Ship’s figurehead

Location: 13 Stonegate, York

OK, so the wooden carving of a barechested woman on the corner of Stonegate and Little Stonegate that is such a talking point isn’t really a plaque. But it does have a simple inscription: “This figure from the quarter gallery of a ship is of the mid to late 17th century.” And it was lovingly restored on behalf of the York Civic Trust by master woodcarver and stonemason Dick Reid in 1978. So it deserves its place in this column.

No 13 Stonegate, where the figure is to be found, is a 15th century house that was added to in the 16th and 17th centuries. At some point - we don’t know exactly when - the figure was attached at ground-floor level to the house on its corner with Little Stonegate.

Usually now referred to as a “ship’s figurehead”, close inspection shows that the figure, which dates from the mid- or late- 17th century, has only one arm and one feathered wing. She is therefore much more likely to have come from the stern of a sailing ship rather than the prow: she was probably attached to the side of the stern quarter gallery.

It was always thought that women would bring bad luck if they were aboard a ship. So why would a figure such as this - is she rising from the sea like a mermaid or is she a protecting angel? - have been used on a ship? Sailors believed that the gods of the sea would be so taken with such images that they would calm the wind and waves and give the ship safe passage.

Just how the figure ended up in York we shall probably never know. Perhaps the ship she came from had simply come to the end of its days, or was too large to enter port with the silting up of the River Ouse and so was dismantled. She is, however, a reminder of how important ships and sailing were to York.

The city grew up at the junction of two rivers - the Ouse and the Foss - which gave access to the rest of the world by ship and boat via the Humber Estuary and the North Sea. The Romans built jetties here, with wharves and warehouses on both rivers. In the eighth century, the Northumbrian scholar Alcuin confirmed York was built by the Romans ‘to be a merchant-town of land and sea’ and ‘a haven for the ships from distant ports’. A century later came the Vikings, whose larger ships and skills in navigation opened new routes, allowing York to export its own timber and import goods from as far away as China. Archaeological finds from Viking York include amber and furs from Scandinavia, silk from China and the Middle East, copper alloy pins from Ireland, a cowrie shell from the Red Sea and pottery from Germany.

York continued as an important trading port after the 11th century Norman Conquest and by the 14th century was England’s richest city after London. The Merchant Adventurers was its richest guild.

York’s merchants exported wool, grain and cloth to Northern Europe and imported luxury items from overseas such as olive oil, figs and raisins from Spain. By the late-16th century, however, larger sea-going ships could no longer navigate York’s rivers partly due to their greater size and partly due to the increasing build-up of sediment in the Ouse. Only smaller, lighter boats could now reach York and, as a result, Selby and Hull began to assume much of York’s trading importance.

As the West Riding wool trade expanded, the shorter land route to these ports became preferable, as did the later canal route via the Rivers Aire and Calder. The Corporation of York was under pressure to act and, after much debate, Naburn Lock was finally built in 1757 and the river Foss canalised, but the river trade failed to revive.

Now the River Ouse is primarily used for pleasure and recreation. It is one of the key attractions in York’s tourist trade with leisure cruisers, canoes and rowing boats plying the routes once used by the city’s trading ships. Many of the wharves and jetties have gone giving place to restaurants, cafés and pubs and paved riverside walks provide a welcome escape from the bustle of the city.

Stephen Lewis