Civic Trust Plaques

York Civic Trust has been placing commemorative plaques to places and people on buildings since the late 1940s. There are now more than a hundred plaques spread around the city in bronze, wood, slate, aluminium and glass  (and one in Amsterdam). The majority mark buildings or places of interest, but there are many to influential people with York connections.

We have created trails to link some of our plaques together and explore aspects of Yor’s heritage.

York’s next blue plaque? You tell us!

There are exciting proposed new blue plaques being suggested by the public all the time. You can see some of the latest suggestions here, and have your say which should be unveiled next!


Or suggest a new blue plaque yourself!

…To be considered for a blue plaque, nominations must be judged to meet most of the relevant criteria as set out below:

  1. The person or place had a long-standing or significant connection to York
  2. If a person, they had a link to a building or place that exists to this day.
  3. If a person, they made a major and positive contribution to their field that is widely recognised
  4. The person or place has the power to educate, surprise or inspire others to this day
  5. The person or place has no other plaque in York
  6. The person or place has made a major contribution to the history of York or the United Kingdom
  7. If a person, they have been deceased for twenty years
  8. AND THE BIG ONE … Why now? Is there an upcoming date (such as a commemoration or an event) that has significance with the person or place?



Map of Plaques

Here is a Google map of our plaques, with red pins marking places, and blue pins marking people. By clicking on the box in the top right (“view larger map”), a new tab will open with a list of all plaques on the left.


List of Plaques

The following plaques are to be found in the City.  Where our volunteer historians have compiled information on the subject of the plaque, you can click on the name to take you to that information.

Abbey Walls Shutters, Marygate
Alcuin of York
All Saints’ North Street
All Saints’ Pavement Churchyard
Ancient Society of York Florists, Colliergate
Andrews, George Townsend
Archbishop Holgate’s Grammar School Playing Fields Gates
Anglian Tower
Aske, Robert
Assembly Rooms
Association of Voluntary Guides, York Library
Auden, W H

Backhouse, James
Baines, Henry
Barry, John
Bedern Chapel
Best, Mary Ellen
Black Swan, Peasholme Green
Bootham
Butterworth, George

Carr, John
Carr, William
Charles I Coat of Arms, King’s Manor
Cholera Burial Ground
Clifton Bridge
Clitherow, Margaret
Constantine the Great
Cooke, Thomas

Corder, Stephen Pit
Coverdale, Miles
Craven, Mary Ann
Crichton, Edna Annie
Cruse, Winifred, Catherine and Mary
Cumberland House

Davygate
Dringhouses Library

Etty, William
Evelyn, Dr William Arthur
Exhibition Square

Fairfax House
Fawkes, Guy
Flood Heights on the Ouse

George Inn
Grinling Gibbons (carving in Fairfax House)
Goodricke, John

Hansom, Joseph Aloysius
Herbert, Sir Thomas
Hewley, Lady Sarah
Hornpot Lane
Howerd, Frankie
Hudson, George MP

Irish Community, Walmgate

King’s Manor

Lendal Tower
Lister, Anne

Mahé, Yves
Mansion House
Micklegate House (John Carr)
Milburn, George
Milner-White, Eric
Minster Close
Minster Gates
Monastery of St Joseph
Montagu, Elizabeth
Morrell, Cuthbert
Morrell, J B

Norman House
North Eastern Railway Distant Signal

Our Lady’s Row

Pavement
Peasholme House
Petergate, via principalis
Phillips, John
Pick, Frank
Pinfold, Dringhouses
(Stephen) Pit Corder
Poole, Matthew
Praetorian Gate
Pritchett, James Pigott
Purvis, John Stanley

Quaker Burial Ground
Queen Margaret’s Arch
Queen’s Path

Railways in York
Red Tower
Richard III
Ridsdale Tate, Edwin
Rigg Monument, St Lawrence’s Churchyard
Roman Column
Roman Fortress
Roman Wall
Rowntree Family: Joseph and Benjamin Seebohm
Russell, George

