Ancient_and_modern_York_a_guide

48 ANCIENT AND
body of the church. He granted indulgences of forty days
to contributors ; and Pope Innocent VI. issued indigen
cies of two years and two quarters to those who gave
liberally towards the restoration. An imposition, of the
twentieth part, was laid by the chapter of York on all eccle
siastical benefices within theirjurisdiction. Pope UrbanV.
in 1366 granted an indulgence to the benefactors of York
Minster ; and Urban VI. granted the revenues of the church
of Misterton for ten years. Walter Skirlaw, archdeacon
of the East-Riding, made a large donation ; and Arch
bishop Thoresby expended of his own money above one
thousand seven hundred pounds, an immense sum in those
days. Indeed, the Archbishop to assist the work, pulled
down one of his mansions at Shireburn, and applied the
materials to the use of the Minster. No sooner was the
choir rebuilt, than the central tower was condemned for its
meanness, and was replaced by the lantern tower, which
now " adorns and illumines" the centre of the Cathedral.
The arms of Walter Skirlaw, affixed to the inside of the
building, indicate that he was a principal contributor. The
present towers at the west end—in one of which the disas
trous fire of 1840 originated, were raised by John de
Birmingham, about the year a. d. 1402 ; and Archbishop
Bowett, whose arms appear in the sculpture, and on some
of the windows, applied himself to the completion of all the
works. Many of the figures and tombs that ornamented the
interior were destroyed and defaced, by zealots at the re
formation, and during the commonwealth ; and so disfigured
was the old pavement, that in 1736, Mr. Kent, under the
direction of Lord Burlington, laid down a new pavement.
On Monday, the 2nd of February, 1829, a fire, kindled
by a lunatic, named Jonathan Martin, was discovered in the
choir about seven o'clock in the morning; and before noon,
in spite of every exertion, the organ, tabernacle work, the
pulpit, the cathedra, and the stalls, were consumed ; and,
shortly afterwards, the roof fell in with a fearful crash ; a
circumstance that prevented the spread of the flames, and,