. are the remains of a ha-ha and terraced Gardens.

DRINGHOUSES

Dringhouses lies to S.W. of York along the main Tadcaster Road: it was a manor given by Archbishop Walter de Gray to his brother and it then descended in the family of Gray of Rotherfield and later to the Deincourts and the Lovells. Ecclesiastically the township belonged mainly to Holy Trinity, Micklegate, but in part to St. Mary Bishophill Senior (earlier to St. Clement) and to Acomb. It forms a long street village stretching along the main road for nearly a mile beyond the ancient boundary of York. Until enclosure in 1835 there were open arable fields cultivated in strips (see p. 2) and areas of common waste including part of the Knavesmire. Enclosure from Dringhouses Moor was taking place as early as 1742–6 (YCA, E.93, ff. 150, 183). Dringhouses was incorporated into the city in 1937.

TADCASTER ROAD was the only built-up street of Dringhouses before 1850.

(153) House, Nos. 13, 15, 17, is of two main builds; No. 13, the oldest part, was originally a low 17th-century cottage of one storey and attics, and Nos. 15 and 17 were erected against it in the early 18th century; later in that century No. 13 was given a new front and an upper storey. Various additions were made in the 19th century. Although added later, the front of No. 13, is similar to the remainder of the front elevation, from which it is separated by a straight joint.

The ground floor has hung-sash windows with segmental arches, and plain four-panelled doors. Between the stages is a four-course brick band; at first floor are three square-headed sash windows, and above is a dentilled brick cornice. The older part of the heightened N. gable is of tumbled brickwork; in this end are blocked 17th-century two-light windows. The S. gable is also tumbled but has modern openings. The back is partly masked by additions.

In No. 13, at ground floor, is a plain 19th-century fireplace and, in the bedroom, a fireplace with plain surround and basket grate with urn features on the jambs. The sitting room in No. 15 has a stop-chamfered beam and a 19th-century fireplace with plain surround. In a bedroom to N. is an 18th-century fireplace. In the sitting room of No. 17 is a stop-chamfered ceiling beam, and a stop-chamfered bressumer over a large fireplace. In both Nos. 15 and 17 the stair landing has a moulded rail, chamfered newel, and slender square balusters of the early 19th century.

(154) House, No. 23, was built in the 17th century, if not earlier, as a broad N.–S. range, on plan comprising three rooms with an internal chimney between the central and S. rooms. So early a date can be assigned because the house is wide and the beams have a disposition common to buildings of the earlier 17th century. No part of the original house is visible externally, as it was cased in brick in the 18th century. In the early 19th century a two-storey annexe was added to S.E. and a staircase built; c. 1850 the dining room was remodelled, and later a further extension was made to E. The whole has been modernised and offices added to the back.

A brick band of three courses, now cut back, divided the storeys of the front elevation. The windows have hung sashes and those on the ground floor are fitted with panelled shutters. The back of the main block, of red brick, colour-washed, has a two-course band between the stages. At ground floor is a modern French window and, at first floor, a sliding-sash window and a large early 19th-century window lighting the stairs. The roof, of shallow pitch, projects boldly.

On the Ground Floor the drawing room to N. has been enlarged by the incorporation of a small room to E. The central room has a cased ceiling beam, and a stone fireplace, which has fielded panelled jambs and a key-block with shell decoration between two shaped and fielded panels on the lintel (late 18th-century). In the dining room to S. are two cased ceiling beams, and windows and fireplaces of mid 19th-century date. The chimney-breast between the two last rooms, over 9 ft. broad, must be earlier than the 18th century. A room to E. has a moulded 18th-century fireplace surround. At First Floor most of the doors have six panels and ogee-moulded frames (early 19th-century); the fireplaces, in general, have plain stone surrounds and basket grates (late 18th or early 19th-century). In one room the fireplace is flanked by fielded panelling of the 18th century. The main Staircase is of the early 19th century and has a moulded mahogany rail, no string, slender square balusters, a large turned newel at the bottom, and shaped spandrels to the treads.

