Ancient_and_modern_York_a_guide

MODEBN YORK. 81
the celebrated printer of York, whose histories of York,
Ripon, Hull, &c., are highly esteemed by the collectors
of English topography. Mr. Gent was born in Dub
lin, a. d. 1691, and died in York, on the 19th. of May,
1778, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. In 1585,
the church of St. Wilfrid, Blake-street, was united to
Belfrey's ; but with this particular restriction, that if
ever the parishioners think fit to rebuild the church of
St. Wilfrid, the parish should remain as it was before
the union. Part of the townships of Clifton and Rawcliffe
are within this parish. Church-room, 1000 ; net
value, £140.
&t. jHargaret, Malmgate.
This, to the antiquarian, is, questionless, the most
interesting of the parish churches of York ; and to many
is an object of greater curiosity than the minster itself;
its celebrated porch, usually allowed to be a Saxon struc
ture, investing it with peculiar attractions. The church
was an ancient rectory, conjoined with St. Mary's Walmgate.
They both belonged to the hospital of St. Peter, or
St. Leonard, in the city of York,* to which they were given
by Walter Fagenulf, in the time of Henry I. The patron
age now belongs to the crown. In 1585, the parish of St.
Peter-le-Willows was united to this parish. The porch,
to which we have referred, is said to have been brought,
at the time of the dissolution, to its present position from
the hospital of St. Nicholas, extra muros, founded by the
Empress Maude, daughter of Henry I. It consists of
four united circular arches, below and within each other ;
the effect of which is extremely singular. The outer arch
exhibits the twelve signs of the zodiac, with a thirteenth
zodiacal sign peculiar to the Anglo-Saxons ; each sign
being accompanied by a hieroglyphical representation of
the corresponding month. In addition to the twelve
* Archbishop Sharp,
t See Browne's Porch of St. Margaret's Church, York.