142 



YORK. 



that of the Rialto, at Venice. A gravelled walk 

 was some years ago formed for about a mile along 

 the left bank of the river, immediately to the south 

 of the bridge, which, being now shaded with lofty 

 elms, and having become a fashionable promenade, 

 is one of the greatest ornaments of the eit\ . 



The. most prominent feature in York is its noble 

 cathedral or minster, a description of which we 

 shall give at the end of this article. Next to the 

 Minster, York castle and Cliflbid's tower claim at- 

 tention. The castle of York, now the county 

 jail, stands at the distance of about 200 yards 

 from the eastern bank of the Ouse, and close to 

 the Foss, which being brought round it in a deep 

 moat or ditch, renders it inaccessible, except from 

 the city, on the north. Historical evidence suffi- 

 ciently proves that before the Norman conquest, 

 York had a castle, which Drake, in his " Ebo- 

 racum," supposes to have been the Old Buile, on 

 the opposite side of the Ouse. The castle on 

 the present site, according to the opinion of the 

 same author, was built by William the Conqueror, 

 but probably on a Roman foundation. Having 

 fallen to decay, it was repaired, or rebuilt, in the 

 reign of Richard III. After it was no longer used 

 as u fortress, it was converted into a county prison; 

 but, having fallen into a ruinous state from age, it 

 was taken down in the year 1701, and in its stead, 

 a structure was erected which was long considered 

 to form one of the best regulated and most com- 

 modious prisons in the kingdom. However, in 

 1826, new buildings were commenced tinder the 

 direction of Mr Robinson, architect. The plan of 

 the new portion of the prison is upon the radiated 

 and panopticon system, the governor's house form- 

 ing a centre from which all the prisons and airing 

 courts diverge. The governor and turnkeys can 

 pass unseen from the centre to any part of the pri- 

 son, through secret passages in each of the buildings, 

 connected with a corridor of inspection which sur- 

 rounds and connects the whole. From these pas- 

 sages, too, every thing that passes within the pri- 

 sons can be seen ; and as the prisoners know this, 

 they have a right to suppose that the governor's 

 eye is always upon them. 



The prison is fire-proof, the structure being en- 

 tirely of stone ; the walls are 5 feet thick below, 

 and 3 feet above, and no timber is used in the 

 floors, the stone extending from wall to wall. Each 

 cell of the prison is covered with a single piece of 

 stone 5 inches thick, and the cells are divided la- 

 terally by single stones 9 inches thick. The doors 

 are of hammered iron, and three iron guards are 

 placed in each aperture in the thickness of the wall. 

 The boundary wall surrounding the new prison, the 

 old debtor's prison, and the court-house is 35 feet 

 in height above the ground, and it has towers at 

 intervals to strengthen it. This wall is 1350 feet in 

 length, and is, in itself, a specimen of very superior 

 workmanship. Upon the whole, York castle may 

 he considered the strongest prison in England, and it 

 is certainly one of the most complete and efficient. 



In all the alterations which have taken place, 

 " Clifford's Tower," which stands within the walls, 

 has been preserved with the most scrupulous cane. 

 A short distance within the gateway there is a high 

 mound, thrown up with prodigious labour, and sur- 

 rounded by a strong stone wall. It appears to be 

 elevated at least ninety feet above the level of the 

 Ouse, and thirty feet above the site of the castle 

 or gaol, -and the adjacent parts of the city. On 

 the summit of this mount stands an ancient tower, 



called " Clifford's Tower;" and, according to ira- 

 dition, one of that family was its first governor, 

 after it had been built by the Conqueror for the 

 purpose of overawing tin- city and country. The 

 castle itself was found by Lclaml in a ruinous state 

 in the time of Henry VI II. But on the com- 

 mencement of the civil wars between Charles I. 

 and the Parliament, it was completely repaired and 

 fortified by order of the earl of Cumberland, the 

 governor of York. On the top of the tower was 

 made a platform, on which several pieces were 

 mounted : a garrison was appointed for its defence, 

 and colonel Sir Francis Cob was its governor dur- 

 ing the siege of the city. After the surrender of 

 York, in 1644, it was dismantled of its garrison, 

 except this tower, of which Thomas Dickenson, 

 the lord-mayor, a man strongly attached to the 

 cause of the Parliament, was constituted governor. 

 It continued in the hands of his successors, as go- 

 vernors, till 1683, when Sir John Reresby was ap- 

 pointed to that office by Charles II. In the follow- 

 ing year, 1684, on the festival of St George, about 

 10 o'clock in the evening, the magazine took fire 

 and blew up, and the tower was reduced to a shell, 

 as it remains at this day. Whether this happened 

 accidentally or by design was never ascertained. 



The other principal public buildings of York, are 

 the mansion house, an elegant structure, erected 

 in 1725 ; the guildhall, which dates from the mid- 

 dle of the fifteenth century, and is one of the finest 

 Gothic rooms in England, being ninety-six feet in 

 length by forty-three in breadth and twenty-nine 

 and a half in height ; the council chamber, built 

 in 1819; the assembly rooms, built in 1730; the 

 theatre, first opened in 1769, and thoroughly re- 

 paired in 1822; the museum of the Yorkshire phi- 

 losophical society, opened in Feb. 1830 ; together 

 with the county lunatic asylum, the establish- 

 ment of the same kind belonging to the Society of 

 Friends called the Retreat, the county hospital, 

 &c. The archbishop of York has no house in the 

 city, the only residence attached to the see being 

 the palace at Bishopsthorpe, which stands on the 

 west bank of the Ouse, about three miles farther 

 down the river. 



The Ouse flows through the city of York, the 

 principal part of which, however, stands on the left 

 or east bank of the river, immediately above its 

 junction with the smaller stream called the Foss. 

 Vessels of ninety tons burden can still ascend the 

 Ouse as far as York ; but in former times that 

 city used to be accounted one of the chief marts 

 of foreign commerce in the kingdom. From the 

 foundation, however, of the port of Hull by Ed- 

 ward I. towards the close of the thirteenth centu- 

 ry, the trade and commercial importance of York 

 began rapidly to decline. The manufactures 

 of the city are not very considerable, consisting 

 principally of linen cloth and gloves : there are 

 also iron and brass founderies, 1o' acco pipe makers, 

 flax-dressers, sacking and sailcloth manufacturers, 

 rope and twine makers, mustard manufacturers, 

 comb makers, white and red-lead manufacturers, and 

 coach, lace, and fringe manufacturers. A great 

 part of the trade arises from the demands of the local 

 population ; and great quantities of coal are brought 

 hither by water. Large sales of cattle and horses 

 take place once a-fortnight, and at the annual fairs; 

 and a market for leather is held once a-month ; corn, 

 flax, and wool are also extensively sold, at several 

 of the fairs. Population of the city in 1821, 

 20,787; in 1831,25,359; in 1841, 30,152. 



