discovered. When exposed, it was noticed that a channel of grooved stone ran down the centre of it, as if for a skid-wheel, such as may be seen on the great Roman road which goes over Blackstone Edge, the boundary of Yorkshire and Lanshire. The paved causeway in Stonegate ran eastward, under the site of the Minster, and only recently a section of it was unearthed near the Treasurer's House.

Although the original Roman causeway of Stonegate was gradually and imperceptibly covered with city refuse to the depth of about six feet, the street still retains its early name, a stone-way, or stone-gate.

Streets, generally, were drained down the centre, and these open channels partially carried off the rain water and household refuse into several open ditches or sewers, by which towns and cities were intersected. The wide gutters in the middle of the streets were regarded by householders as the handiest and proper places for discharging their rubbish.

Beneath the surface of York, especially under the older portion of the city, is a vast accumulation of bones, horns, leather clippings, and workshop waste. When excavations are made for drainage and other purposes, broken domestic utensils, and articles of former every-day use are found. These relics increase in age, until the Roman level is reached, which varies from ten to twenty feet below the present surface of the streets.2

In some of the more important thoroughfares the ruts and gulleys were only filled and levelled when the king, or a duke of royal blood, visited the city; after which the highways soon lapsed into their former uneven and filthy condition. The rude paving and earthen paths were hollowed by the constant dripping of rain water from the oaken gurgoyles overhanging the streets from between the gables of the houses.

The state of York streets were in no way different from those of other cities, and documentary evidence of local conditions will help us to understand the prevailing state of things.

From the following record, we learn that Patrickpool was impassable and neglected. In the year 1249, Robert le Moygne,

p. 5.

1 Raine's York, H-storic Town Series,

Mr G. Benson, in York, from its Origin to the End of the Eleventh Century, gives the depths of surface deposits in many places, p. 79.

The street or lane of Patrickpool, in medieval times, extended across Girdlergate (a thoroughfare now called Church Street), and behind Thursday

Market. The latter portion subsequently was renamed Swinegate, probably from the fact that swine were more frequently allowed to forage there than in other places; pigs and dogs were the only real scavengers the city possessed. In 1635, this street was described as Swinegate alias Patrickpool, and in 1200, Little Stonegate was known as Swinegate.

chaplain, wished to enlarge his dwelling-house, and on the 7th October an inquisition1 was held to decide "whether it would be to the damage of the city of York or not, if the king should grant" him "a certain lane called Patricpol, to enlarge his place, in York; and whether, in case of fire (which God forbid) breaking out, water for extinguishing it could as expeditiously be brought from elsewhere as by that lane." Twelve jurymen decided "that the taking in of that lane, called Patricpol, so far as the place of Robert le Moygne extends near it, is not to the damage of the city of York, because if fire chanced there, water could be as expeditiously brought by another lane, since this is so deep and unused that no one can pass through it."

On July 3rd, 1303, an inquisition was taken, concerning a piece of land in Hungate, before Sir Roger de Heyham and Sir John de Insula, justices assigned for that purpose by the king's writ, and twenty-four men of the city. It is curious to find that the inquiry was held in St. Saviour's Church, near the site of the land in question. The finding of the jury was: "It is not to the damage of the king, or the hurt of the city of York, if the king give leave to Thomas de Stodlay to enclose a piece of land in York, called Dunnyngdikes, containing 300 ft. in length and 20 ft. in breadth, in vico de Merske (Hungate), in the same city, adjoining his house, for the enlargement of his said house; but it is to the hurt of William de Clarisvallibus and Simon le Scherman, who have ingress and egress through that piece of land, as they like. The piece of land was formerly highroad, and now is waste, and stopped up with beasts', dung, yet whoever wishes can pass by there, but not without trouble. Worth 3s. 4d. a year.' "2

The above-mentioned William and Simon were present at the taking of the inquisition, and agreed that the king might let the said piece of land to Thomas de Stodlay; notwithstanding their passage over the piece of land was materially injured. Subsequently, the same William and Simon appeared in person before Archbishop William de Grenefield, the Chancellor, and assented the same thing before him.3

In the sixth year of his reign, King Edward III planned his second expedition against Scotland; and on his way thither he called together his Parliament to sit at York. It was

1 Yorkshire Inquisitions, Yorks. Arch. Society, Record Series, vol. i, p. 18.

VOL. XXII.

2 Ibid., vol. iv, p. 43.

3 Cal. Patent Rolls, 1301-1307, p. 153.

R

convoked for Friday, Dec. 2nd, 1332; but several great men, peers and prelates, not having arrived, on account of the foul state of the roads, the opening was adjourned to the following Tuesday.

Prior to the meeting of Parliament, the State officials, having regard to the health of their royal master and of those who should attend the assembly, caused, on Oct. 28th, a mandate to be issued and forwarded to the Mayor and Bailiffs of York, which tersely mentioned the "salubrious" atmosphere of the city.

"The king, detesting the abominable smells abounding in the said city, more than in any other city of the realm, from dung and manure, and other filth and dirt, wherewith the streets and lanes are filled and obstructed, and wishing to provide for the protection of the health of the inhabitants, and of those coming to the present Parliament, orders them to cause all the streets and lanes in the city to be cleansed from such filth before St. Andrew next (Nov. 30), and to be kept clean, so that by their negligence the king and his magnates.

