History of York

Lady Row dates from 1316 and is the earliest row of houses surviving in the city.  It stands on the street called Goodramgate and hides Holy Trinity Church almost completely from view.  The reason for this odd arrangement is that the houses were built in the original churchyard.   Their rental income was used towards the church's running expenses.

The houses are very simple, made of plastered timber framing with roofs of curved tiles, 'pantiles'.  The original row was 128 feet long and only 18 feet deep.  When it was built the row had two storeys and eleven bays.  Generally each bay formed a single home with one room on each floor, but at least one tenement occupied two bays. 

The basic structure of seven of the bays remains largely intact today, others have been replaced by taller brick buildings.  In 1827 there was a proposal to re-open the whole churchyard to the street by pulling down Lady Row altogether.  York's oldest row of houses survived the threat and Holy Trinity Church remains a hidden gem.