York Historic Environment Record

Rubble limestone wall incorporating brick fragments approx. 1.5 metres high and 7.25 metres long. Probably part of the cloister range of the Benedictine Order Clementhorpe Nunnery founded by Archbishop Thurston between 1125 and 1133. The Nunnery was dissolved in 1536 and the buildings passed into secular hands. Contemporary sketches show some buildings surviving in 1705 and 1825 but all were finally demolished by 1873. This fragment of wall excavated in 1976/7 is the only surviving evidence of the Nunnery which perpetuates the Anglo-Saxon name of the locality before the Conquest. The remaining part of the wall has great evidential and historic value, serving as the only remainder of the underresearched priory. See 'The History of Clementhorpe Nunnery' R.B. Dobson & S.Donaghy, 1984, York Archaeological Trust for more information.