York, Yorkshire : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about York. You may be able to find further references to York in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Davy Hall parish Bartholomew
Goodramgate, Holy Trinity parish and township Bartholomew
Mary Gate St Olave township Bartholomew
Minster Yard with Beddern township Bartholomew
MINSTER-YARD-WITH-BEDDERN an extra-parochial place Imperial
Mint Yard parish Bartholomew
MINT-YARD a liberty Imperial
St Cuthbert parish Bartholomew
St Lawrence parish Bartholomew
St Mary Castlegate parish Bartholomew
St Saviour parish Bartholomew
St Wilfred township Bartholomew
York parliamentary and municipal borough, archiepiscopal city, county town and county in itself Bartholomew
YORK a city, a district, an ainsty, and a diocese Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to York within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Yorkshire: West Riding 40
Daniel Defoe Letter 9: Eastern Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland 21
Daniel Defoe Letter 8, Part 3: South and West Yorkshire 9
William Camden Yorkshire: East and North Ridings 6
Celia Fiennes 1697 Tour: York and Scarborough 6
Daniel Defoe Letter 7, Part 2: East Midlands 5
Daniel Defoe Letter 8, Part 4: Leeds and North Yorkshire 5
William Camden The Division of Britaine 4
Charles Wesley Sept. 17 - Nov. 5, 1756: Midlands, Yorkshire and Manchester 4
George Head North Riding 4
William Camden Romans in Britaine (2) 3
William Camden Durham, Lancashire and Westmorland 3
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 1: Kent Coast and Maidstone 3
John Wesley 1760-2: Letter to an Editor; Impositions and Declarations; Speaking Statue; Pentecost 3
John Wesley 1777-80: On the Isle of Man; City Road Chapel; Wesley Visits Lord George Gordon 3
William Camden Saxons, Danes and Normans 2
William Camden Cornwall and Devon 2
Daniel Defoe Appendix to the second volume 2
Celia Fiennes 1697 Tour: Hull to Chatsworth 2
John Wesley 1781-4: An Ideal Circuit; Wesley in his Eighties; Wesley Visits Holland; Scotland 2
John Wesley 1785-90: Collects Money for the Poor; Visits House of Lords; Reasons for his Long Life 2
James Boswell August 21st to 23rd, 1773: Montrose to Aberdeen 1
William Camden Coins of Britain; The Celts, Picts and Scots 1
William Camden Berkshire, Surrey and Sussex 1
William Camden Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincoln 1
William Camden Nottinghamshire, Derby and Warwick 1
William Camden Northumberland 1
William Cobbett Sept. 12th to 27th, 1826: Malmsbury to Worcestershire 1
Charles Wesley May 2 - Aug. 31, 1744: Cornwall 1
Charles Wesley Jan. 1- Apr. 27, 1747: Yorkshire, Manchester and Bristol 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 1, Part 3: Norfolk and Cambridgeshire 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 4, Part 1: North Cornwall and Devon 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 4, Part 2: Somerset and Wiltshire 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 5 (London), Part 1: Overview and Suburbs 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 7, Part 1: Cheshire and North-West Midlands 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 10: Lancashire, Westmorland and Cumberland 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 12, Part 1: South-Western Scotland 1
Celia Fiennes 1697 Tour: London to Yorkshire 1
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: Carlisle to Newcastle 1
Celia Fiennes Bedfordshire 1
George Head Hull 1
George Head Visiting Mull 1
John Wesley 1751-3: Wesley's Marriage; Cornwall Smugglers; Illness and Recovery 1
John Wesley 1754-6: Retirement in Paddington; Wesley Slandered; Premonitions 1
John Wesley 1765-8: Justice for Methodists; Methodist Character; Instructions to Parents 1
John Wesley 1774-6: Wesley Arrested; A Terrible Ride; A Methodist Isaac Newton; the American War 1
Feargus O'Connor O'Connor's tour of Scotland, January 1839 1
Thomas Pennant Tamworth to Meriden 1
Thomas Pennant Tyringham to Woburn 1
Thomas Pennant Ampthill to Luton 1
Thomas Pennant June 26-July 3: Cheshire to the East Riding 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Micklegate 0 4
Mary Gate 0 2
Holgate 0 2
Bootham 0 1
Walmgate 0 1
Dringhouses 0 2
Middlethorpe 0 2
Acomb 3 2
Clifton 0 2
Fulford 0 3
Knapton 0 2
Rawcliffe 0 2
Bishopthorpe 2 3
Osbaldwick 0 2
Heworth 0 2
Askham Bryan 0 2
Heslington 0 4
Upper Poppleton 0 2
Poppleton 0 2
Huntington 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for York. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
BRIGANTIUM William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
CAER EBRAUC William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
CAER EFFROC John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
DAVY HALL John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
EBORAC John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
EBORACUM William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
EBRAUC John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
EBURACUM William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
EOFORRIC William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
EURE John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
EVORRIC William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
GOODRAMGATE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
GOODRAMGATE HOLY TRINITY John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
HOLY TRINITY GOODRAMGATE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
MARY GATE ST OLAVE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
MINSTER YARD WITH BEDDERN John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
MINT YARD John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
ST CUTHBERT John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
ST LAWRENCE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
ST MARY CASTLEGATE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
ST SAVIOUR John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
ST WILFRED John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
YORE John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
YORK John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
YORKE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.