(155) Cross Keys Hotel, No. 32, was built in the early 18th century, but an inn has existed on this site since c. 1250. Later in the 18th century bay windows were inserted, and a large central segmental-headed carriageway was blocked; buildings to W. were erected in the 19th century, and the whole modernised in 1900.

The symmetrically designed Front Elevation has, at ground floor, cloaked by a porch, a large segmental-headed archway, now blocked, with stone imposts and a modern doorway in the blocking. On either side, to each floor, are large inserted three-sided bay windows, in which red brick contrasts with the earlier yellow-red brick of the remainder of the elevation. Between the storeys is a short section of an original three-course brick band, and between the bay windows, at first floor, a large blocked segmental-headed window, with a smaller sash window in the filling. The top of the wall, the cornice and the roof are all modern. The N. wall, with a band at eaves level, has been heightened. The S. wall has two large bay windows extending over both storeys; all features otherwise are modern. The W. elevation is modernised.

Little old work remains at ground floor. The Staircase, of the first half of the 18th century, has a moulded rail and string, square newels with half-balusters attached, and turned balusters with a square knop; it has been much restored. At First Floor is a fireplace with panelled jambs, each with a star form on the entablature; on the lintel shaped panels flank a key-block with shell decoration (late 18th-century).

(156) Houses, Nos. 33, 35, were built in the late 18th century, and a parallel two-storeyed block was added to E., in the 19th century.

The street front has, at each end of the ground floor, a segmental-headed sash window with shutters of two plain panels, and centrally a pair of doorways with flat arches, containing doors each with four plain and two glazed panels. Between the storeys is a brick band of four courses and above are three windows, similar to those at ground floor. A 19th-century barn has been built against the N. end. The S. end, only 4½ in. thick and formerly abutting the chapel built in 1747, has a modern window at ground floor. In the sitting room of No. 33 is a fireplace, originally open, with a segmental arch at the head and a moulded cornice. No. 35 has several 18th-century doors.

(157) House, No. 34, was built in the 18th century, but largely remodelled in the early 19th century; much of the gable ends, and all the W. front are of the later date, as are most of the internal features. In modern times, a room at the S.W. corner has been extended.

The street front has at ground floor an original small sash window to N., two larger windows of the early 19th-century, and to S., the entrance with a Roman Doric door-case also of the 19th century. At first floor are two 18th-century sash windows and, to S., a shallow curved bow window with sashes framed by fluted uprights and a moulded cornice (early 19th-century). Under the roof are coupled gutter brackets and a moulded cornice (early 19th-century).

In the entrance hall is a doorway with reeded architrave having round paterae at the angles. The staircase has a moulded mahogany rail, no string, a turned newel with moulded cap and base, and slender square balusters. The stair light has a round head with moulded architrave. There are some original doors, with six fielded panels; other doors, also with six panels belong to the remodelling.

(158) Manor House, No. 41, though standing on an old site, appears to have nothing earlier than the early 18th century. The central section is of this date, the N. cross range of the early 19th century, and the S. cross range modern.

Only the central part of the W. front has not been cased in new brick, and it has a brick band of three courses between the storeys. At ground floor are three sash windows with plain shutters, and a modern door; at first floor are three similar windows. All other elevations are now cased in new brick, except the sides of the N. range which are of early 19th-century brick; all openings are of this date or modern.

Internally there are some cased beams which, together with the W. wall, suggest an early 18th-century date. At ground floor are doors with six fielded panels and, in the entrance hall, a later 18th-century stone open fireplace. The balusters of the staircase are turned and have fluted stems with square knops, and an umbrella-shaped decoration (early 18th-century); they came from No. 46 Bootham, as did the early 17th-century panelling in a room to N.; in the same room is an 18th-century cupboard with two fielded panelled doors.

(159) House, No. 60, was built in the late 18th or early 19th century, but drastically altered in the late 19th century, to which date most of the exterior belongs; a straight joint in the S. wall shows that the earlier house was then extended to W. Internally there are many doors with six fielded panels. In a bedroom is an early 19th-century fireplace with moulded jambs and lintel, and round paterae at the angles.

(160, 161) Manor Farm, Nos. 64, 66, built in the early 18th century, was divided into two in the late 18th or early 19th century, when a staircase was inserted in the S. part and a chimney-breast, with obliquely placed fireplace, in the N. part. Most of the present openings are modern.

