Lendal Bridge

The Lendal Bridge spans the River Ouse here and offers beautiful views.

In Roman times, the headquarters of the Roman legionary fort Eboracum was located on the site of today's minister, the remains of which can be seen in the exhibition under the church.
Today's church had at least three previous buildings. No archaeological evidence exists for the first church mentioned by Beda Venerabilis, in which King Edwin was baptized by Paulinus in 627. It was probably made of wood. A stone building, completed about ten years later, was extended by Bishop Wilfrid at the end of the 7th century. It burned down in 741 and was replaced by a stately new building. This church was badly damaged in 1069 when the Anglo-Saxons rebelled against the Norman William the Conqueror and finally destroyed in a Viking invasion in 1075.
In 1080, the first Norman Archbishop, Thomas of Bayeux, began building a Norman church modeled on the Bayeux Cathedral. This survived the city fire damaged in 1137 and was enlarged by additions in the following decades. Walter de Gray, who became Archbishop of York in 1216, began building what is now the Gothic church. The Romanesque church was replaced in sections by the new building. The stumps of the previous building are accessible in the exhibition under the church. There is also the tomb of St. Paulinus.

This bridge has been re-built four times! In 1154 the original bridge collapsed with a large crowd on it, waiting to welcome Archbishop William to York. Although many were injured falling into the river and hit by falling debris, no one was killed.

A six-arched bridge replaced it, lined with houses, shops, a toll booth, courthouse, prison and St William’s Chapel.

The first public toilets in the country were installed on this bridge in 1367. Some 200 years later, winter flooding caused its partial collapse. The third bridge was built higher, giving increased access to more river traffic. The structure existed until the early 19th century, when the corporation replaced it with the New Ouse Bridge in 1821.