Holy Trinity on Goodramgate is one of York's genuine surprises. The church is reached through a narrow archway off the street into a small graveyard, which creates an immediate sense of removing yourself from the city. The building itself dates mainly from the 12th to 15th centuries and is small, slightly ramshackle, and completely un-restored in the Victorian manner. The box pews — enclosed timber stalls that were the standard seating arrangement in English churches from the 16th to 19th centuries — are still in place here, while almost every other church in England tore them out during Victorian-era improvements. The effect is one of considerable antiquity.
The church is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust and is free to enter. Its quiet is notable even by York standards. The stained glass in the east window is medieval, and the overall atmosphere — small, dim, irregular — is about as far from the cathedral a few streets away as it is possible to get while remaining in the same city. Worth a few minutes of anyone's time, particularly in the afternoon when the light comes through the east window well.