09th August 2025
Micklegate: centuries of history
Our latest book, this time about Micklegate, is out soon, and will be launched in October. To capture the history of this famous historic street, we’ve been investigating the origins of each building, who lived there and who was trading there from early times to the modern day. Almost all of these buildings are protected by listing with Historic England.
Susan Major said: “It’s been a really fulfilling project, some of our team are experienced researchers, while others have been learning how to investigate the history of houses, traders and occupants for the first time. But it’s been fascinating to uncover so many interesting stories.”
How much do you know about those buildings that line Micklegate? Did you know there was previously a large Benedictine priory estate just inside Micklegate Bar, a significant element in the local economy? And medieval Micklegate, along with a couple of adjoining streets, was home to four, possibly even five churches, in addition to the long gone chapel on the Ouse Bridge.
Ouse Bridge and St William’s Chapel, ca 1810, by T. Taylor (York Museums Trust, York Art Gallery)
Royalty has always been traditionally been welcomed at the Bar, but hundreds of years ago it was the site where the heads of traitors were mounted on spikes, for all to see.
In more recent times a hundred years ago it was where a policeman and his family lived.
Policeman William Paul and his family at Micklegate Bar 1898 (John Paul)
His young daughters had to clean the stone steps leading from the Bar to street level every day before going to school, and at night their chore was to tramp along the wall to lock up the gates.
There are several grand Georgian houses, such as Garforth House, Micklegate House and Bathurst House. The latter is currently for sale with Savills if you have £2.5 m spare. These have seen many changes of use over the centuries. Rather surprisingly, Micklegate House held a chemical works and storage facility for a long time. But there are many more buildings with intriguing histories, changing the character of the street over the centuries.
Section of invoice from Raimes & Co, showing buildings behind 88-90 Micklegate House, ca 1925 (Chris Pearson)
How many of the old pubs are you aware of? Did you know that the Falcon Inn was the scene of the scandalous Vavasour affair in the early 18th century? Lady Jane Vavasour had a passionate affair with her husband’s steward and head of stables, carrying on secret liaisons here.
The Falcon Inn
One of our researchers discovered that the Priory pub near Micklegate Bar – previously the Coach and Horses - played an important role in the history of railway trade unionism. It was known as the railwaymen’s pub, as North Eastern Railway engine drivers and firemen met there from the 1860s. It became the centre of organisation for the York Branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, formed off the back of the industrial disputes of 1867 and firmly established as an early railway union in 1872. The Union amalgamated with two other Unions in 1913 to form the National Union of Railwaymen.
Mysterious rings attached to the wall outside St Martin’s Church were used to secure overworked horses, whose job it was to pull trams on this route for nearly thirty years at the end of the 19th century. Our book explains how this worked.