Unfortunately, the parchment roll is damaged, and the document is incomplete. It probably ended with reciting some grave penalty, or the king's displeasure, if no heed was taken of the royal behest.

The sites of disused churches were not respected, as even they are not at the present day, but formed convenient places for dumping rubbish. On Feb. 14, 1338, the king, Edward III, granted in mortmain, after an inquisition, "to William, Archbishop of York, a void place called Patrik Pole, in the city of York, containing in length towards Thoresday Market 114 ft., and towards Stayngate 80 ft., and in breadth towards Petergate 88 ft., and towards Swyngail 40 ft., lately assigned for divine services, and whereon a church of St. Benedict was in ancient time built, but now lying waste and covered with refuse, for the building of rentable houses to find some perpetual chantries for the good estate of the present king in life, for his soul after death, and for the souls of the Archbishop, William de Grenfield, sometime Archbishop of York, and the faithful departed."3

1 Cal. Close Rolls, 6 Edward III.

2 These houses were called Bennet's Rents, or Bennet's Place, a name that still lingers in the neighbourhood.

3 Cal. Patent Rolls, 1338-1340, p. 13.

On the 21st September, 1371, the Mayor and Commonalty of York confirmed an ordinance passed during the mayoralty of John Acastre (1363), to the effect: "That if any dung hill is made the offender is fined each time he leaves it there. And seeing that in the time of rain many of the citizens of the said city throw out dung each in his neighbourhood to the great defiling and nuisance of the said city, it is ordained and decreed that if any citizen of the city throws dirt and refuse in his neighbourhood, he pays to the commonalty xld. for his trespass."1

66

Another ordinance dealt with nuisances caused by butchers : Item, the same day it is ordained and established that no butcher of the said city or their servants throw refuse or offal that comes from their beasts between the bridge of Ouse and the little staith near the Friars Minor, but that the butchers of the said city make a pier upon the said small staith below the said Friars, and no place besides upon pain of half a mark to pay to the said commonalty, and that no citizen of the city. wash skins without hair of oxen or other animals in the said water, between the said Friars and the pier above-said; nor in any other place on either one side of the Ouse or the other, where the water is drawn for brewing or baking, no refuse of pigs or offal or any other noisome stuff shall be thrown into the said water, upon pain of paying to the said commonalty the sum above-mentioned."2

Before John de Santon, mayor, 9th Feb., 1377, it was agreed and ordained for the honour and profit of the city that the old statutes against placing dunghills in the streets should be enforced: "Item, if any dunghill be found in the high street and [highway] the master of the house by which this dung hill is made shall be fined," and from day to day as long as it remains shall pay id. each day.

The ordinance dealing with offending butchers was re-enacted: Item, if any butcher of the said city, their servants or others whosoever he be, throws or throw offal or refuse or other filthy things that come from beasts upon the bridge of Ouse and beyond into the water there, or in the lanes of the said city, or elsewhere save in the place assigned to them by the mayor of the said city, let him forfeit the vessel from which he throws the offal; and besides, the master whom he serves be fined

1 York Memorandum Book, Surtees, vol. 120, p. lxvi.

2 Ibid.,

p.

lxvii,

vjd. to the commonalty each time ensuing that he shall be found in default. And if any servant of the butchers carry offal and entrails of beasts from the slaughter-house to the water of Ouse uncovered and without a cloth above it, he shall be find sixpence and forfeit the vessel as is above-said."

A statute referring to pigs wandering abroad was also ordained by Mayor Santon.

"Item, if any pig is found going within the said city by night or day, his owner shall pay ivd., or the sergeant and other officer who finds and takes it, as well within the high street [as within the lanes of the said city] shall detain the said pig, and if it pleases he shall kill the said pig at his will, and shall keep the four feet until he be paid the beforesaid four pence. And if pigs or other beasts are found going upon the ramparts of the said city, as well within as without, the owners shall pay for each pig or other beast four pence to the sergeant or other officer."1

To each of the six wards of the city was assigned a sergeant, whose duty was "to get rid of trunks of trees, offal, and refuse, and all other nuisances as before is said."

It is obvious, from recent research, that in medieval days there were a series of ditches contiguous to and bordering the city walls and ramparts on the inner side, as well as those on the outer side. These ditches were known as the King's Dikes, and formed an additional defence, though, subsequently, they appear to have been appropriated for drainage purposes, and in more recent years they have been filled up and built upon.

It was the custom in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, whenever a dispute arose between the inhabitants relating to drainage easements, or to the rights of property-owners, with regard to their leaden and other gutters, on or near party walls, that carried the rain water off, to employ as assessors or arbitrators the searchers of the three guilds, representing the Masons, the Wrights, and that of the Tilers.

Many of their verdicts are extremely interesting, and are recorded in the City Registers in the possession of the Corporation. The following award very graphically describes old-time sanitary conditions, and also how sewage matter accumulated, and became a nuisance to the church dignitaries who resided within the Minster Close.

1 York Memorandum Book, Surtees, vol. 120, p. lxix.