York Carmelite Friary facts for kids

The York Carmelite Friary was a special religious house in York, North Yorkshire, England. It was a home for a group of monks called Carmelite friars. This friary was first started around the year 1250.

A New Home for the Friars

The friars first lived on a street called Bootham in York. But in 1295, a kind person named William de Vescy gave them a new piece of land. This land was on Stonebow Lane. It stretched all the way to the River Foss and was between the streets of Fossgate and 'Mersk'.

Within five years, the friars began building their church on this new land. A special burial ground was blessed in 1304. The church itself was finished and blessed in 1328.

Growing and Building

In 1314, the king gave the friars permission to build a small dock on the Fishpond of the Foss. This allowed them to use a boat to bring in building materials. Over the 1300s, the friary grew bigger with more land being added.

The church was rebuilt in 1392, and the friary eventually reached as far as Hungate. Because the friary's land was in the areas of two local churches, St Crux and St Saviour, the friars had to pay them money each year. This started in 1301 after a complaint from a nearby convent.

In 1320, Archbishop Melton said the friary also had to pay the leader of St Crux church every year. Later, in 1350, the friars were told they couldn't use their own small chapel as much. This chapel was above the gatehouse at the north end of the friary. It had a large statue of the Virgin Mary that many people came to see. However, the friars were made to remove the statue.

What Happened to the Friary?

The last leader of the Carmelite friary was Simon Clerkson. He supported King Henry VIII's changes to the church. When the king closed down many monasteries and friaries in England, called the "dissolution," the York Carmelite Friary was given up in 1538.

After the friary closed, Simon Clerkson was given a new job as a vicar in Rotherham. The land where the friary stood was rented out to a man named Ralph Beckwith in 1540. His family kept the land until 1614.

Today, you can find a few pieces of the friary, like old stone carvings, at the Yorkshire Museum in York. The exact spot of the friary can be seen on old maps, like Speed's map from 1610. However, the streets in York have changed a lot since then.

The friary has been completely built over by new buildings. But some people think that the limestone used in some of the buildings on the site might have come from the old friary walls. In the 1990s, a pub on the corner of Fossgate and Stonebow was even called "The Northern Wall" because it was thought to be on the site of the friary's old wall.

Important People Buried Here

Some important people were buried at the York Carmelite Friary:

• Thomas Bardolf, 5th Baron Bardolf
• John Kiningham, a Carmelite leader at York
• John Polestead, another Carmelite leader at York