The whole house is stuccoed. Its front elevation has a large sash window on either side of a broad modern door, with another door to S. Above a band at first floor are four similar windows; there is a cornice of diagonally set bricks. The N. gable is plain, except for a two-course band between the floors, which stops short of the W. side; the S. gable, with no band, has five modern openings. The W. elevation has one old sash window with very small panes; other windows are modern.

No. 64, has a simple plan: the entrance hall leads through a round-arched opening to the staircase behind, with front and back room to N., both with a diagonally placed fireplace. The early 18th-century Staircase has a moulded rail rising to a square newel with a pendant at the base, a moulded string and turned balusters with a square knop. No. 66 has an entrance hall with a later staircase contrived in the S.E. corner of the building. The staircase has a moulded rail, plain string and square balusters (early 19th-century). At First Floor, in a bedroom to N.E. (in No. 64) is a diagonally placed fireplace with plain surround, beneath a cupboard with 'butterfly' hinges (18th-century); the modernised room to N.W. has a similar cupboard over the fireplace. On the first floor is an 18th-century fireplace with moulded surround, pulvinated frieze, and moulded mantelshelf. In both houses there are old fitted cupboards.

MIDDLETHORPE

Middlethorpe is a hamlet to S.E. of the Knavesmire; it was a small lordship within the manor of Dringhouses and belonged in the Middle Ages to Byland Abbey. It was leased by the abbey to Reginald Beasley, and in 1558 William Edrington and Edward Beasley obtained the reversion from the Crown (CPR, 1557–8, 390). The early settlement of Bustardthorpe, lying between York and Middlethorpe, had disappeared by the 16th century and its area was added to that of Middlethorpe proper. In 1385 Richard II appointed Master Robert Patryngton and John Heyndale, masons, to build a stone cross in Middlethorpe on the spot where Sir Ralph Stafford had been killed by the king's halfbrother, Sir John Holand (CPR, 1385–9, 13). The cross stood beside the Bishopthorpe Road about one-third of a mile N. of the houses of Middlethorpe.

(162) Middlethorpe Grange, in Sim Balk Lane, was built in the late 17th century. It is a two-storeyed house of brick covered with rough-cast, roofed with pantiles. It was already called Middlethorpe Grange on White's map of 1785 but in 1818 (Greenwood) appears as Middlethorpe Lodge. By 1831 (Cooper's map) it was 'Grange' again and the name became fixed when Alderman James Meek in 1836 built a new house called Middlethorpe Lodge in Dringhouses (Yorkshireman, 21 June). The original house was L-shaped, of two storeys with a single-storey wing at the back. Additions were made in the second half of the 18th century. In 1847 Archbishop Musgrave took a great interest in this farm (C. E. W. Brayley, Annals of Bishopthorpe, 13), and the house was occupied by George Bennett, bailiff to successive archbishops in the later 19th century, the period of the main remodelling.

The main S. front towards the fields is rough-cast and has a two-course brick band and an eaves cornice of diagonally placed bricks. In general the exterior was remodelled in the second half of the 19th century and few traces of the original work survive.

The original Staircase (Plate 83) has a simple rail, shaped plank balusters and square newels, all of oak but painted; an extension to the loft is in softwood (late 18th-century). Some of the doors are of 18th-century date. The main loft has an 18th-century floor but the roof itself is relatively modern.

