Holy trinity, york, and the dependencies of marmoutier

The earliest and, with Pontefract, the most significant of those monasteries dependent on continental abbeys was Holy Trinity, the only monastic house in York until the coming of the friars to occupy an intra-mural site. Part of the nave of the present parish church of Holy Trinity, Micklegate, belonged to the priory, and the surrounding gardens show traces of the choir and a boundary wall. It has been conjectured that the monastic precinct covered a considerable area: from the (now demolished) priory gatehouse on Micklegate, to Trinity Lane on the north-east, from there via the churchyard of St Mary, Bishophill, Junior, to the city wall on the south-east. It would be more accurate to speak of a post-Conquest refoundation rather than the foundation of Holy Trinity: charter evidence suggests that the alien priory was preceded by an Anglo-Saxon church known as Christ Church, and this may itself have occupied the site of the eighth-century monastery of Alma Sophia. Domesday Book recorded that Richard, son of Erfast, held three dwellings in York, those of Alchemont, Gospatrick, and Bernulf, and the church of Holy Trinity; and several of Richard's other estates – in Bustardthorpe, Bilbrough, Moor Monkton, and Knapton (Acomb) – are followed by the name ‘Christ Church’, giving some indication of the extent of the patrimony and the former dedication of the church. The clearest indication of the character of the pre-Conquest church, however, comes from the charter of Ralph Paynel, who brought monks from Marmoutier to revitalize the church in c. 1089.