Queen Margaret’s Arch

Location of plaque: Bootham Postern, Exhibition Square

THE neat archway which cuts through the section of old abbey wall stretching into York's Exhibition Square is perfectly good as medieval archways go. But you may have found yourself asking on occasion what on Earth the point of it is. After all, just a couple of feet away the wall itself comes to an end, to allow St Leonard's Place to link up with Bootham and Gillygate.

That wasn't always the case, of course. Back in 1497, when the archway is thought to have been built, St Mary's Abbey, the ruins of which still stand in Museum Gardens, was entirely enclosed by walls. The only way in or out of the abbey precinct was from the river, or else through the main entrance on Marygate.

An archway was cut through the wall to make it easier to get into the abbey grounds from Bootham. It was supposedly intended as a short-cut for King Henry VII (the man who had defeated Richard III) when he was visiting York and stayed at the Abbot's Lodging, now King's Manor. The short cut would have made it easier and quicker for him to get from the abbey to the Minster.

The arch isn't known as King Henry's Arch, however, but as Queen Margaret's Arch. So who was this mysterious Queen Margaret?

She was in fact King Henry VII's daughter - and the older sister of the man who was to become King Henry VIII. In 1503 the young Margaret, then just 13 or 14, was married 'by proxy' to King James IV of Scotland. The wedding took place at Richmond Palace in Surrey - but James, the bridegroom, wasn't actually there. Instead, he was represented by the Earl of Bothwell.

The young Margaret, now officially the Queen of Scotland, was then sent north, accompanied by a huge retinue, to solemnise the marriage in Edinburgh.

The huge procession must have been quite a sight as it wound its way slowly northwards, through Grantham, Newark, Tuxford, Doncaster, Pontefract and Tadcaster. Outside York, the Queen and her retinue were met by Henry Percy, the 5th Earl of Northumberland, with 400 of his men. By the time the procession actually tried to enter the city, it was so large that it had difficulty getting through Micklegate Bar, the main entrance to York from the south.

The Queen is said to have stayed in York as the guest of the Abbot of St Mary's for two days. We don't know whether she and her retinue would have used the archway leading through to Bootham when they came to continue their journey northwards, but it has been named in her honour ever since.

The plaque on Bootham Postern commemorating the archway actually says it was broken through the wall in 1503 in honour of Queen Margaret herself. But most sources agree it was made in 1497, for her father Henry VII.

Queen Margaret's fame always been eclipsed by that of her younger brother, King Henry VIII. But it was actually through Margaret's line that the monarchy was ultimately to continue. Her son was King James V of Scotland, her granddaughter was Mary, Queen of Scots - and her great grandson was King James I of England, who united the English and Scottish thrones and launched the house of Stuart.

Much later, in the 1830s, the north-east corner of the St Mary's Abbey walls was removed to ease traffic congestion, making Queen Margaret's Arch redundant. St Leonard's Place was built in 1834, and the barbican of Bootham Bar was removed in 1835.

The plaque to Queen Margaret's Arch was originally put up by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society in 1895, but was cleaned and polished by the York Civic Trust last year.

Stephen Lewis

For the stories behind more York Civic Trust plaques, visit yorkcivictrust.co.uk/