Ancient_and_modern_York_a_guide

86 ANCIENT AND
the Great. It is said to stand upon the site of a Roman
temple dedicated to Diana,* whose statues usually were
placed where three ways met. Three streets certainly
meet, and probably always have met, at this place ; and
in 1770 some Roman foundations were found near it. In
the church is a beautiful Saxon font, curiously sculptured.
The church of St. Helen originally belonged to the priory
of Molesly in Lincolnshire; but at the dissolution the
patronage fell to the crown. In the I. King Edward
VI., when the statute was made for uniting the churches
of York, St. Helens was defaced, as the preamble declares,
" because it seemeth much to deform the city, being a
great delay to some streets meeting and winding at it."
In the first of Queen Mary, however, it was enacted to
be lawful for the parishioners to re-edify and repair the
edifice and the church-yard thereunto belonging. About
forty years ago the old octagon steeple was taken down
and the present turret built.—A monument in this church
contains the following curious particulars: Two maiden
sisters, Barbara and Elizabeth Davyes, each having com
pleted her 98th year, are interred here. Barbara was born
in 1667, and died in 1765. Elizabeth was born in 1669,
and died in 1767. They lived in the seven successive
reigns of Charles II., James II., William and Mary, Queen
Anne, George I., George II., and George III. Churchroom,
400 ; net value, £103.
fiolj? Crinttn, ©ootframgate.
This ancient rectory formerly consisted of two medieties ,
the patronage of one belonging to the priory and convent
of Durham, and the other to the archbishop of York ;
but in the time of King Henry III., the prior and convent,
considering that one mediety was insufficient for the
maintenance of the Incumbent, transferred their mediety
* Diana was called Trivia, from her statues standing where three ways me t.
Adam's Roman Antiquities,