Stop 1: The Friary Wall
Community & Belief
2 High St, Yarm, TS15 9AA
About This Stop
The top end of the High Street is home to the remaining boundary wall of the Friarage, a building built multiple times and home to the Dominican Friars, settlers who have been in Yarm earlier than 1266.
How to Get Here
To start the trail, begin on the right side of the High Street, just after the turn onto Bentley Wynd. The boundary wall can be found to the right.
The History
The first site of this trail is the boundary wall of the Friary. It was first built on the site of a Dominican Friary, who settled in Yarm earlier 1286. It was built in 1717 and was passed to Edward Meynell, who rebuilt it between 1770 and 1775. The building is still currently standing and is classed as a Grade II building.
Yarm Gala was held in the Friarage up until the start of the First World War, and was a very popular annual event, hosting thousands of people from the town and the surrounding areas and included stalls and races.
Did You Know?
The plaque site is attached to the remaining boundary wall and the friary building, as seen in the picture on the left, was acquired by Yarm School in the September of 1980, now home to the senior school. On the same school site, there is The Friarage Theatre, named in commemoration of the original grounds.
Next to the Friarage is the Dovecot building, octagonal in shape and used for housing birds. It is one of the oldest buildings in Yarm, built at the end of the Tudor times.
