St William's College is a Medieval building in York, originally built to provide accommodation for priests attached to chantry chapels at nearby York Minster.
St William's College was founded in 1460 by George Neville and the Earl of Warwick to house twenty-three priests and a provost. It was named after St William of York. It was in use by the Chantry Priests until the 16th century. After that and into the 17th century St William’s was divided up into apartments rented to some of York’s more affluent residents.
Over the centuries the building changed ownership and usage many times; it became home to the Royal Printing Press during the Civil War, a private house - having several changes and rebuilds, with windows were added to the street frontage in the 1800s when it was used as shops, and finally the beautiful medieval building contained nothing more than slum dwellings resulting in its disrepair.
In the late 19th century Francis Green, owner of the nearby Treasurer’s House, rescued St William’s College from ruin, buying it and subsequently selling it back to the City Council at no personal profit thereby allowing the council to restore it to its former glory around 1902. It then came under the care of the Dean and Chapter of York Minster.
It was sympathetically restored again in the 1980s. Today St William’s College is a venue for conferences, exhibitions, musical events, banquets and wedding receptions. Its modern-day role is yet another stage in its illustrious history.
@seattlite@busylady@pyrrhula Thank you for your comments and fav, they are appreciated. I should add to my notes that this building has in recent times been used as a setting for various period films and tv programmes.
Ian
Ian
Ian