(163) Middlethorpe Hall was built c. 1699–1701 (Plate 198) by Thomas Barlow of Leeds who bought the property in 1698 (Borthwick Inst., List R. Dru., 1–22). An entry in Ralph Thoresby's diary, on 17 September 1702, states: 'Received a visit from Mr Barlow of Middlethorp near York, which very curious house he built after the Italian mode ...' (Diary of Ralph Thoresby, 1830, 1, 399) (Fig. 72, BM, Lansdowne MS. 914, f. 30). It is probable, however, that Sir Henry Thompson, who died in 1692, inhabited a house on this site with which the dovecote and various outbuildings, of late 17th-century character, were associated. Side wings were added to the main S. front in the mid 18th century by Francis Barlow (1690–1771), High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1735. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were important alterations: the W. wing was enlarged to make a ballroom; the entrance hall and staircase hall received new ceilings; doorways and open porches were added to the N. and S. entrances; a room to W. of the staircase, at first floor, was remodelled; various fireplaces were added; the main roof was heightened; and the balustraded parapet was removed perhaps at this time (Fig. 73). The S.W. prospect of York by John Haynes (1731) shows the Hall with a crowning balustrade. An architect's drawing at the Hall, entitled 'Elevation of the N. Front, Middlethorpe' (early 19th-century), shows the late portico and also, against the E. wing and near to the main block, a large portico since removed, with similar pillars and a Doric frieze. In front of the house is shown a red brick wall with two iron gateways and to E. of them a carriage entrance to the stable yard, as at present; this suggests that the gateways too are of the early 19th century. In modern times a partition has been inserted in the entrance hall; bathrooms fitted in the N.E. corner of each floor; the plain walls of various rooms enriched by applied moulded strips, giving the effect of panelling; and a kitchen range built to N. of the E. wing.

The house remained in possession of the Barlow family until the first half of the 19th century. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu resided there in 1713–15. By 1838 it was held by the Rev. Edward Trafford Leigh, husband of Frances, daughter of John Barlow, and in 1875 by her second husband, M. A. E. Wilkinson; by 1893 their son, Col. G. A. E. Wilkinson, was owner, retaining possession until his death. During most of the 19th century the Hall was let: in 1823 to Lady Mary Stourton, in 1875 to Miss Ann Marion Johnson who kept it as a boarding school, and after 1912 to L. C. Paget. In 1836 arms were granted to John Bower, described as 'of Middlethorpe Hall and Broxholm, co. York' (Harleian Soc., lxvii (1916), 41).

The symmetrically designed North Elevation (Plate 197) to the road is of fine brick in Flemish bond, tuck-pointed, with limestone ashlar dressings and rusticated quoins. Although an important feature on the S. front, the side wings are here unobtrusive. Below a moulded stone plinth are basement windows of two square-headed lights with chamfered reveals and mullions, and plain surrounds. The ground floor has a central doorway, with eared and bolection-moulded surround of c. 1700 cloaked by an early 19th-century stone pedimented porch (Plate 62). On either side of the doorway are three sash windows, each having a moulded stone architrave with simple key-block, and a moulded sill. Above, and also between first and second floors, is a flat stone band with hollow chamfered edge. At first floor are windows similar to those below, but the central one has a more elaborate eared architrave and moulded cornice. The second-floor windows are similar but smaller; the W. end has been rebuilt and a window here is blocked. All the windows have been refitted with 19th-century sashes. Above a simple, bold cornice, which projects over the central window, is a centre-piece of three oblong panels with pilasters between; the centre panel is surmounted by an eagle displayed, in limestone, for Barlow.

The East and West Elevations are each in four bays uniform with the N. front but partly obscured by the wings and by added chimneys; a number of the windows are blocked. In the W. wall of the ballroom the different periods of construction are clearly marked by a change in the size of the bricks.

On the South Elevation (Plate 199), the main front of the house, the principal block is visually supported by the side wings, to make a symmetrical façade. The central block has a similar elevation to that to N., but there are slight differences: some of the basement windows have lost their mullions; the porch has pillars with stylised leaves on the caps, moulded bases, and an entablature without pediment; the crowning feature has a festoon and swags in each panel, and the eagle is in better condition. The side wings are each of three bays and of one storey with basement. The E. wing (Plate 197) has, in a plinth with square stone capping, three basement windows each with segmental arch and hung sashes. The bays are divided by stone Composite pilasters and between them are windows, much taller than those in the main block, each having a stone surround with square head and key-block, and early 19th-century sashes. The pilasters support a heavy stone entablature, above which is a parapet with balustrading over each window. The W. range is similar, but the basement windows have sliding sashes and the hung sashes above have exceptionally narrow bronzed glazing bars. The roof, raised behind the balustrade and hipped to W., is of Westmorland slate.

