The St Denys church website tells us:
The parish church of St Denys is a small Grade 1 listed church, in terms of surviving fabric among the oldest of the city centre churches. It had a close connection with the powerful Percy family, Earls of Northumberland, whose town house stood opposite and several of whose members are buried here. It was also associated with the mediaeval York Fishmongers’ Guild, whose market was near Foss Bridge.
The church was founded before 1154, on the site of a late Saxon church and an earlier Roman building. A Roman altar and an Anglo-Danish ‘hogsback’ tombstone were found on the site in 1846. Traces of these earlier buildings came to light during trial excavations in 2001 to investigate the church’s foundations (which proved extremely stable).
The present building dates mainly from the 14th and 15th centuries, but has been much reduced from its original size, due to a series of a historical mishaps – the former spire was damaged by Civil War cannon fire and then struck by lightning, and the transepts and long nave were demolished in 1797.
So what survives now is only the east end with its flanking chapels, making an unusually square-shaped church entered through a fine Norman doorway (from the demolished nave), set in what was originally the site of a window. The present west walls and a new tower were added in 1846-7, when a tiled reredos (currently scheduled for restoration) was also inserted.
The church building is generally in good condition, thanks partly to the large amount of work done on it during the last two decades. This has included the virtual rebuilding of the Victorian tower and the strengthening of the whole south aisle and the restoration of its glass. As with all ancient buildings, however, much remains to be done, and constant vigilance has to be exercised.
The church is one of about 40 in England dedicated to St Denys, patron saint of France and of Paris, who is depicted holding his severed head in our 15th century east window. According to tradition, Denys (or Dionysius) was a Christian missionary martyred in AD 258 at the place later called ‘Montmartre’, and buried in what became the abbey of Saint-Denis, Paris.
Among the greatest glories of St Denys’s is the array of mediaeval stained glass in seven of its ten windows; exceptional even by York standards, this is mainly of the 14th and 15th centuries, but also includes two reset 12th century roundels, the oldest stained glass in the city.
As already mentioned, the church is a Grade I listed building with the entry at the English heritage website telling us:
Parish church. C14 north aisle; C15 chancel and south aisle, with reset mid C12 door; 1846-47 alterations including rebuilding of west end with tower, and north and south arcades. C19 building by Thomas Pickersgill.
MATERIALS: magnesian limestone with tile and pantile roofs in three parallel spans with stone coped gables.
PLAN: 2-bay continuous chancel and aisled nave with south door, west tower and vestry.
EXTERIOR: triple gabled east end with offset buttresses and moulded plinths to chancel and south aisle. East window of 5 lights with renewed panel tracery in 4-centred head, moulded sill string and hoodmould with grotesque mask. North aisle window of 5 lights with curvilinear tracery in 2-centred head and hoodmould: to south, blocked round-headed doorway. South aisle window of 4 lights with panel tracery in 2-centred head, moulded sill string and hoodmould. North side, articulated by 3-stage buttresses, on moulded plinth. 3-light windows have reticulated tracery in 2-centred heads, hoodmoulds and continuous moulded sill string. South side repeats north side, with two windows: third window altered to accommodate reset doorway. C18 plank door on strap hinges, faced on outer side with plain board. Doorway is round-arched, of five orders with moulded imposts and cushion capitals carved with volutes, grotesque masks and scallops: orders carved with foliage, beakhead, chevrons, medallions of leaves and flowers and lozenges enclosing quatrefoil flowers. 3-stage tower has offset angle buttresses and projecting south-east octagonal stair. Board door on C-hinges to south, in 2-centred double chamfered opening. West window of 3 lights with curvilinear tracery. Second stage has lancets in double chamfered openings to north, south and east faces. Belfry has 2-light louvred openings with ogee-headed lights in traceried, 2-centred heads with hoodmoulds. Moulded string course to each stage and beneath embattled parapet. Aisle windows are of 3 lights with cusped reticulated tracery.
INTERIOR: north and south arcades of hollow-chamfered pointed arches springing from octagonal piers and responds. Tall pointed tower arch blocked by ground floor screen beneath organ loft. In north wall of north aisle, tomb recess in pointed arch with filleted roll moulding, thought to be a Percy tomb.
FITTINGS: include: reredos of faience incorporates Paternoster, Creed and Commandments panels. Octagonal pulpit of bordered panels reset on C19 pedestal and with C19 handrail. Cast-iron Victorian hatchment on wood panel on north aisle west wall. Two boards recording rebuilding of 1798 and 1846-47 in vestry. Cast-iron safe with 'Gothick' mouldings on door.
MONUMENTS: include: chancel north wall: kneeling figure of Dorothy Hughes in round-arched niche surrounded by heraldry and symbolic carvings. Chancel south wall: obelisk with tablet and female figure and urn, to Robert Welborn Hotham and family, c1806, by Fisher. North aisle, north wall: white plaque on marble slab, to James Melrose, d.1837, by Plows: plaque to Rev John Walker, Rector, d.1813, and wife, Ann. Over south door: tablet to Dorothy Wilson, d.1717, flanked by Corinthian columns beneath segmental pediment.
STAINED GLASS: although fragmented, a considerable quantity of C13, C14 and C15 stained glass survives in the church. Roofs: nave has coffered roof with moulded beams and bosses, six said to be cast-iron. South aisle has four reset C12 grotesque corbels carrying renewed arch-braced trusses.
The church's website lists the times of services:
Wednesday:
Holy Communion 9.30am
Sunday:
Holy Communion 9.30am (10.30am on the first Sunday of the month, when the service is signed for the deaf/hearing impaired)