St Mary’s is one of the most coveted streets in York, with properties here fetching among the highest prices in the city. And while most of the townhouses are residential, at number 10 you’ll find one of the premier 5-star self-catering accommodations in York.
`10 St Mary’s is around 170 years old – a mere stripling in terms of York buildings. But in that relatively short time, she’s had one or two interesting characters call her home.
Characters who had a surprisingly significant impact on British society. Here are their stories.
Origins
The first advertisements for properties to let on St Mary’s appeared in 1853, which means 10 St Mary’s must have been among the first dwellings built on the street. The street takes its name from St Mary’s Abbey, which is just around the corner in the Museum Gardens.
While there are also two churches in York dedicated to Saint Mary, there doesn’t appear to be a special connection between her and York. The abbey at York was just one of at least ten abbeys in the UK and Ireland dedicated to St Mary, not to mention over 2,000 churches. York’s St Mary’s Abbey, however, was without doubt one of the most powerful and wealthy monasteries in England, and is well worth a visit.
10 St Mary’s displays many iconic features of Victorian architecture, with the bay window, decorative brickwork and iron fencing all adding to the charm. Townhouses such as this one were popular at the time and can be seen around York.
But the fact that the property isn’t particularly unique does nothing to diminish its appeal. And it’s fitting that such a beautiful home should have an artist as its first resident…
An artistic pioneer
The first resident was William Monkhouse, who moved in immediately after its construction in 1853.
Monkhouse was quite the craftsman, it seems. He was a lithographer, engraver and letter stamp maker. In a remarkable piece of symmetry, he had a business on Lendal, almost in the shadow of our sister property, Lendal Tower. No doubt the delightful walk through the Museum gardens each morning provided plenty of inspiration for the day ahead.
Lithography was invented in Germany in 1798, but didn’t become commercially popular until the 1820s. Monkhouse was the first lithographer in York, and helped to make the city a centre of lithographic printing.
Some of his artistic lithographs, such as Sketches of York (1841) and Churches of York (1843), became quite well-known and can still be purchased today from specialist sellers of rare prints.
Monkhouse’s influence would in fact extend all the way to the Royal household. In the early days of his lithograph business, he employed a young man named Francis Bedford.
After working with Monkhouse and perhaps absorbing some of his aesthetic principles, Bedford would go on to become an accomplished photographer. He helped found the Royal Photographic Society in 1853, and Queen Victoria later gave him a series of royal commissions, the first of which was to photograph objects in the royal collection.
Monkhouse enjoyed many presumably happy years at 10 St Mary’s. His wife, Ellen, accompanied him there until her death in 1878, and Monkouse lived there with a servant until his death in 1896.
Strangely, the Monkhouses, not content with merely living on a street named after Mary, also employed no fewer than three separate servants with that name during their time at number 10. Did they have a certain affinity for Marys? Or was it just coincidence? After all, Mary was the most popular girls’ name throughout the 19th century.
According to the next census, in 1901, the delightfully named Elizabeth Tiplady, a school teacher, lived here with a servant (although it’s not known if they were called Mary). However, her time at 10 St Mary’s was much shorter than Monkhouse’s, and it wasn’t long before the next illustrious resident moved in…
The scourge of the railways
At the time of the 1911 census, 10 St Mary’s was occupied by a formidable Scottish fellow by the name of James Carruthers Dobie.
Although it’s not known exactly when he moved in, what is clear is that he came to York to enjoy his retirement. And a well-earned retirement it was, because in 1911, Dobie ended 40 years of tireless service with the North Eastern Railway (NER) Police Force, during which he’d worked his way up to Superintendent.
During Dobie’s tenure, the NER was one of the largest rail companies in Britain, serving a tract of land around one-third the size of England, taking in Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland. So it’s safe to say Dobie was quite a big deal.
According to a 1911 article by the Yorkshire Evening Post, Dobie’s imposing figure was a familiar sight on platforms from Leeds to York to Newcastle and beyond. Few men were as well known up and down the region. It was said he personally knew more solicitors than any other man in the North of England, and there wasn’t a petty sessional bench upon which he hadn’t sat as a prosecutor.
A Scotsman born in Dumfries, he was renowned for his stolidity. Of his retirement presentation, he said he would not endure it again for twenty pounds (about £3,000 today).
However, he did let slip one or two things that irked him during his career – the tired old excuses passengers gave for not having tickets, and the fact that railway police officers had to treat perpetrators more delicately than regular bobbies for fear of someone suing the rail company (no doubt many of today’s transport police would express similar vexations).
Despite his tight-lipped persona, Dobie was something of an innovator himself, and in 1907/08, he played a major role in orchestrating the first successful use of police dogs in the UK.
Towards the end of his career, he was placed in charge of overseeing Hull Docks, where the force had been struggling to reduce theft, fires and assaults during the night.
Dobie came across the idea of using dogs, as they did on the continent, and he travelled to Ghent in Belgium to observe their methods. The squad of Airedale Terriers enlisted following Dobie’s experiments proved effective, and snaffled over 100 thieves and vagabonds during 1911.
Today, there are over 2,500 police dogs supporting officers across all the UK’s forces, and the British Transport Police has one of the largest dog sections. All thanks to the efforts of Superintendent Dobie of 10 St Mary’s, York.
Dobie lived at number 10 with his wife Susannah, and his two nieces from Durham, Maria and Susanna. By the 1921 census, Dobie had passed away, but we do hope he got to enjoy several years exploring the wonders of York.
Apartments
At some point between the Dobies and 1939, 10 St Mary’s was converted into flats. Since there were four separate households registered, we can assume that each floor was its own apartment.
The property wasn’t officially recorded as flats on the electoral registers until 1958, so it’s possible that there was some illicit subletting going on before then.
The conversion to flats was not unique to number 10. In fact, several other townhouses along St Mary’s were also converted, and some, such as numbers 24 and 30, contain high-end residential apartments today.
A townhouse once more
10 St Mary’s remained a residential apartment building until 2014, when the current owners acquired it. They immediately began a 10-month renovation project to restore the property to its former glory and create one of York’s premier 5-star self-catering retreats. Since its completion in 2015, 10 St Mary’s has wowed people from all over the world as it served as their base for exploring the wonders of York.
We hope these stories of the property’s illustrious residents of yesteryear help to bring it to life. The meticulous renovation has left in place some traces of the original Victorian grandeur, so you’ll get a sense of what it was like for those eminent folks of the past.
But of course, the property’s immaculate design and modern features ensure you’ll do so in supreme comfort and convenience.
So if you are looking for luxury self-catering in York, where every moment you spend here is one you’ll savour, feel free to check the Tower’s availability using the booking calendar below. Alternatively, don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries.