Railings around the north, west and south sides of Selby Abbey Churchyard

Summary

Railings, gates and gate piers, of about 1793.

History

Selby as a settlement back dates to the Anglo-Saxon period, when it was known as Seletun (old Scandinavian for ‘sallow tree settlement’) and was referred to by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of AD 779. A charter of about 1030 called it Seleby and about 1050 it was Selbi. King Henry I was born in Selby in 1068 and, a year later, Benedict, a French monk from Auxerre, obtained permission from King William to establish an Abbey. The Market Place has existed since the early C14. By the C15, Selby had developed thriving trade links along the East Coast and with the Low Countries. Selby Abbey succumbed to dissolution in 1539, and the core of the building became the parish church in 1618.

Selby’s commercial importance grew dramatically following the opening of the Selby Canal in 1778, becoming a notable inland port; however, after the building of Goole Docks in 1826, it suffered a very rapid decline. The town’s fortunes recovered in 1834, with the opening of the Leeds and Selby Railway, and by the early C20, witnessed a growth in several industries served by the railways and river traffic, including flour milling, malting, oilseed milling and cattle feed production. In 1983, coal production commenced from the Selby Coalfield. Shipbuilding ended ten years later, and coal mining ceased in 2004. Since then, there has been a gradual reduction in the traditional industries, although some remain.

The wrought-iron railings and gates, and stone gate piers that enclose the churchyard of the Abbey Church of St Mary and St Germain are thought to date from the late C18, and to be roughly contemporary with The Crescent, a fashionable commercial and residential development of 1793, linking the town centre to New Street and the new toll bridge.

Details

Railings, gates and gate piers, of about 1793.

MATERIALS: wrought-iron gates and railings with overthrows formed from forged bar iron; sandstone and cast-iron gate piers.

PLAN: railings along the south-east side of Abbey Place, the eastern side of Market Place and around the south side of the churchyard (adjoining The Crescent). Gateways at the north-west corner (Abbey Place), northern, western and southern entrances to the churchyard, in the south-east quadrant and in the south-east corner.

DESCRIPTION: ironwork painted black, with gold urn finials. Including both fire-welded and mechanical joints, the latter being riveted or bolted. The railings are set into a low stone wall with a rounded concrete coping. Each panel is formed by diamond-set bars with spear tips, between a pair of square-section principal posts, with urn finials. The principals have curved braces to the front and rear, set into buttresses to the wall. Each gate is formed by a frame panel of spear bars and urn finials, like those of the railings, but with the addition of a mid-rail and interspersed spikes.

The west and south gateways have square ashlar gate piers raised on chamfered plinths, with incised trefoil-headed panels, twisted curved wrought-iron braces to the rear, and pyramidal tops with crocketed gablets and carved heads. Each of the gate piers of the western gateway supports an ornamental cast-iron gas lamp, converted to electricity, which has a ladder bracket that is terminated to each side by a fleur-de-lys. The north gateway has a pair of octagonal ashlar gate piers with moulded conical caps. The upper hinge of each of the gates of all of these gateways is supported by a curved bracket with an urn finial, that is attached to the stone pier.

Abbey Place has an open gateway formed between two tapered cylindrical cast-iron posts carrying raised square-section posts with tall urn finals, and an overthrow. The square posts are supported by side scroll brackets and the overthrow carries a decorative cylindrical lantern and has two curved bar braces that descend onto the adjacent railings.

Two single gates, hung from similar tapering cast-iron posts to those at Abbey Place, are situated in the length of railings to the east of the south gate, and in the extreme south-east corner.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

325719

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Morrell, WW, The History and Antiquities of Selby, (1867)

Other
1:1056 Town Map, 1849
1:500 Town Map, 1890-91

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