46 
of a tower surmounted by a tall spire of wood, covered with 
lead. You can still see the four stout pillars which supported 
it. As to the fate of this Tower, happily there are preserved, 
also among Dodsworth’s MSS. at Oxford, two or three leaves 
of an old Northern MS. Chronicle, on one of which is recorded 
the fact that, at sunrise, on St. James’s day, 1376, in a great 
storm, this spire of St, Mary’s was struck by lightning, and set 
on hre, and, with the Tower itself, and bells, was burnt and 
ruined. Some sixty years after this, the central spire of 
Dmham Cathedral perished in a similar manner, and it was 
the frequently occurring fa,te of spires in different parts of the 
country. There is evidence to show that the monks of St. 
Mary’s speedily endeavoured to repair their loss, but we have 
nothing to indicate the character and architectural features of 
either fabric. And now let me say something on a point 
which, tv/o or three years ago, made some little controversy in 
the public prints. I allude to the old gateway, which used to 
be the sole entrance to the Blind School. In 1266 the Abbat 
and Convent of St. Mary’s surrounded their precint with a 
large stone wall, the greater part of which is still in exist¬ 
ence. They permitted no access to the monastery except 
through the great entrance in Marygate, or by the river, of the 
frontage to which, for a considerable distance, they were the 
sole proprietors, and from the enjojmient of which they shut 
the public out. In the beginning of the sixteenth century the 
the City of York was honoured with several visits from the 
Princess Margaret, daughter of our Henry YII. The citizens 
generally v^ere most demonstrative in their loyalty, and the 
Abbat and Convent of St. Mary’s, rivalling the city in its 
greeting, manifested their delight in a most remarkable way. 
The Princess was to sojourn on one occasion in the Abbey, and 
to save her the trouble of a long journey down Bootham and 
Marygate, the wall near Bootham Bar was broken through—a 
gateway made through which the Princess could pass, and a 
tower erected, to serve as a porter’s lodge. The tower you can 
still see, but the gateway is not that through which the Princess 
went, but a restoration of it, very badly done, and at a com¬ 
paratively recent period, probably about two centui’ies ago. 
