Walking down Micklegate with my cousin at the weekend, a street most noted for being infamous pub crawl territory, (the "Micklegate Run") she noticed that the old church along there was open as part of the national Heritage Open Days. We went in, and discovered that this rather beautiful building, the Church of St Martin cum Gregory, has been shut up since the 1960s - hence a quite musty smell as we entered!The church has impressive stained glass windows, and windows with graffiti on, dating from the 14th to 18th centuries. The Church is going to become "The Stained Glass Centre," a national resource for the discovery and interpretation of stained glass, comprising a gallery, workshop and meeting spaces.
Photo: Political graffiti on the window of the church, from the 1700s, which refers to the battle of Collodon.
2 comments:
Hi Ruby,
Interesting... St Martin-cum-Gregory hasn't been completely closed since the sixties - I went to school on Bishophill in the eighties and we had occasional services at St M-c-G. I've not been inside the church since then, but I do remember it as being beautiful, and rather magical with all the Christingle candles.
The school - York Steiner - moved to Fulford and the building was turned into (what else??) luxury flats in the early nineties or thereabouts.
M x
Hiya Mel - thanks for the info! The guy on the door said the church had been opened occasionally after closure for jumble sales and the like, but it's interesting to know there were still actually services too!
Bet it was lovely with all the Christingles!
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