Fears over crumbling gate at church with Anne Lister links

A church in York which has been described as the "birthplace of lesbian marriage" has launched an appeal to save its 17th Century gate from falling down.

Holy Trinity, on Goodramgate, is where Halifax diarist and businesswoman Anne Lister "married" her partner, heiress Ann Walker, on Easter Sunday in 1834.

Although same-sex marriage was not legal at the time, they took the sacrament together at Holy Communion and considered themselves wedded.

According to the Churches Conservation Trust, while Holy Trinity's Grade II* listed gate was likely to be the same one under which the pair would have passed, it was now in danger of collapse after pieces of concrete started falling from it late last year.

On Monday, on the 192nd anniversary of the couple taking the sacrament at the church, a guided walk was held featuring actors dressed as Lister and Walker.

One volunteer said a lot of people came to Holy Trinity, which dates back to the 12th Century, because they were "really excited" about the site's links with Lister.

Lister has been called "the first modern lesbian" and was the subject of the BBC series, Gentleman Jack.

The Churches Conservation Trust has ensured the top half of Holy Trinity's gateway has been boxed to prevent further parts of the gate falling.

However, the trust said the church would need about £30,000 to fully restore the structure.

Gemma Murray, from the trust, said: "Historically if there was a problem with brickwork, what used to happen is that people would take concrete to stick bricks back together.

"What tends to happen is over time water gets in behind that concrete and the brickwork rejects the concrete so it sort of spits it out.

"That's very much a sign that the gate needs some real care and attention."

Murray said the trust wanted to ensure the gate could be kept open as it affected the number of people visiting the site when it was closed.

"What we tend to find is that when the gate is closed we get about half the number of visitors because the only way into the site then is a secret passage."

In 2018, a rainbow plaque was unveiled at Holy Trinity in honour of Lister, the first LGBT history plaque to be put up in York.

Sarah Cowling, Churches Conservation Trust volunteer and Blue Badge tour guide, said she feared visitors would miss the plaque if the gate had to be permanently closed.

"If we have to shut the gate, then the rainbow plaque will be sort of in the cul-de-sac there," she said.

"It's something we really celebrate in the church and we want it to be an important part of people's visits here."

Taking part in Monday's event, Robin Page, 60, from St Louis, Missouri, in the United States, said it was their third time attending the anniversary celebration of Lister and Walker taking the sacrament at the church.

"It has become like an annual pilgrimage and I do want to be supportive of whatever needs to happen to secure the location and also preserve the history of the gate," they said.

Anne Lister's diaries tell the story of her life and lesbian relationships at Shibden Hall, in Halifax, where she lived between 1791 and 1840.

The journals, of more than four million words, were recognised as a "pivotal" document in British history by the United Nations in 2011.

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