Fishergate, Fossgate, Gillygate, Goodramgate
Here we look at some of the historic streets and buildings in York from F to J, starting with Feasegate, Fishergate and Fossgate. We will also explore areas around the River Foss, York’s second river, which is a tributary of the Ouse.
A particularly wonderful feature of Fossgate, hidden to the rear of the street and overlooking the River Foss in nearby Piccadilly, is the remarkable timber-framed Merchant Adventurers Hall, dating back to medieval times.
We then take in the ‘G’ streets of Gillygate, Goodramgate and Grape Lane before heading back to the banks of the River Foss at Hungate and Jewbury. Finally, we visit the street of Jubbergate that hosts part of York’s Shambles Market.
Feasegate
Feasegate is a southerly offshoot of St Sampson’s Square and a continuation of Church Street. The south end of Feasegate near Market Street was roughly the site of the southernmost corner of York’s Roman legionary fortress. ‘Feasegate’ comes from ‘Fe-hus gate’ meaning ‘the cow house street’.
Other early recorded forms of the name include ‘Feisgaill’ incorporating a Viking word ‘geil’ that means ‘narrow passage between houses’. This is likely related to the term ‘ginnel’ that has the same meaning and still prevalent in Yorkshire dialects.
Fishergate Bar and Fishergate Tower
Fishergate was once the fishermen’s street and is situated just east of the point where York’s two rivers meet.
Blue Bridge Lane leads west from the street to the meeting of the River Foss with the River Ouse, where a little blue-painted bridge takes pedestrians across to the western bank of the Foss.
At its south end Fishergate becomes Fulford Road leading to the village of Fulford that is now a suburb of York. To the north Fishergate splits into two parts at a v-shaped junction with the eastern part continuing north into Fawcett Street towards Fishergate Bar.
To the west of the ‘V’ Fishergate itself continues north towards Fishergate Tower and onward to Tower Street which crosses the River Foss at Castle Mills Bridge near Skeldergate Bridge and Cliffords Tower.
Fishergate Tower, across the Foss from York Castle, served a dual purpose. Firstly, it protected the entrance into the city via the River Foss. Chains were once stretched across the Foss here linked to the castle over on the opposite bank, further adding to York’s defences. Secondly, Fishergate Tower provided more additional security to the entrance into the city via Fishergate Bar.
The present Fishergate Tower was built about 1505 but there was an earlier tower once known as Talkan Tower named from Robert de Talkan, a Mayor of York in 1399. The little entrance archway at the site of the tower seen in the photographs above and below was a postern entrance that included a portcullis gate.
Fishergate Bar not to be confused with Fishergate Tower was a minor gateway in the city walls. To its south, outside the city walls, is Fawcett Street and on the north side of the bar within the walls is George Street.
The Fishergate Bar has some interesting features including scorch marks left by an angry mob who set it alight. They also set fire to Walmgate Bar during this protest against tax rises imposed by the first Tudor monarch, Henry VII, in 1489. Damage to the bar was so severe it had to be bricked up. The arch was not reopened until 1827.
Another feature is an inscription above the central arch of the bar commemorating William Todd, Mayor of York who was knighted by the aforementioned Henry VII. Todd supported Henry during the Lambert Simnel rebellion and gave thanks for the honour of his knighthood by repairing a section of the neighbouring city wall.
From time to time Fishergate Bar has served as a place of imprisonment with prisoners including Roman Catholics during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I.
Outside the city walls near Fishergate Bar is Paragon Street (the A1036) which follows the outer perimeter of the city wall here. Just across this busy road is York’s Barbican Centre, which opened in 1989 and was refurbished in 2011. It is a theatre and conference centre. From here, Paragon Street turns north-east towards Walmgate Bar and its barbican, from which the centre is named.
Heading through Fishergate Bar within the walls, we enter George Street, where we find the churchyard of the long-lost medieval church of St George. This churchyard is the burial place of the highwayman, Dick Turpin:
“JOHN PALMER OTHERWISE
RICHARD TURPIN
THE NOTORIOUS HIGHWAYMAN AND HORSE STEALER
EXECUTED AT TYBURN APRIL 7th 1739
AND BURIED IN ST. GEORGES CHURCHYARD”
Of course, as we might expect, the ghost of a black-cloaked man of eighteenth century appearance is said to occasionally appear in this graveyard, riding a saddle and wearing a tricorn hat. If true, we can only wonder who it might be.
