St Saviours Church, York
Not too much longer and the York leg of our adventures is over! We love York and Yorkshire, but sadly it doesn't look as though we'll be going back this year after all- we've just bought our first house! EVERYTHING has gone on hold as it is a bit of a do-er upper-er, but it is an exciting step for us none the less. Don't worry as our posts aren't going anywhere either, plenty of content lined up from around the UK still and we have more than enough sites locally to last us a while! Our Ren has also developed an interest in a boat load of vintage things like transport and pottery so we might branch out there too!
Anyway, today's post is on St Saviours Church which was first recorded in 1090 under the name St Saviours-in-the-Marshes. It had to be rebuilt in the 15th century assumedly to meet growing demand and a growing congregation, but was rebuilt again in 1844. Bits were added to it like the south vestry in 1878, but the limestone used is evident to its history, the only modern external fixtures is the roof tiles. The modern roof makes sense as it has been quite the problem area for the church historically after the lead was stripped from it and given to the king during the Reformation. Since then decay has been reported, the oldest record of this reoccurring problem being in 1551-1553
The reason for the Marshes add on is because it was built on what was originally 'swampy ground' which had been reclaimed from the marsh! Looking at it now you'd have never have thought that York used to be marshland and water logged! It's a bustling city!
What really interests us though is the macabre aspects of this church. It was recorded that oak coffins were found 14ft below the floor within the church which are thought to be from the pre-conquest era. We're unsure if this was during the 1976 excavation after the 19th century floor was removed, but during this one there were Indents, coffin lids, and floor slabs all found. Interestingly some of these did bare inscriptions of who they were for, such as Reverends, Admirals and local nobility. They even found a coffin beneath the south west buttress but obviously any memorials from the time aren't present so we don't know who they are or why they were placed within the holy space. That's not all though, in 1996, six years after the church had been converted into the offices for the Archaeological Resource Centre, the north section of the church was opened up by trench for observation. They found a Post-Medieval child buried there, couldn't be better for an archaeological centre!
Sadly this church was given up for religious use at some point in the 1950s, but it still survives under its new use today.
Is it haunted? Well due to the amount of corpses alluded to beneath the floors, there is no doubt to there being something lingering here. We only did a little walk past though so there was nothing untoward that we could sense. We would go back for sure though!
DISCLAIMER: Now for the official bit. This blog does not receive any paid promotions from the places mentioned above. We have not been approached to promote or act as spokespersons for any attraction mentioned within this post and this is simply a post intended to act as a day in the life of a couple on a cute date. All photos included are taken by ourselves and as such the rights for these images are ours, no links, brands, or companies mentioned otherwise belong or are associated with Phantom Adventures UK. We are responsible only for this blog. Opinions are our own and not influenced by any third party source..
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