York No. 13, Walmgate Bar / Eboracum / Eburacum / Eburākon / Eoforwic / Everwic / Jórvík

There are twelve entries for York in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SE6052/york/] [accessed 8 August 2019] eight of which mentions a church in it [cf. infra]. Parker (1847) writes: "There remains in this church the bowl of a font, of rich and good Perpendicular work." The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (York, 1961) notes: "The parson of the church of ST. LAWRENCE, Lawrence Street, was a witness to a deed dated between 1185 and 1205. [...] The church was confirmed to the chapter in 1194 [...] and appropriated to the communa; it was commonly let out to farm to a canon residentiary. [...] The church remained in the hands of the chapter. St. Michael's, Walmgate Bar, was united with St. Lawrence's in 1365 and St. Helen's, Fishergate, and All Saints', Fishergate, in 1586. [...] The united churches of St. Edward and St. Nicholas, Lawrence Street, were united with St. Lawrence's after the destruction of St. Nicholas's Church in the siege of York in 1644. [...] The church [...] demolished between 1881 and 1883 was small and comprised nave, chancel, and tower; the entrance on the north was a good specimen of early-12th-century work [...] There was some 13th-century work but most of it was 14th-century; the chancel arch had been rebuilt in modern times. The foundation stone of the new church was laid in 1881. [...] The tower of the older church and the 12th-century doorway (now built into the east wall of the tower) are preserved in the churchyard. The font of the old church is preserved in the present building." Noted after Glynne's visit to this church (in Butler, 2007): "The font has an octagon bowl pannelled, the stem ogee, pannelled, and a modern gothic cover"; Butler (ibid.) footnotes this entry to explain that, although Glynne wrote this description in the entry for St. Maurice, "it does describe the font at St. Lawrence, which is in the present church". The Victoria County History (York, 1961) notes: "The church was confirmed to the chapter in 1194 [...] The font of the old church is preserved in the present building". [NB: the church has two Norman portals, north and south, but we have no information on the earlier font of this church]