Mary's was perhaps the most important of the northern monasteries. The
buildings were proportionally large and fine. The church, dating
mostly from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was particularly
long and had a tall spire. It was only a little inferior to the
Minster in magnificence. On the south side were the Cloisters, the
open-air work-place and recreation place of the monks, while beyond
were the conventual buildings--such as the calefactory or
warming-house, the dormitories, and the refectory or room where meals
were taken. The cloisters were square in plan and consisted of a
central grass plot, along the sides of which there was a continuous
covered walk with unglazed windows facing the central open space.
Benedictine abbeys usually conformed to a common scheme as regards the
planning of the church and the conventual buildings. The cloisters
were only one of the courts or open squares, which separated groups of
conventual buildings. Further, there were gardens and orchards. Nearer
the river there was the Hospitium, or guest-house, where visitors were
lodged. The abbey was within its own walls, and on one side its
grounds extended to the river. The gateway, comprising gate, lodge,
and chapel, was on the north side.

Near the Castle there was an extensive Franciscan Friary. On the other
side of the river there was the priory of the Holy Trinity, the home
of an alien Benedictine order. A Carmelite Friary in Hungate, opposite
the Castle, seems, from the few odd fragments of stone that remain, to
have had fine buildings. The Augustinian Friary was between Lendal and
the river. The Dominican house, which was burnt down in 1455, was on
the site of the old railway station.

The only nunnery in the city was the Benedictine Priory of St.
Clement. There were sisterhoods in St. Leonard's and other hospitals.