The other conventual buildings have been destroyed, the Museum stands on a portion of them. In the basement is a fireplace in situ, and in another part are three octagonal pillars which have been removed a little from their original position. The mortar of the abbey infirmary is placed in the Museum entrance; it was cast in 1308 by William of Towthorpe, one of the monks. It is a beautiful example of the art of the bellfounder, the design consisting of two rows of quatrefoils between an inscription.
The Museum contains some Roman sculptures, including one to Mithras, an inscribed stone coffin of Julia Fortunata, and a fine statue. On the walls are three tapestry maps of central England. These are the first specimens of tapestry weaving in this country and were executed in 1579. In a wall case are fetters from York Castle, consisting of those worn by Nevison and Dick Turpin, the famous highwaymen.
The Abbot of St. Mary’s together with the Abbot of Selby were the only two mitred abbots north of the Trent, and by virtue of their rank they were summoned as Lords of Parliament. The Lord Abbot of St. Mary’s had, near York, country residences at Overton, Deighton, and Beningbrough, and a London house near St. Paul’s Wharf.
The abbey after its surrender was retained in the possession of the Crown. The church became a quarry for anyone who required building stone; engravings show that in the seventeenth century both sides of the nave with the Triforium were standing. In the eighteenth century the abbey ruins supplied the stone for the repairing of various buildings. The whole of the structure was gradually being cleared away, and to hurry on the work of destruction, a limekiln was erected. Fortunately, in 1827, the Yorkshire Philosophical Society obtained a grant of the ruins and land.
Through the nave north doorway is seen the tomb of William Etty, Royal Academician, who was a native of York and to whom a statue has recently been erected in front of the City Art Gallery.
The abbot’s house, although much altered, is that occupied by the Wilberforce School for the Blind. After the Dissolution, it was called the King’s Manor and made the residence of the Lord President of the North. On the site of the monastic chapter house, a palace was built and occupied by Henry VIII and his Queen, Catherine Howard, when they visited York. The palace was afterwards disused and became a ruin. The basement, known as the “King’s Cellar”, remains and now forms the substructure of a recent building. During the reign of Elizabeth additions were made “to the Queen’s Majesty’s house” by the successive Lords Presidents, the Earls of Sussex and Huntingdon. One apartment contains a large fireplace with pilasters which have bases, raised panels and caps, and an arch adorned with sculptured panels. The plaster frieze has the crest of the Hastings, Earls of Huntingdon—a coronet over the garter, within which is a bull’s head between the letters H.H., the royal Tudor badge—an open pomegranate between two dragons—and the bear and ragged staff—the badge of the Dudleys, the Countess being the sister of Robert Dudley, the Queen’s favourite. In the reign of James I other additions were made, including a new entrance. In the pilaster base on either side are the letters I.R. under a crown. A view is given of the stairs and doorway, with the Royal Arms above, which led to the Banquetting Hall added by the great Earl of Strafford (then Viscount Wentworth). He placed his own armorial bearings over the doorway on the west side of the courtyard, and although there was nothing unusual in such an act, it formed one of the charges against him at his trial, he having placed his own arms on one of the king’s palaces. Later, King Charles I took up his abode here for a month, and the Royal arms were placed over the entrance.
The School for the Blind, with its two courtyards surrounded by mullioned windows and quaint doorways with heraldic devices, forms an extremely picturesque brick and stone building. A pretty view is that obtained from the abbey grounds. It shows the Elizabethan additions, one a stone building with gabled end and a series of stone dormers; the other, a later building on a stone base is of brick with brick pilasters, cornices, and gables, the whole making an especially fit subject for the artist in water colours.
Three of the Abbots of St. Mary’s became bishops: Thomas of Spofforth went to Hereford, William Wells to Rochester, and William Sever to Carlisle and Durham. Bishop Sever was buried in the choir of St. Mary’s Abbey church. His tombstone was discovered during recent excavations.