A rose Among Flowers

A Rose Among Flowers

Simon Rogerson

April 29, 2024

How history is presented, what we chose to remember from the past and how this varies by country and time period is always one of the most interesting subjects around. For example the Yorkshire Coast 1779 project team are currently trying to increase the awareness of The Battle of Flamborough Head, a naval engagement during the American War of Independence that took place off the Yorkshire Coast. A battle that is taught in every single history classroom in the USA but is more or less completely unknown in this country. Possibly unknown even to the good people of Flamborough itself. Or there is the story of someone like Anne Lister, pretty much anonymous for a century and a half after her death but now a thriving heritage industry in her own right.

If I was coming to York by railway in the late 19th Century, or if I were a former MP in mauve coloured chords and a tangerine jacket, I would of course be learning about the city's history by reading my trusty copy of Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Hand-Book.

 A well thumbed copy of Bradshaw's. Picture credit www.bbc.com

And what a fascinating read it is. Just two pages of the 1861 Bradshaw are dedicated to York but in that short space I learned that the city has a population of 50,000, has a leather fair every three months and is already famous for the production of confectionery as well as boots, shoes and combs.

Much of the rest of the entry is dedicated to a general history of the city and a description of the main buildings such as the churches, castle, bar walls, abbey ruins, Guildhall, Assembly Rooms etc.  

The Minster is described as "the chief glory of the city" and "triumphant" but "unfortunately, shut in, by houses and narrow streets." As discussed as part of a lovely tour of 19th Century York we organised during the 2024 Resident's Festival, by the time this copy of Bradshaw's was published there were already substantial moves to solve this problem. Work began in the 1860s to replace this mediaeval view of the cathedral with a more Victorian understanding of how to create a good view. This was primarily done  by the clearing away the houses and narrow streets of the old Lop Lane to create the ultra modern Duncombe Place.

Some of the historical claims in Bradshaw's account are eyebrow raising to say the least, such as the assertion that King's Square gets it's name because it is on the site of the Roman Emperor's palace. Another intriguing claim is that Richard Turpin, the highwayman, is buried at St. Martin's Church on Micklegate.

Some of the dates presented in Bradshaw are also questionable to our understanding of chronology. The Romans apparently left York in 427, which sounds a little late to me. There is also a claim that Archbishop de Grey both began the rebuilding of York Minster in 1246 AND was buried there after he died in 1216. Neither of those dates look accurate to me, not to mention the fact that they may be mutually exclusive. 

Some of it all makes you wonder what someone in 160 years time would sneer at if they read one of my attempts to write about the city's history. Lots of stuff probably, although I do hope that I have never made any claims about zombie bishops doing any major building work. (Note to self, make sure I copyright the book name "The Zombie Bishops of York")

Another thing that caught the eye was a mention of Severus Hill. The Friends of Severus Hill are currently trying to save this hill as a green space for the people of York and have been doing some research on its history. They have traced the early 18th Century as the first known mention of both its current name and as being the (possible) cremation spot of Emperor Septimius Severus. The summary in Bradshaw manages to both explicitly make a point of stating this was the place of Severus' cremation and name the place Siver's Hill instead of Severus Hill. Something I can't quite square in my head.

Perhaps the most intriguing of all is a list of names of the well known natives of the city. It is a wonderful mix of names who I am very familiar with, names I am vaguely aware of and names that I am sure have been made up on the spot as part of some elaborate in-joke that I am not part of. To quote Bradshaw these famous natives of York are "Alcuin, a famous scholar in the reign of Charlemagne; Flaxmar, the sculptor: Etty, the painter; Earl Waltheof; Flower the Hermit; Archbishop le Romaine; Waldby, Ergham, Admiral Holmes, Swinbourn, Stoke, Bishops Morton and Porteus, Sir T. Herbert, Cartwright, Fothergill, Wintringham, Eliza Montague, G Wallis and Archdeacon Narnes."  I have no idea if there is meant to be some significance in the inconsistent punctuation.

Cartwright, Fothergill and Wintringham. As far as I am aware.

The two page description of York, that has already offered so much, ends with another eye catching mystery. Apparently on the door to the Chapter House of York Minster there is "an Old Latin Rhyme

'Ut Rosa phlos phlorum 

Sic est domus ista domurum'

Or 'What the rose is among flowers, this house is to other houses.'"

It's a sentiment that I am not arguing with or one that I dislike. And yet it is something I had never heard of before consulting my trusty Bradshaw. So again I wonder what a history of York written in 2061 will say.