Fossgate, Foss Bridge and the River Foss
The River Foss is York’s other river, much less-known than the River Ouse which it joins at the ‘Blue Bridge’ between Skeldergate Bridge and Rowntree Park. The Foss forms a natural defence along much of the eastern side of the old city’s centre. Foss means ‘ditch-like river’ and the roots of its name may be from the Latin ‘fossa’.
Compared to the Ouse, the Foss is a relatively minor river. It begins life as a little stream near the village of Oulston (where there is a reservoir) between Easingwold and Coxwold.
After the Foss enters the River Ouse at York, the Ouse flows southward to Selby and then south east towards Howden and Goole. To the east of these two towns it meets with the great River Trent of the midlands to form the River Humber.
Foss Bridge, on the site of earlier medieval bridges links Fossgate with Walmgate across the River Foss to the east. It is a stone baluster bridge built by Peter Atkinson in 1812. A chapel dedicated to St William is known to have stood on an earlier medieval bridge here.
Fossgate simply means street leading to the River Foss. The most notable feature in the street is an entrance to The Merchant Adventurers’ Hall which is reached via an alleyway towards the south end of the street. The hall can also be seen from the street of Piccadilly to the south and is situated on the bank of the River Foss.
The shield above the door in Fossgate is the coat of arms of the Merchant Adventurer’s Company. Guilds were a kind of medieval trade association that oversaw standards and practices.
Originally a hall was founded here by a religious institution called the Guild of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin that came to be part of York’s Guild of Mercers early in the fifteenth century and the present hall likely dates from their time.
They became the Merchant Adventurers around 1580, a powerful company that played an important role in regulating and encouraging foreign trade in York and its surrounds.
The actual hall itself is on the upper floor and has an impressive ceiling of timber beams. Beneath, the floor below forms the undercroft, the oldest part of the building which has an attached stone chapel of 1411. Inside the hall are displayed colourful banners of York’s medieval guilds and portraits of dignitaries.
Associated with York’s medieval guilds were the famed ‘mystery’ plays that were performed on Corpus Christi Day (May or June). They consisted of a cycle of 48 plays, each depicting biblical scenes and performed by members of the trade guilds.
Specific guilds were usually involved in performing a particular scene. For example, the Carpenters performed the Resurrection; the Fullers performed the scene of Adam and Eve in Eden; Shipwrights performed Noah’s building of the Ark; the Coopers performed The Fall of Man and the Saddlers the Harrowing of Hell and these are just a few. The texts of some of York’s mystery plays still survive and are revived and performed in the city from time to time.
The street of Fossgate terminates at its northern end at the meeting of Pavement and the Stonebow where the entrance to the street proclaims its role as the Merchants’ Quarter. Along the course of Fossgate the street is joined by Franklins Yard and Strakers Passage on its east side and on its west side by Lady Peckett’s Yard as well as the entrance to the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall.
Fulford Road and Rowntree Park
Rowntree Park and the Fulford Road area of York lie on opposite sides of the River Ouse to the south of the city centre. Fulford Road leads south from Fishergate towards the York suburb of Fulford. The road is home to a former cavalry barracks dating back to 1795.
Alongside the Fulford Road nearby is the stump of the medieval Fulford Cross, a boundary marker thought to date from 1484. It was placed here following an agreement between the City of York and St Mary’s Abbey over the rights to common pasture in Fulford. On the opposite side of the road is the castle-like structure of the army barracks.
Fulford village and its surrounds was the site of the Battle of Fulford Gate on September 20, 1066 in which Norwegian Vikings under King Harald Hardrada defeated the northern Anglo-Saxon earls Tostig Godwinson and Morcar. Despite fierce resistance, the Vikings were victors and entered the city of York.
Hardrada was subsequently defeated in a second battle at Stamford Bridge north east of York on the 25th September 1066 by the English King, Harold Godwinson. Harald Hardrada was killed in this battle as was Tostig Godwinson, the English king’s brother who was now fighting alongside the Norwegians. Harold Godwinson was subsequently killed in a third battle that year, the famed Battle of Hastings, in Sussex, on October 14th.
Several streets and terraces can be found to the west of Fulford Street and neighbouring Fishergate stretching down to the River Ouse including Hartoft Street, the birthplace of the comic actor Frankie Howerd where he is commemorated by a blue plaque.
Near the Danesmead Meadow to the west of Fulford Road is York’s Millennium Bridge that crosses the River Ouse. It was built in 2001 and is the first permanent crossing on the site, although a ferry service once operated across the river nearby.
The bridge links the Fulford Road area to the Rowntree Park and Bishopthorpe Road areas on the western bank of the River Ouse.