The Entrance Hall, divided by the insertion of a modern partition wall, has a coved ceiling with attenuated dentilled cornice (early 19th-century) and a floor of stone flags. In E. and W. walls are doors, each having an enriched bolection-moulded surround (Plate 203), and formerly with a laurelleaf pulvinated frieze, and an enriched cornice (early 18th-century); the panelled doors are replacements. A large chimney breast in the S. wall has a black marble fireplace with bolection-moulded surround and black marble hearth.

The stair hall, to S., with a floor of black and white marble squares, has in the N. and S. walls large doorways (Plate 203) with early 18th-century doorcases, and later doors with eight fielded panels. The Main Staircase (Plate 202), of oak, has a heavy moulded rail, no string, and square panelled newels; the rail rises at each newel, with a spray of foliage in the spandrel; the balusters are fluted and enriched and stand on steps with carved panelled ends (Plate 83). Under the second turning point of the staircase is a handsome Corinthian column. On top of the S.E. newel on the first-floor landing is scratched 'IB 1764 & S B' (for John and Samuel Barlow). The first-floor landing has four doors, each with a bolection-moulded surround and enriched dentilled cornice, and a coved ceiling with a central moulded oval containing a delicate centrepiece set in shell ornament and with radiating features (early 19th-century).

The Drawing Room is panelled in two heights with plain panels with grained moulded frame, possibly of deal, and has an enriched cornice, moulded dado and skirting. The fireplace has a moulded and enriched architrave, pilasters with long swags hanging from lions' masks, a fluted and enriched cornice (second half of the 18th century), and an overmantel consisting of a large panel. In recesses on either side are bookcases with enriched cornices and fluted sides. Doorways in the E. and W. walls have enriched surrounds (early 18th-century) and later eight-panel doors (Plate 203). The windows have fielded panelled shutters. The Dining Room (Plate 201) is lined with painted oak panelling with enriched cornice, dado rail and skirting. The fireplace, with green marble surround, is flanked by fluted Ionic pilasters above which the cornice is increased to a full entablature (Plate 200). In the E. and W. walls are corresponding centrepieces (Plate 202) of round-headed panels flanked by pilasters. In the corners of the room the cornice is also increased to a full entablature above fielded panels; in the intervening spaces are taller bolection-moulded panels. The doorways have carved architraves (Plate 66).

The Servants' Staircase to E. (Plate 83; Fig. 17b) rises from basement to attics. The servants' hall, wainscotted from floor to ceiling in two heights of bolection-moulded oak panelling, with panelled pilasters between each pair of panels, has a moulded cornice, dado rail and skirting, and later fielded panelled shutters to the windows. In the W. wall is a doorway with bolection-moulded surround and eight-panelled door. The fireplace has a white marble bolection-moulded surround and overmantel consisting of a pilaster on either side of a large bolection-moulded panel.

In the East Wing the E. room, wainscotted in two heights with fielded panels set in a projecting moulded frame, and with a dentilled cornice, has in the N. wall three bolection-moulded panels, probably early 18th-century reused. In the W. room of the wing, the fireplace has a moulded eared architrave between panelled pilasters with fluted consoles at the head supporting a dentilled cornice; above is a scrolled broken pediment with festoons of laurel leaves enclosing a block on which is a cartouche with eagle supporters, and a scroll inscribed 'Hic posuisse gaudet'. Above this again is a pediment originally over the main S. doorway. To E. are bookshelves having a projecting round arch with console key-block above and, on either side, fluted pilasters and consoles.

The West Wing contains a large Ballroom with an enriched Adamesque cornice, enriched dado rail and moulded skirting; modern mouldings have been added to give a panelled effect. The ceiling (Plate 202) has an oval of interlacing laurel leaves round a fluted circle with festoons and swags round the outside, and a foliated centrepiece. In the N. wall is a white marble fireplace with panelled pilasters on either side, over which are medallions of musical instruments; the head has a central block bearing martial accoutrements and a moulded cornice. The doorways (Plate 203) have doors with six Regency-type panels. The windows have reeded surrounds. A small closet to N. has a large round-headed niche in the N. wall, with moulded imposts and fluted pilasters on either side (early 19th-century). In general, the Cellars are barrel vaulted, that under the dining room having a fireplace with plain pilasters, panelled lintel and key-block, and a cornice supported by fluted consoles (19th-century).

