York Guides

THE name of the artist can rarely be attributed to mediaeval work. Mr. FAnson, in his account of the mediaeval Military Effigies of Yorkshire, states that the earliest York atelier was apparently opened about 1265, possibly as an offshoot from Lincoln. A number of effigies were turned out by the York craftsmen between 1310 and 1340 and are in the various churches in Yorkshire, although only two are in York itself. Several of them came from what he calls the Cheyne atelier in York, which, however, was not the only one working at the time. There is a record that John Orchard made the alabaster figure for the tomb of the infant children of Queen Philippa in Westminster Abbey; Mr. Lethaby thinks there can be no doubt he was also the sculptor of the figure of William of Hatfield in the Minster.

William Hyndley, who came from Norwich, was the Master Mason responsible for the beautiful choir screen carved between the years 1472-1505.

Thomas Drawswerd, a York image maker, estimated for images for the tomb of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey. He was Sheriff in 1505, M.P. for York in 1512, Lord Mayor of York in 1515; so he must have had an important business, though we cannot attach his name to any of his work in York. Nearly all the woodwork in the Minster choir which may have been his work was destroyed by fire; but the beautiful parclose and rood screen carved by him can be seen in the Parish Church at Newark.
Whilst many of the Georgian tablets are signed by the sculptor this is rare in the earlier ones. There is no signature of Samuel Carpenter, 1660-1713, in York; the only one we know of is that in the Church at Snaith. The City Archivist, the Rev. Angelo Raine, has found in an old lease amongst the City records, that Samuel Carpenter " Marbler" formerly lived in a house at the corner of Stonegate and Coney Street, now St. Helen's Square, which was made in 1736. Samuel Carpenter became a freeman per redemption in 1684-5.

Daniel Harvey, 1683-1733, is buried in St. Olaf's; the inscription on his tomb describes him as of French stock, a Sculptor and Architect.

Knowles states that the monument to Mrs. Ramsden at Adlingfleet is by Mitley and Harve.

C. Mitley, 1705-58, has a mural tablet in Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, to Frances Graham, who died in 1721, and there is another signed by him and E. Raper in the Belfrey Church to Catherine and Christian North, both of whom died in 1734. St. Crux has a fine monument to Sir Tancred Robinson, who died in 1754, signed Robert Avray, Ebor, Sculpt. Neither Harvey nor Avray were freemen.

Richard Fisher exhibited the figure of Christ, now in the Minster, in London in 1761, and the four generations were working in York until the death of John Fisher in 1884.
His son John Fisher, statuary, d. 1839, took up his freedom in 1777; he had three sons, all of whom were sculptors. Samuel, b. 1784, who left York, John, b. 1786, and Charles, 1790-1861. Charles had a son John, 1823-1884, the last statuary of the family.

In addition to the Fisher family the following names of York sculptors are found on monuments in the churches of York and the surrounding district.

Michael Tqylor, 1760-1846, a contemporary of the first J. Fisher; he came from Felton in Northumberland, and did a considerable amount of carving for the Minster. The gable of Archbishop Greenfield's tomb, the statue of Henry VI on the Screen, the Percy and Vavasour figures on the West front, carved in 1802, are his work. A figure of the Fiddler now in the Crypt, a portrait of Dr. Matthew Camidge, Minster organist during the yea"rs 1799-1842, was by him; it is conceived in the very spirit of the mediaeval mason. In 1804, Taylor moved from Minster Yard to 2 Lendal-a portrait of him in old age is preserved in the Minster mason's workshop.

Benjamin Plows, 1765-1824, worked twelve years in the Minster, and then in Coppergate, as a master mason.

William Abbey Plows, 1789-1865, son of Benjamin, marble mason, Foss Bridge, exhibited in the 1851 Exhibition.

W. A. Plows, d. 1923, a nephew of above, worked at Monk Bar and Nunnery-Lane.

Matthew Skelton, 1812-74, worked at 12 and 81 Micklegate. An advertisement in the Guide to the Royal Agricultural Show, York, 1848, refers to Skelton's Extensive Marble Works and Showrooms, 81 Micklegate.

C. J. Waudby, Sculptors, 8 Coney Street, York. There is an advertisement of his in the Guide to the Royal Agricultural Show, York, 1848: Monuments, Figures, Tombs, etc. Showrooms for Chimney Pieces at the Steam Marble Mills, Castle Mills Bridge.

Bennett & Flintoft, who worked in St. Andrewgate.
Flintoft had a yard in Barker Lane.
John Atkinson, 1835-1908, marble mason, 92 Walmgate.

G. W. Milburn, 1834-1941, born and worked in York; a student of the School of Art, his work is found in many parts of the county, in the cathedrals at York, Durham. Lincoln, Chester, Carlisle, and Rochester, and many churches.

Although the sculptor, Flaxman, was born in York, unfortunately there is no example of his work in the City.

The York Freeman's Roll, which began in 1272, gives the trades of the freemen admitted each year from that date until 1835, when, after the passing of the Municipal Corporation Act, trading in the City was no longer restricted to freemen. The Minster Liberty was not controlled by the Corporation until 1835, so that, prior to that date, masons and carvers could work there who were not freemen. This probably explains why the name of Robert Avray, though he was not a freeman, adds Ebor to his signature, and it was not until Charles Mitley was 39 years of age that it was granted to him by the Corporation, per ordinam., when he gave them the statue of George II for the Market Hall.

The following list of apprentices who took up their freedom is taken from the York Freeman's Roll:

The trades, stone cutter, carver and statuary, cover many who would before 1750 have called themselves masons. The carvers worked in wood and stone. From T 757 onwards, a series of Guides and Directories were published in York, which give the names of sculptors, stone, and marble masons, at work when the Directories were published.