George Hudson Street
Just off Micklegate, leading to Rougier Street, Leeman Road and onward to York Railway Station, is a street named from George Hudson (1800-1871) known as the ‘Railway King’. Hudson, a Yorkshireman was an MP for Sunderland, who developed the rail network in the north, firmly placing York at its hub.
Gillygate
Gillygate is a largely Georgian street, leading northward from Exhibition Square. It is the street to the left of Bootham Bar if we face the gateway just outside the city walls.
The street is named because it was once the site of a church dedicated to St. Giles. In this respect it is similar to the street of Gilesgate in Durham which was also known as ‘Gillygate’ and just as in Durham it is pronounced with a soft ‘g’.
Goodramgate
Goodramgate was in Viking times the street belonging to or inhabited by a Viking called Guthrum. Goodramgate’s main features include the church of Holy Trinity, the Lady Row and the Bedern Chapel and Hall.
Goodramgate is one of the longer streets in the historic centre of York. Its northern end terminates at Monk Bar on the city wall beyond which it becomes Monkgate outside the walls.
A little less than half way along the street it connects to College Street and Deangate near St Williams College in the Minster quarter of the city. Before this junction, on the east side of Goodramgate, a lane called Bedern Lane leads to the historic Bedern Hall and Bedern Chapel.
First along this hidden lane we encounter the ruined Bedern Chapel dating from the fourteenth century. The plaque on its wall explains that the building is “The remains of the Chapel of the College of the Vicars’ Choral of York Minster. It was consecrated in 1349.”
Close by, further along the lane in a secluded residential area called Bartle Garth is Bedern Hall. This whole area was historically called ‘The Bedern’, from the Anglo-Saxon term ‘gebed-ærn’ that means ‘prayer-house’.
Bedern Hall was the communal hall of the Vicars’ Choral where they gathered for their daily meals. The Vicars’ Choral sang the services in York Minster.
Following the sixteenth century religious reforms, the hall came to be used for numerous functions, serving as a butchers and Victorian tenements. It was restored in 1979-80 when the housing area was developed.
In one of York’s many ghostly legends the Bedern area is said to be haunted by terrified screaming school children who attended a ‘ragged school’ here. Its headmaster was said to be particularly cruel, locking the children in cupboards. Bodies of children are said to have been found here during clearances in the 1850s.
Back in Goodramgate, a little further along the street to the south is a timber-framed building (currently a restaurant) at number 45, sometimes known as Marmaduke Buckle’s House. Marmaduke Buckle was a cripple who died in 1715. Locals suspected him of witchcraft, perhaps simply because of his disability, in what were superstitious times.
Shunned by society, he sadly took his own life in 1715, but not before carving his name and the years of his soon to end life “1697-1715” into the plaster work of the second-floor home that he is now said to haunt. His words can still be seen. Marmaduke’s old home dates from the fifteenth century. During renovations of recent times, a mummified cat was discovered hidden in the roof timbers.
Further south along Goodramgate beyond the meeting with College Street and Deangate, is Lady Row, a group of timber-framed cottages near the Holy Trinity arch that date from the 1320s when they were built for chantry priests.
The cottages are notable for their overhangs where the upper floors project into the street beyond the lower floors. This overhang feature is thought to be the oldest example in England.
Goodramgate’s Holy Trinity church was first mentioned in the eleventh century, but the present building dates from 1250-1500. Somewhat hidden away, it can be reached via an eighteenth century brick archway with a gate, at the end of Lady Row, or from a passageway off Petergate.
Inside the church is a chapel that was once blocked off from the rest of the building so it could be used by a leper. A squint hole in the wall enabled lepers to see the altar and take part in the service.
The churchyard is said to be haunted by the headless body of the rebellious Henry Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland who was executed near All Saints in Pavement during Elizabeth I’s reign. His head was placed on a pole on Micklegate Bar but later recovered and buried here in the Holy Trinity churchyard.
At the south end of Goodramgate close to its meeting with King’s Square and Low Petergate is The Old White Swan, of which parts date to the sixteenth century. This inn has been known as The Old White Swan since 1703. Described as a complex building, it includes medieval timber-framed features in its courtyard along with inglenook fireplaces, while the main part of the building includes two Georgian wings.
Grape Lane
This is a narrow and pleasant street of much character with attractive shopfronts, a pub and restaurant fronts. However, in medieval times it was a dark alley and seemingly a place of ill-repute.
Grape Lane is a name commonly applied to such alleys and narrow streets in old medieval towns and derives from the Anglo-Saxon ‘grapian’ meaning to grope. Historically, it was York’s most obscene street-name and recorded without the censorship we apply here as ‘Grapec**tlane’ in 1376.
