Welcome to The Archaeology of York online.
Please read these introductory paragraphs to find out how to use this site

Fascicule 2 of Volume 2 of The Archaeology of York series (Historical Sources for York Archaeology after AD 1100) is being made available on the internet. It is presented in Adobe PDF format, a universal file format which can be shared, viewed, navigated, and printed exactly as intended by anyone with a free Adobe Acrobat® Reader®, downloadable from the Adobe web site by clicking on the following button:

There is also a map of York showing medieval street names and features. This is presented in SVG format. You can zoom into any area of the city by right-clicking or crtl+clicking, and pan using alt+click (Windows). To download the SVG viewer software, click the button below:

What are the Bridgemasters' Accounts?

The financial accounts of the two masters of Ouse Bridge and the two masters of Foss Bridge have been translated into English by Professor Philip Stell; the original Bridgemasters' Accounts, written mainly in Latin on parchment rolls, are held in York City Archives. The bridgemasters were empowered to collect the rents from properties assigned to the bridges to cover the cost of maintaining these structures, which were so vital to York's urban infrastructure and economic prosperity. They were also responsible for paying both the expenses arising from these properties and the expenses of running St William's Chapel on Ouse Bridge.

The accounts which have survived are all from the 15th century. Some of the rolls are not complete, but those which are complete comprise two parts: firstly, the rent collected from properties; and, secondly, expenditure on maintaining the properties. Both income and expenditure sections of the rolls are further divided by individual streets or adjacent streets grouped together. The sums of money raised from and spent on each property are noted.

The information given in these rolls sheds valuable light on many aspects of medieval York.

• They are a mine of information for family historians, packed full of people's names and details of the houses in which they lived. A study of all the rolls would enable a genealogist to trace a property through different generations of the same family.
  
• They are also fascinating source of toponyms, that is, personal names derived from place names - e.g. Thomas Bubwith, John Hovyngham and William Huggate.
  
• There is a wealth of information on the materials used to construct and repair buildings, including the names given to these materials and their relative costs.
  
• The rolls could be used as the basis for a study of the wages paid to different craftsmen and the relative value society placed on their labour.
  
• A study of the rents collected from properties in specific streets or groups of streets could give valuable clues as to whether certain trades were practised in particular areas of town. The levels of rents might indicate which were the prosperous or fashionable areas of York in the 15th century.
  
• They provide insight into the way property was leased.
  

The Ouse Bridge accounts give valuable information on St William's Chapel which stood on the bridge throughout the medieval period. The accounts document the salaries paid to the chaplains of the various chantries in the chapel and list the expenses associated with the chapel.

So, if you are interested in family history or in the people of medieval York, their homes and how they earned their livings, go into this web site. The accounts are crammed full of factual information which you could use in any number of ways. If you are not sure whether the accounts will contain the information you are seeking, look at the alphabetical lists of occupations and persons mentioned in the rolls.

The accounts have been separated into nine separate files to help speed up access.