On the First Floor a room over the Dining Room is wainscotted in two heights with bolection-moulded panelling, and has a moulded cornice, dado rail and skirting (early 18th-century). In the N. wall is a fireplace with a veined white marble inner surround, having an enriched egg-and-dart architrave, jambs on either side with a volute at the head and a swag beneath; a frieze with elaborate foliated enrichment and, at either end, a medallion; a fluted and enriched cornice; a veined white marble hearth (second half of 18th century) and a grate of the same date. To E. is a dressing room with similar panelling and a plain early 19th-century fireplace. The room to N. of the main staircase, 'The Blue Room', (Plate 201), wainscotted in two heights with bolection-moulded panelling, has a moulded cornice, dado rail and skirting; between each bay of panelling is a panelled pilaster. There are two doors each with a bolection-moulded surround. Set diagonally in the S.W. corner, beneath an earlier bolection-moulded panel between two fielded ones, is a fireplace with an enriched and moulded architrave round a brown veined marble inner surround; and a plain frieze beneath a moulded and dentilled cornice (late 18th-century). The N.W. room has been modernised but retains an early 18th-century fireplace with bold bolection-moulded brown veined marble surround, and a late 18th-century basket grate. The S.W. room, was refitted in the early 19th century.

On the Second Floor, fireplaces are mostly of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. To W. is a room with moulded cornice, dado rail and skirting (early 18th-century), but probably modern panelling, formed by applied moulding; beneath a large bolection-moulded panel (early 18th-century), is a fireplace with moulded jambs and lintel and square angle pieces, and a plain mantel (early 19th-century). The door has six fielded panels set in a boldly moulded frame, and an original brass lock and handles (early 18th-century); most doors in the house are of the same type and likewise most windows had fielded panelled shutters fitted later in the century when the glazing bars were altered. Two bedrooms have late 18th-century fireplace surrounds. A large modernised room in the S.W. corner has a fireplace with enriched architrave (late 18th-century), enriched pulvinated frieze, and moulded enriched cornice (early 18th-century). The staircase to the loft, with slender square balusters, is of the early 19th century. The roof has been remodelled to eliminate a central valley and now covers the moulded and panelled lower parts of the chimneys. The trusses are elaborately constructed with queen-posts and cross bracing.

Outbuildings: N.E. of the house is a stableyard with entrances to N. and W. flanked by gate piers of brick with stone bases and crowning entablatures; those to the N. are surmounted by ball finials, those to W. by eagles, the Barlow crest. Flanking the N. entrance are two-storey buildings which originally had open archways in three sides of the lower storey; some of the arches are now blocked. These buildings are of the early 18th century but incorporate some earlier brickwork in the lower courses of the N. walls. The W. gateway is flanked by small single-storey buildings. A gateway to S. is plain and partly rebuilt. Two-storey buildings to the E. are, in part, of c. 1700 remodelled in the 19th century. Further E. is a former coachhouse with a semicircular arch over the entrance, and beyond is an open yard approached through a gateway with brick piers surmounted by the remains of stone entablatures, uniform with the gateways to the stableyard.

Dovecote, S.E. of house, of c. 1700, is square on plan; it has brick walls and a late hipped tiled roof. The inside is lined with nesting boxes now cut into by an inserted floor and later windows. Garden, enclosed by 18th-century brick walls, has two piers with 18th-century lead urns. Ha-ha, S. of house, is revetted with brickwork. Two Urns, S.E. of house, of artificial stone, are decorated with allegorical figures and have handles comprising volutes and birds' heads (perhaps late 18th or early 19th-century).

