Bedern Hall
Encyclopedia
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, hidden away barely 100 metres from the east front of York Minster
York Minster
York Minster is a Gothic cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by...
. ‘Bedern’ is linked with the current German word “beten”, which means “to pray” (Old English: gebed = ‘prayer’; aern = ‘house’).
Bedern Hall was built for the “College of Vicars Choral” (est. c.1250), whose members were the priests who deputised for the Minster canons when they were away. In the course of time each of the thirty-six canons had his own vicar.
Little was known about the Hall and its environs until 1973-1980, when the surrounding buildings were demolished and the York Archaeological Trust
York Archaeological Trust
The York Archaeological Trust for Excavation and Research Limited is an educational charity, established in 1972 in the City of York. It carries out archaeological investigations, fieldwork, excavation and research in York, Yorkshire and throughout Britain and beyond.It also created and now runs...
undertook excavations.
This showed an original structure built 1250-1270 of an entrance from Goodramgate (still open – it runs to the left of the pizza restaurant opposite the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
shop), and two long buildings on either side of this entrance route and parallel to it. The northernmost building was a huge timber-framed dormitory, at least 50 metres long and 12 metres wide. The first floor was shared by the vicars, each of whom used the space of one bay against one or other wall. Clearly the original aim was for a communal establishment perhaps similar to that at Fountains Abbey
Fountains Abbey
Fountains Abbey is near to Aldfield, approximately two miles southwest of Ripon in North Yorkshire, England. It is a ruined Cistercian monastery, founded in 1132. Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved Cistercian houses in England. It is a Grade I listed building and owned by the...
.
However, pecking-orders soon developed, and by the 1330s the dormitory had been divide into relatively large individual rooms. Some vicars had their own personal toilet facilities. The servants, by contract, used an open communal latrine on the south side of the site.
The wealth of the Vicars Choral soon grew. They offered to sing and pray for the dead, for a fee. Payment often came in the form of property, perhaps the property of the deceased (a small price to pay for eternal life). By 1400, the Vicars rented out some 240 properties, and had two mills, two tile works, and a brewery. In addition, they received revenues from three local parish churches – Fryston, Huntington
Huntington, City of York
Huntington is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of City of York in North Yorkshire, England, on the River Foss, north of York and south of Strensall...
, and St. Sampson’s, York. (Cottingham
Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire
Cottingham is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies just to the north-west of the city of Kingston upon Hull...
, near Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
was later added to this list.)
Just inside the entrance from Goodramgate you can still see the College’s private chapel, built in the 1340s. It is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Virgin, and St Katherine.
Some of the vicars seem to have been rather troublesome. A comperta of 1362 reported several of them “walking about the streets dressed like laymen and wearing knives and daggers”. In 1375 they demanded extra wine if the quire organ was used at high festivals; and in 1408 there was a serious quarrel which led to the expulsion of the sub-chanter after an order had been made forbidding the service of wine to the vicars at or after meals.
Later, in 1472, “ non-resident canons left the entire control of the minster to the vicars, and that the vicars were not careful of their trust. Some of them came into church as late and went out as early as possible. Quire services did not begin until some time after the last peal had sounded. The sub-chanter and three vicars were incontinent. Frequent absence from church was common; and, while the statutes required twelve vicars to be present daily on each side of the quire, as many as four were rarely to be found in their places. The Bedern gate was often left open and without a light until ten o'clock at night. Among the vicars, John Fell was conspicuous for his misdeeds. He said mass hardly once a fortnight; he was a nightwalker, seldom returning home by ten o'clock; he talked and laughed in quire, and excited some envy and strife by the messages which were brought to him in the common hall from 'temporal lords.' When the Bible was read in hall, Fell and others would sit by the fire and talk.” (Page 1974).