Ancient_and_modern_York_a_guide

126 ANCIENT AND
This institution is intended as a special memorial in
honour of the late William. Wilberforce, the great philantropist,
who represented Yorkshire in six successive
parliaments. On the 3rd of October, 1833, a meeting
was held in York, attended by the archbishop, the right
honourable Lord Brougham, lord chancellor, and a great
number of the nobility, clergy, and gentry of the county,
to consider the best means of raising a Wilberforce memo
rial ; and, with singular judgment and good taste, they
resolved to erect something more noble than marble or
brass, a monument worthy of one whose life was devoted
to works of benevolence and utility. In 1834, applica
tion was made to government for a lease of the Manor
House and grounds, attached to it ; which was at once
granted for 99 years, at a rent of £1 15 per annum. Two
wings of this palace are let as private residences ; but
there is ample room beside for all the purposes of the
institution. As it has been remarked in our notice of St.
Mary's Abbey, the Manor House, or King's Manor, is
situated within the walls of St. Mary's ; and was, by the
order of Henry VIII., constructed partly from the mate
rials of the abbey, as a palace for the lord presidents of
the north, and an occasional royal residence. James I.
ordered it to be fitted up as a royal palace ; and in the
following reign several parliaments and councils were held
in it. Wentworth, earl of Strafford, the favourite of
Charles I., and an accomplice in his encroachments on
the liberties of the nation, resided for some time in the
Manor House, as lord president of the north ; and one of
the articles of his impeachment, drawn up by John Pym,
was, that he had presumed to place his arms on one of
the King's palaces. The arms of the beheaded nobleman
still remain over one of the entrances. A royal mint was
established in the Manor House, in 1696; but never
since its erection has the structure been so worthily occu
pied as it is at present.