Jacob's Well, York: Grade I Listed Gem

Jacobs Well is a medieval Grade 1 listed building in the Micklegate area of York - and it’s the church hall of Holy Trinity Micklegate.

The main feature of interest is the beautifully-carved entrance with its projecting canopy over the door.

Every surface is carved with figures and foliage decoration.

There are grotesque, grimacing heads, smiling faces, peculiar beasts, nuts, flowers, geometric designs, serpents, and a bear in chains.

Jacobs Well was originally a late medieval house consisting of an open hall with a two-storey cross-wing on the East (Trinity Lane) side.

It is an unusual medieval building of a style not found elsewhere in York and is Grade I listed.

First built in the late 15th century, Jacobs Well became an inn during the 1600s.

It was acquired by the Church in 1904, but by the 1980s significant renovation work was required to ensure its continued survival.

The Church Council was delighted with the result and a management committee was set up to manage the building and to make it available for hire to the public.

About this time, the Gild of Butchers decided to move from their Hall in the Shambles and make Jacobs Well their ‘home’.

Today, the interior isn’t open to the public, unless you’ve been invited to a formal function.

However, you can still get up close to the incredible carvings from the exterior.

History

The building’s construction was funded by Thomas Nelson, a city alderman, who wished the priest to pray for his family.

Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the building was purchased by Isabella Ward, former prioress of Clementhorpe Nunnery.

She lived in the house with her sister, which appears to have been divided in two during this period.

Before Ward's death, she donated the property to the Feofees of York. They permitted her to continue to live in the house for a peppercorn rent of one red rose a year.

During the early 17th-century, the house was used as a rectory for Holy Trinity, Micklegate.

A first floor was added to the hall, making the whole building two stories. Around this date, new windows and fireplaces were added, many of which survive.

The building was again divided into two houses, then in the 1740s was converted into a pub, for the first time known as "Jacobs Well".

In about 1790, the building was converted back to a house, leased by Roger Glover and John Furnish, who ran a stagecoach business.

They obtained fire insurance for the building, the sun mark for which survives. In 1815, they had a third storey, of brick, added to the wing, and an extension built to house a kitchen.

This extension covered the original entrance, so a new entrance was created on Trinity Lane, which remains the main entrance to the building.

With the alterations complete, the building again became a pub, with two bars downstairs, and accommodation for the landlord above.

However, it struggled to make money in its hidden location, and in 1903 the alcohol license was surrendered.

The feoffees retained ownership of the building, and they decided that it should become a parish room for Holy Trinity Church.

In 1905, local antiquarian Walter Harvey Brook made major alterations to the building, adding a new staircase, bay window and fireplace, and creating a new door to the garden.

A 15th-century canopy was added to the main entrance, taken from the Old Wheatsheaf Inn on Davygate.

By the 1980s, the building was in danger of collapse, in part due to vibrations caused by traffic passing along Trinity Lane.

In order to save it, the brick top storey was removed, and a new roof constructed for the wing to match that over the hall.

This work was completed in 1991, and since then, use of the building has been under the care of Holy Trinity.

Jacob's well is on Trinity Lane, just off Micklegate and around the corner from Holy Trinity Micklegate Church.

There is no on-street parking but there are several pay and display parking areas nearby.

If you’d like to visit, the address is: Trinity Lane, York, Yorkshire, England, YO1 6LL.

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