St Sampson's Church

About

St Sampson's Church is a former parish church in the city centre of York, England. It lies on Church Street, near St Sampson's Square. The church sits across the line of the wall of Roman Eboracum, and the first church on the site was probably built before the Norman Conquest, as a fragment of an early 11th-century cross has been found in the wall of a house on Newgate, within the former churchyard. Foundations of a Norman wall have also been discovered underneath the present church. The church was first recorded in 1154, and from 1394 the advowson belonged to the Vicars Choral of York Minster. It is dedicated to Saint Sampson of York, the only church in England with this dedication.

The church was gradually rebuilt in the 15th century, the south aisle being rebuilt in the 1400s, and the north aisle dating in the 1440s, while the west tower was rebuilt in the 1480s. In the 1549, there was a plan to merge the parish with that of St Helen, Stonegate, and although this did not happen, St Sampson did gain two bells from St Helen. In 1644, the tower was damaged during the English Civil War, and the Parliamentarian troops subsequently destroyed most of the monuments in the church. Between...