(164) Middlethorpe Manor was the capital messuage of a subordinate lordship within the Manor of Dringhouses. In the Middle Ages this lordship belonged to Byland Abbey and after the Dissolution the Waller family became Lords, Thomas Waller in 1566 making an agreement with the City about right of pasture on Knavesmire. Early in the 17th century it was owned by William Brearey, merchant, Sheriff in 1598–9 and Alderman 1609–10 (d. 1637), whose will of 9 August 1637 bequeathed: 'To my son Christopher Brearey my new Hall I built at Middlethorpe'; the foundations of his hall may be those found in the higher land to E. of the present house. The central block of the present house was built in the late 17th or early 18th century, a date suggested by the narrow brick in Flemish bond in the cellar and the oak timbers of narrow, deep section in the roof; the staircase and hall panelling and fittings are also of this date, but are said to have been inserted by Col. Bryan Fairfax, who lived there in 1927. In the second half of the 18th century a block was added to E.; c. 1840–50 another large extension was added to W.; and at the turn of the century, a long N.-S. range was built against the W. end of the N. front. In modern times a staircase has been added at the S.W. angle, a dining room has been built on the N. side, various offices added, and the roof of the central block remade.

When Middlethorpe Hall (163) was built by the Barlow family early in the 18th century, the existence of two major houses in the manor led to difficulties and about 1735 (Drake, 382) the lordship of the manor was in dispute between Francis Barlow and Dr. Brearey. The last Brearey lord, Christopher, died in 1826 and his estates were broken up. In 1893 the Hon. E. W. Lascelles was Lord of the Manor; his daughter married Capt. H. D. Brocklehurst, who became owner by 1901; H. E. Preston resided there in 1908; Brigadier General the Hon. O. U. G. A. Lumley in 1917; and by 1927, Col. Bryan C. Fairfax was Lord of the Manor.

All the elevations are stuccoed above a shallow stone plinth and have a timber cornice at the eaves. The South Elevation (Plate 204) consists of a central block recessed between lateral ones. The E. block has two sash windows with stone sills at each floor, one being a dummy. The central block has a central modern porch with a large sash window, probably 19th-century, to each side, and at first floor a small sash window between two large ones each of three lights; the eaves cornice is modern and replaces a parapet. The W. block has a modern twin-light sash window which does not range with the others. The East Elevation of the E. block has, to S., a large semicircular bay, with a French window between two modern sash windows, at ground floor. The North Elevation of the E. block, stepping forward a little, has the same disposition as that to S., also with a painted dummy window. Built against the lower part of the central block are a modern dining room and offices; above are sash windows and a round-headed stair window. The W. block, in the same plane, has five windows to ground floor and three above. Built against the W. end of the W. block, the N.-S. range has in its E. wall four segmental-headed windows to each floor. At the W. end of the house, recessed behind the W. block, is a modern two-storeyed addition, and further S. a modern scullery built up on early 18th-century brickwork.

The large Entrance Hall, comprising the whole of the S. part of the central block, has been formed out of an original hall with a small room on either side by removal of the intervening walls. It is lined with plain pine panelling in two heights, of c. 1700, under a modern cornice. In the N. wall is a fireplace (Plate 75) with decorated timber surround and brown veined marble slip. In the W. part is a fireplace with an enriched pinewood architrave.

In the E. block the S. room has a moulded enriched cornice, moulded dado rail and skirting, and a fireplace (Plate 75) with Corinthian pilasters, decorated frieze and veined white marble slip (c. 1770).

The Main Staircase, of c. 1700, has a moulded string and a heavy moulded rail swept up to square newels over solid spandrel pieces, all of pinewood; the heavy turned balusters are of sycamore. Against two newels at ground floor are elaborate foliated volutes (c. 1700).

Cellars, beneath the central block, are built chiefly of 2 in. brick in Flemish bond, with timber floors above. To N.E. is a small wine cellar, with an 18th-century brick barrel vault.

On the First Floor the main landing has a panelled wood dado mostly of c. 1700 and three-panelled doors of the same date. In the E. block the rooms open off a small central hall lit by a cupola in the ceiling. In the central and E. block some of the rooms have 18th-century fireplaces and ceiling cornices. In the W. block the fittings are of the mid 19th century.

Garden features include: (1) to E. of the house an elaborate Ha-ha, with brick revetment on the inner side (late 18th-century); (2) to S.E. of the house two plain Urns, of magnesian limestone; (3) to S.E., in a rockery formed in a coppice, various Moulded Stones.