Shannon, John
Shambles
Ship’s Figurehead, Stonegate
Sheldon, Oliver
Shipton Street School
Siege of York
Smith, Sydney
Snow, Dr John
Sterne, Jaques
Sterne, Laurence
Stonegate, via praetoria
Streets of York: An Introduction, including Aldwark and Coney St
St Andrew Society of York
St Anthony’s Hall
St George’s Cinema, Fairfax House
St Leonard’s Hospital
St Margaret’s School
St Martin le Grand
St Michael le Belfrey
St Sampson’s Church
St Stephen’s Orphanage
St William’s College
Suffragettes

Terry, Joseph
Terry’s Chocolate Works
Tuke, Samuel

Walmgate Bar
Ward, Ven Mary
Wesleyan Methodist Chapel
Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate
Wilkinson, Fanny Rollo
Woolman, John

Yeld, George
York College for Girls, Petergate
York County Hospital
York Observatory
York Railway Station 1977
York Railway Station 2004
York Railway Station Zero Post
Yorkshire Gentlemen’s Cricket Club, Davygate
Yorkshire Museum & Gardens
York Methodists


Emblem

The Emblem of the Civic Trust is used on the plaques, along with logos and emblems of other sponsors and funders.  Our Emblem is based on the York Assay Mark of 1423 (under Henry IV). In 1541 it was described as “the pounce of the Citie called the half leopard head and half flowre de Lyce” (fleur de lys)

Some Recent Plaques

13 March 2020, members of the York Irish Association celebrated the plaque unveiling at
64 Walmgate to mark the Irish community who settled in York from the 1840s having escaped The Famine.
The unveiling of the plaque on the York Observatory with Catherine-Brophy of YPS a descendant of Thomas Cooke and Dr Peter Addyman of YCT. 23rd August 2019
Photo: Iona-Miles York Civic Trust
The Trust’s Historians’ Group wth the plaque to Elizabeth Montagu unveiled at the Treasurers’ House, 20th June 2019
Plaque to Sydney Smith on More House, Heslington, unveiled by Father Kevin Melody, with Revd Johannes Nobel (left) and YCT Chair, Andrew Scott (right) 10 April 2019.
Members of YCT’s Historians Group and Chair, Andrew Scott, join the Civic Party outside the Mansion House for the unveiling of the replacement plaque, 13 March 2019.
A large and celebratory gathering for the unveiling of the improved Anne Lister “Rainbow” plaque in February 2019.
The plaque to the York Suffragettes was unveiled 30 January 2019 in Coney Street on the building where they held their meetings by the Sheriff of York, Verna Campbell, foreground right wearing the chain of office.
The plaque unveiling on Friday 11 January 2019 to celebrate the opening of Clifton Bridge in 1963 by Alderman Archibald Kirk. The party included three generations of his family, Councillors Wells and Myers and Graham Frater from York Civic Trust.
Unveiling of the Robert Aske plaque at Clifford’s Tower, 30th November 2018, including The Bishop of Middlesbrough,  Vice Lord-Lieutenant Major Peter Scope, The Lord Mayor of York and Civic-Party.
David Fraser, Peter Hogarth, Buff Reid at the unveiling of the plaque to Henry Baines 13 November 2018
Father Ken Gabbadon and Peter Stanhope at the unveiling of the plaque to Edwin Ridsdale Tate at All Saints, North Street
Costumed suffragettes at the unveiling of the plaque to the Cruse sisters at the University of York St John
Lupins grown on the York allotment where horticulturalist George Russell developed his lupins were at the unveiling of his plaque at 20, Kensington Street. Stephen Lusty (left) of the Civic Trust with Ian Forman of Bustardthorpe Allotments

2 thoughts on “Civic Trust Plaques”

  1. I can see there is a list of plaques, but is there a document, other than the map that either deals with people or events in particular categories or in specific sectors of the city?

    1. Hello Alan, Good question! Sadly there isn’t a document for this at the moment but we’re looking into working through a more thematic aspect of our plaques for the interest and use of the public. This might take a while; … watch this space!

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