YORK: WITH A FEW NOTES ON BEVERLEY. 83 
and is a ‘very interesting specimen of antiquity. The old door 
wickets and portcullis still remain, and it bears upon its front the 
arms of Henry V. (about 1420). The interior side of the Bar 
has been extended by a pseudo-classic porch across the front, 
with a parapet enclosed by a wooden balustrade of Jacobean 
style, altogether out of place and incongruous. 
We now come to Micklegate Bar. This is a very fine gate, and 
will compare very favourably with the Monk Bar. It is in good 
preservation and is particularly picturesque. Drake and other 
historians state that it is of great antiquity, and that it is of Roman 
foundation. However, it is now considered to be a Norman work. 
This gate also had a barbican, and when this was in existence it 
must have been a very imposing work of defence. Above the 
gateway are shieids bearing the royal arms of England and France 
between those of the city of York, and also the arms of Sir John 
Lister Kaye, Lord Mayor of York 1737, and an inscription 
**Renovata A.D. 1727.” On this gate the powers that were 
exposed the heads of persons they considered traitors to the 
Government, and here, amongst others, were placed the heads of 
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, and the Earls of Devonshire 
and Wiltshire, but since 1746, after the Jacobite rebellion, this 
delightful method of ornamentation has been abandoned. 
The old Abbey of St. Mary’s, a wonderful specimen of beautiful 
Early English architecture, is within the walls of York, and at 
present is enclosed for preservation in the Museum grounds. 
Although the monastery was founded in 1078, the present Abbey 
was not commenced till 1270, and took twenty-two years to build. 
Considerable portions of the Abbey remain, which is rather 
wonderful seeing that after the dissolution in 1540 a licence was 
granted to the authorities to dismantle the place and use the stone 
for the building of a palace for the President of the Council of the 
North, to repair York Castle, to restore one of the city churches, 
and for the repairs of Beverley Minster. However, some good 
archeologists stepped in in time, and obtained from Government a 
grant of the Abbey and a great portion of the site, which was laid out 
as public gardens, and the further demolition of the ruins stopped. 
