786 
YORK. 
Lancastrian victims, at the battle of Towton. The church 
of St. Margaret, in the same street, is celebrated for its sin¬ 
gular Saxon porch, brought (as Drake affirms) from the 
church of Sf. Nicholas, out of Watergate bar; for there 
were originally nearly double the present number of parish 
churches in York, which were destroyed during the siege of 
1644. This porch, formerly deemed the richest performance 
of the kind remaining, (those of Glastonbury, Malmsbury, 
and Dunstable, not excepted) displays a circular arch, with 
representations of the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and the 
twelve months alternately, and exhibits a beautiful specimen 
of the device which became common a little antecedently to 
the extinction of the Saxon style, viz., a carving round the 
heads of arches, like trellis placed in broad lozenges, and 
considerably projecting. 
But among all the religious edifices in and near York, the 
ruined abbey of St. Mary, next to the cathedral, merits the 
greatest attention. This magnificent edifice was situated im¬ 
mediately without Bootham bar. Its site, covering nearly 
a square plot of ground (from the north road to the Ouse, 
and from the city wall to Marygate) is 1280 yards in circuit. 
Of this once noble structure, there now remains only a small 
part of the abbey church or cloister, of which the divisions 
appear, fiom an accurate measurement, to have been 371 
feet in length, and 60 in breadth. The annual revenues of 
this wealthy monastery, at the dissolution of religious houses 
under Henry VIII., were computed at 1550/. Is. 9d. by 
Dugdale, and at 2085/. If. 5~d. by Speed. Nor were its 
privileges less distinguished. Its mitred abbot had a seat in 
parliament; and when the Yorkshire barons were summoned 
to war, his commissioner bore the standard of St. Mary in 
the royal army. In number and splendour his retinue 
scarcely yielded to that of the archbishop; and he possessed 
various and magnificent country houses, for occasional re¬ 
tirement. When, upon the dissolution above referred to, it 
was converted to civil uses, the manor-house, constructed out 
of its ruins, became the residence of the lords presidents of 
the north ; and it is now held by lease under the crown, by 
lord Grantham, as representative of the family of Robinson. 
The castle of York is of great antiquity. The present site 
was selected, according to some writers, in the time of Wil¬ 
liam the Conqueror; but the fabric of that date falling to 
decay, it was repaired or rebuilt under Richard III. Dis¬ 
mantled of its garrison, it was converted into a county prison 
for felons and debtors, till again becoming ruinous, it was 
wholly taken down, and the existing structure erected in 
1701, the expense being defrayed by a tax of threepence 
per pound rent on all lands, &c. in the county. The prison 
for debtors is scarcely anywhere equalled. In the left wing 
is a chapel. The court-yard for felons lies between the two 
wings: and the cells, 15 in number, are each about 7| by 
6f feet, and 8f feet high. The four condemned rooms are 
about 7 feet square. The women-felons, being kept separate, 
have two court-yards., Their condemned room is in another 
part of the building. 
The Basilica, or new county-hall, was opened at the sum¬ 
mer assizes, in 1777. It is of the Ionic order, 150 feet in 
length, and 45 in breadth. Its two courts (the civil and the 
criminal) are respectively 30 feet in diameter, and crowned 
with a dome 40 feet high, supported by 12 Corinthian co¬ 
lumns. The entrance into this structure is by a portico of 
six lofty columns. The opposite building on the east was 
erected in 1780: it contains apartments for the clerk of as¬ 
size, the county records, an indictment-office, hospital-rooms, 
cells for the women felons, &c.: in length it extends 150 
feet, and is adorned in front with a colonnade similar to that 
of the county-hall. Great improvements throughout the 
castle have recently taken place, and more are still medi¬ 
tated. 
The mansion-house is an elegant building, erected in 
1725, as a suitable residence for the chief magistrate of the 
city. Its rustic basement in front supports an Ionic order, 
with a pediment, wherein are displayed the city arms, ori¬ 
ginally only argent with a cross gules, till the five liens were 
added by William I., in honour of the five brave magistrates 
who defended the city against him in 1070. To this exter¬ 
nal character, the interior, in rich plate, spacious apartments, 
and excellent portraits, well corresponds. 
