Treasurer's House, York

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Coordinates: 53°57′47″N 1°04′51″W / 53.9630°N 1.0808°W / 53.9630; -1.0808
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Treasurer's House
National Trust
Public transit accessYork Station National Rail 0.7 mi (1.1 km)
Websitenationaltrust.org.uk/treasurers-house-york
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameTreasurer's House and attached garden walls, gate and gate piers
Designated14 June 1954
Reference no.1257251
Official nameYork Minster cathedral precinct: including Bootham Bar and the length of City Walls extending round the precinct up to Monk Bar
Designated8 October 1937
Reference no.1017777

The Treasurer's House in York, North Yorkshire, England, is a Grade I listed historic house[1] owned by the National Trust, who also maintain its garden.[2][3] It is located in Minster Yard, directly to the north of York Minster.

History

The first Treasurer for York Minster was appointed in 1091 when the office was established by Archbishop of York Thomas of Bayeux, but all that remains of his original house is an external wall which forms part of Grays Court and sections of 12th-century masonry in the present Treasurer's House for which it is uncertain whether they are in-situ or have been reused. As the controller of the finances of the Minster the Treasurer required a grand residence to be able to entertain important guests.[4][5]

The residence served in this capacity until 1547, when the

King James I. The house then passed through a number of private owners including Lord Fairfax and over time was sub-divided into separate tenements.[4][5]

The house was restored to its present state by Frank Green, a wealthy local industrialist, who between 1897 and 1898 bought each part of the house. He appointed Temple Moore to restore the house and remove numerous earlier additions. This work was mostly completed by 1900 before Prince Albert Edward, Princess Alexandra of Denmark and Princess Victoria visited in June the same year.[6] When Frank Green retired and moved away from York in 1930 the house and its contents were given to the National Trust.[5] This marked the first time both a private home and its original furnishings had ever been given to the Trust.[6]

The house was built directly over one of the main Roman roads leading out of Roman York to the North. During major structural changes, carried out by Green, four Roman column bases were uncovered, one of which remains in-situ in the cellar.[7]

Public access

Treasurer's House is open to the public for an admission fee, and free to members of the National Trust. The garden and Below Stairs Café are free to enter. Cellar and attic tours are available, depending on the time of year.[8]

Roman soldiers apparition

Portrait of the antiquary Francis Drake, on display at the Treasurer's House

Several ghosts reportedly haunt the house, including that of George Aislaby, who owned the property in the seventeenth century. However, the most notable haunting is by a group of

round shields on their left arms, they carried some kind of daggers in scabbards on their right side and they wore green tunics. When they descended to the level of the Roman road, on which Martindale had stood his ladder, he was able to see that they wore open sandals with leather straps to the knees.[9][10][11][12]

The experience so frightened Martindale that it was several weeks before he returned to his job.[10] Many years later, excavations in the city revealed that the descriptions of the soldiers' dress given by Martindale, at first dismissed as anomalous, in fact matched those of local reserve soldiers who took over the Roman garrison when the regular soldiers began returning to Rome in the fifth century.[13] During the course of his long life Martindale recounted his experience many times, but never changed any of the details and always refused any payment.[10]

The Treasurer's House was visited in the first episode of the Discovery Channel television series Ghosthunters.[14]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Treasurer's House, York.
  1. ^ Historic England. "Treasurers House and attached garden walls, gate and gate piers (1257251)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Treasurer's House, National Trust". www.nationaltrust.org.uk. 18 May 2009.
  3. ^ "Treasurer's House Garden (managed by the National Trust) - City of York Council". www.york.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  4. ^ a b "History of York: Treasurer's House". York Museums Trust. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  5. ^ a b c "The Treasurer's House and Gray's Court". An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 5, Central. London. 1981. pp. 69–76. Retrieved 27 December 2017 – via British History Online.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ a b "Treasurer's House: History of York". www.historyofyork.org.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  7. ^ "Treasurer's House, Minster Yard, York - Jorvik.co.uk". 24 January 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  8. ^ "What's on". National Trust. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  9. ^
    OL 13708454M
    .
  10. ^ a b c Laycock, Mike (25 October 2014). "Famous ghost witness Harry Martindale dies". York Express. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  11. ^ "Welcome to Haunted York - The Treasurer's House". www.welcometoyork.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 August 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  12. ^ "Treasurer's House, York". www.britainexpress.com. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  13. ^ "'By the look of you, you've seen the Romans!'". National Trust. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  14. ^ "BBC - h2g2 - Treasurer's House, York, UK". BBC. Retrieved 18 May 2009.

External links

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