What’s happening here?
1715 Results and presentations
St Michael-le-Belfrey is right next to the south-west tower of York Minster, and is also the Minster’s Parish church, serving the local community. The “le Belfrey” either refers to the next-door Minster belfry or to an older church on this site which had a bell tower. It was controlled by the Minster’s Dean and Chapter from 1294 for several hundred years.
St Michael’s was rebuilt between 1525 and 1537, during King Henry VIII’s break with Rome. John Forman, the Minster’s master mason was responsible for the Tudor gothic style with renaissance influence. It was, and still is, the largest parish church in the city, originally serving a wealthy community of merchants and craftsmen.
The building is rectangular, with a nave and two aisles. In the church are boards bearing the names of York Lord Mayors who lived within the parish, and information about Guy Fawkes who was baptised here in 1570.