In this respect it was by no means unusual, with the same street-name being recorded in other medieval towns and cities such as Oxford. A Grape Lane also exists at Whitby. The second, offending part of the original name, is a word that seems to have been in common use in medieval England and occurs a number of times in the works of Chaucer with several spellings.
At Grape Lane’s south end we find Coffee Yard, a narrow passageway that links the street to Stonegate to the north where it emerges near the red ‘printer’s devil’ figure. Hidden along this passage half way between Grape Lane and Stonegate is an extensive medieval town house called Barley Hall.
Open to the public, the residents of this house, which has impressive high ceilings, have included the Priors of Nostell (a medieval priory near Pontefract) and a former Mayor of York.
Hungate
Hungate, first mentioned in the late twelfth century, is an offshoot of The Stonebow and was the ‘Hundgate’, meaning the street where dogs (hounds) were kept. A typical medieval street-name, in later times it became something of a slum but is now a popular residential area noted for its apartments.
The street is situated between The Stonebow and the River Foss where, just across the river, we find the impressive former factory called Leetham Mill. The two sides of the river here are connected by the Hungate pedestrian bridge.
Leetham’s Mill factory was built as a flour mill in 1850 by Henry Leetham who is also recalled in the nearby Leetham Lane. Grain was delivered to the mill by barges along the River Foss.
From 1935 it became the navigation warehouse of York’s famed confectionery company, Rowntree & Co and cocoa beans were delivered here until the 1960s. The building was converted into offices and apartments in 1989.
In medieval times part of the River Foss east of Foss Bridge (see Fossgate) broadened out considerably to form the King’s Fish Pool, a lake that stretched north to where we now find Layerthorpe Bridge near Jewbury to the north. The pool created a wide gap in the city walls and encompassed the area where we now find Leetham’s Mill.
Across the Foss from Hungate near Foss Islands Road is the brick-built ‘Red Tower‘ on York’s city walls that dates from the sixteenth century. It was located on the south bank of the King’s Fish Pool and was complemented by another tower (long-since gone) on the north bank of the lake in Peaseholme Green (near Layerthorpe Bridge).
The King’s Fish Pool was created by William the Conqueror by damming the River Foss and lasted for seven centuries. As well as performing a defensive role, it contained stocks of fish. In the seventeenth century the pool began to silt up, creating marshy islands called the ‘Foss Islands’ but this land has now been completely drained except for the channel of the River Foss itself.
The Red Tower is an unusual feature of the city walls for being built of brick rather than stone. A display board at the site explains that the use of bricks caused some fiction between the Stonemasons’ Guild and Bricklayers’ Guild. In 1491 two stone masons were accused of murdering a bricklayer called John Patrick, but were later acquitted.
Jewbury and Layerthorpe
Jewbury was the medieval burial ground for wealthy Jews who settled in York from as early as the twelfth century. It is situated on the western bank of the River Foss to the east of Monk Bar and is just north of the city wall and nearby Layerthorpe Bridge.
Layerthorpe is thought to come from ‘leir-thorpe’ meaning ‘place on the clay’. The Layerthorpe Bridge crosses the River Foss here. A bridge was recorded as early as 1341 but in earlier times there was a ford – the ‘leir-ford’ meaning ‘clay ford’.
Close to here on the city wall stood a tower that watched over the north side of the King’s Fish Pool lake, that had been created from the damming of the River Foss. It complemented another tower called the Red Tower over on the other side of the pool which is why the wall comes to a temporary end here.
Jubbergate
Jubbergate was originally Brettegate meaning the street inhabited by Britons in Viking times. It is thought that these Britons were of Cumbrian origin and were brought to York by Irish Vikings (connected with the Viking colony in Dublin).
The habitation of these Britons lay outside the Viking walls of York and it is thought that they held a servile role. Later in the fourteenth century Brettegate became ‘Jubretgate’, perhaps because it became an area of Jewish settlement. Today Jubbergate hosts part of the Shambles Market.
Jubbergate opens out at its south end into Parliament Street (See St Sampson’s Square) which was created in the 1830s and 1840s. This street hosted the outdoor markets until 1955.
- A-B : Aldwark to Bootham
- C-E : Castlegate, Coppergate, Exhibition Square
- F-J : Fossgate, Fishergate, Goodramgate
- K-L : King Street, King’s Square, Lord Mayor’s Walk
- M-O : Marygate, the abbey, Micklegate, Ousegate
- P : Patrick Pool, Pavement, High and Low Petergate
- S-W : Shambles, Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate
- Y : York City Walls | York Minster | York Origins
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