26 



ment of monks of the order of St. Francis commonly called the 

 Friars Minors, or Freres Menours, which, according to Froissart, 

 was upon so extensive and princely a scale as to be capable of 

 accommodating King Edward III. and his queen-mother who 

 at the same time held their separate courts within its walls. 

 Still retaining our position upon the hill above the vetus halliurriy 

 we shall perceive that besides the Castle and the Friars Minors, 

 several other objects, although of less importance, are comprised 

 in our prospect. Below us, on the same side of the river, we 

 see the Nunnery of St. Clement founded by King Henry I., and 

 on the opposite shore, near to the sally-port on the western side 

 of the castle-wall, are the house and chapel of the Guild of St. 

 George, with the water-milns adjoining, which formerly be- 

 longed to the order of Knights Templars. Carrying our view 

 a little further we may discern the Priory of Gilbertine Monks, 

 dedicated to St. Andrew, standing on the opposite bank of the 

 river Foss, near its confluence with the Ouse. ' 



Turning our faces towards the West, we shall see emerging from 

 the general mass of the buildings of the city, the innumerable 

 spires and towers of the parochial churches, and other public 

 edifices, in every direction, presenting a wonderful variety of 

 form and structure. 



Descending from this eminence, and proceeding through 

 Skeldergate, we arrive at Ouse-bridge, where are several ob- 

 jects of curiosity and interest. The chantry chapel dedicated to 

 St. William, an exquisite specimen of Anglo-Norman architec- 

 ture ; and adjoining to it, or under the same roof, the courts of 

 law and justice, and the municipal hall ; and beneath these the 

 Kid-cote or prison for criminals and other offenders : the fronts 

 of all these buildings and the bridge itself being covered and 

 choked up with clusters of shops in every part. Passing, not 

 without due reverence, the Cross * erected on the summit of the 



1 Of the Nunnery of St. Clement, or the Priory of St. Andrew, scarcely a vestige 

 remains to show where they stood, but a solitary shield bearing the cross of the 

 chivalric St. George, sculptured in stone, still marks the entrance to the religious 

 guild of which he was the patron saint. 



^ " A cruce super pontem Use." Document dated 1380. 