Behind it, and on the banks of the river, stands the guild¬ 
hall, erected in 1446, and regarded as one of the finest Go¬ 
thic halls in the kingdom. It is 90 feet in length, 43 in 
breadth, and 29| from the floor to the centre of the roof, 
which is supported on ten octagon pillars of solid oak, on 
stone bases. Its windows present some fine specimens of 
painted glass. In this hall was formerly held the court of 
the lords presidents of the north. 
Although the foreign commerce of York is totally annihi¬ 
lated, it still retains a considerable river trade; and vessels 
of 120 tons burden come up the Ouse as high as the bridge, 
near which there is a convenient quay. Some business is 
also transacted in gloves, linens, livery lace, glass, and drugs ; 
and printing and bookselling are conducted on a large scale. 
The charter, however, granted to it by successive monarchs 
for its benefit, having prevented the beneficial settling of 
strangers, and the consequent introduction of manufactures, 
it derives its principal support from its fairs, assizes, and 
races, and the winter residence of many of the provincial 
gentry, by whom it is regarded as a kind of northern metro¬ 
polis. The race-ground (expressively called Knavesmire), is, 
by its horse-shoe form, admirably adapted for displaying the 
competition of the horses throughout the whole of the course. 
The theatre is a neat building, erected in 1769. Improve¬ 
ments, now in progress, will greatly facilitate the admission, 
in which respect it has hitherto been very inconvenient; and 
a handsome saloon is included in the meditated alterations. 
The assembly-room, in Blake-street, was built in 1730, on 
a plan designed by the celebrated earl of Burlington. Its 
grand apartment (an antique Egyptian hall, after Palladio, 
112 feet in length, and 40 in breadth and in height), con¬ 
sists of two orders, the lower part, with 44 columns, rich ca¬ 
pitals, and an elegant cornice, displaying the Corinthian, 
and the upper the Composite order, highly decorated with 
festoons, in imitation of acorns and oak-leaves. 
Besides the above specified public buildings, there are two 
well conducted receptacles for lunatics, the asylum and the 
(Quakers) retreat; a county hospital, and a city dispensary; 
a blue-coat boys’ and a grey-coat girls’ charity school, great 
national schools for boys and girls, &c.; a saving-bank, es¬ 
tablished in 1816, the deposits in which (from 1600 contri¬ 
butors) exceed 60,000/.; a subscription library, founded in 
1794, and supported by upwards of 480 members; a city 
jail, and a house of correction ; with various chapels for Ro¬ 
man Catholics, Wesleyan Methodists, Quakers, Presbyte¬ 
rians, and Independents; and about three miles from York 
stands Bishopthorpe, the magnificent palace of the honour¬ 
able Edward Venables Vernon, archbishop of York. 
The markets of York are held on Tuesdays, Thursdays, 
and Saturdays, more particularly on the latter; and the great 
fairs on Whit-Monday, July 10th, August 12th, and No¬ 
vember 23d ; 198 miles north-by-west of London. Popula¬ 
tion 35,543. 
YORK, the capital of Upper Canada, exceedingly well 
situated in the township of the same name, on the north¬ 
west coast of Lake Ontario, on the north side of an excel¬ 
lent harbour. It is very regularly laid out, with the streets 
running at right angles, and promises to become a very hand¬ 
some town. The plot of ground marked out for it extends 
about a mile and a half along the harbour, but at present the 
number of houses does not greatly exceed 300, the greatest 
part of which are built of wood ; but there are, however, 
many very excellent ones of brick and stone. The public 
edifices are a government house, the house of assembly for 
the provincial parliament, a church, a court-house, and a 
gaol, with numerous stores and buildings for the various 
purposes of government. The garrison is situated to the 
westward of the town, at a mile distance: it consists of bar¬ 
racks for the troops usually stationed here, a residence for 
the commanding officer, now most frequently occupied by 
the 
