St Mary’s Church, Castlegate

About St Mary’s Church, Castlegate

Celebrated in legend and fiction, Dick Turpin is not the only famous highwayman buried in a York cemetery.

Born in about 1639 near Sheffield, John Nevison operated with his gang, preying on travellers using the Great North Road, for years the main route between London and the north.

Nevison is best remembered for a famous ride he made from Kent to York in less than 24-hours to establish an alibi for a crime he committed earlier that day.

The outlaw robbed a traveller at Gads Hill early one summer morning in 1676, escaping on a horse to York, a journey of more than 200 miles, taking some 13 to 15 hours.

Arriving in the city at sunset, Nevison met the Lord Mayor, who was attending a bowls match, then engaged him in conversation, asking him the time after placing a bet on the game.

Later arrested for the crime in Kent, the highwayman was acquitted after producing the Lord Mayor to support his alibi.

After years of avoiding capture, Nevison was eventually caught in 1684 near Wakefield, tried and hanged at York for murder and buried in an unmarked grave at St Mary’s Church on Castlegate.

Please follow the guided route to Clifford’s Tower.