York Historic Environment Record

The church of ST. GREGORY, Micklegate, is probably first mentioned in a confirmation by Pope Alexander III (dated between 1166 and 1179) of the properties of Holy Trinity Priory. It there occurs as the gift of the church of 'Sancti Brig.' This confirmation is known only from an early 15th-century copy and it seems likely that 'Brig.', which led Torre and Drake to postulate a church of St. Brigit, is an error for 'Greg.' The advowson of the rectory does not appear in Ralph Paynell's refoundation charter of the priory dated between 1090 and 1100, but, whatever the interpretation of Alexander's confirmation, it was certainly appropriated to the priory by 1250. The advowson remained with the priory until the Dissolution, the Crown presenting on many occasions during the 14th century when, as an alien house, Holy Trinity was in the king's hands. The church was not assessed in 1291; in the Valor the entry for 'St. George in Magno Vico', which probably refers to St. Gregory's, gave the value of the rectory as 29s. 10½d. clear, of which tithes of land in Acomb formed 16d. and of orchards and gardens (presumably within the city), 2d. Rent of 18s. was due to the rector from the cottages in the parish which may be those devised to the church in 1408. No pension to Holy Trinity was recorded. In 1428 the benefice was assessed for taxation purposes by the civic authorities at £2. The church did not long survive its patron. Under the Act of Edward VI it was proposed in 1548 to unite the benefice with that of St. Martin's, Micklegate. In the same year the churchyard and church ground were conveyed to Alderman Bean for 20s. The benefice was finally united with St. Martin's (which alone among York's united benefices retains the double name) in 1586. A licence to alienate lands for founding a chantry in the church was granted to Hugh de Sutton of York in 1313 but this may refer to St. George's where there was a Sutton chantry at this time. No chantries are recorded in the returns of 1546 or 1548. The church lay on the east side of Barker (formerly Gregory) Lane about half-way between Tanner Row and Micklegate. The parish presumably lay around the church and formed the western part of St. Martin-cum-Gregory. Unlike most of the parishes coming within the union of 1586 it did not retain a separate identity for secular purposes. Nothing is known of the lands in Acomb from which the tithes were derived. From: 'The parish churches', A History of the County of York: the City of York (1961), pp. 365-404. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36375 Date accessed: 21 April 2010.