A talk by Angela Clare, a guided walk, and a performance of the play 'No Priest But Love' exploring the life of Anne Lister, with proceeds supporting the church gate restoration.
No Priest But Love is an afternoon dedicated to Anne Lister, running from 14:00 to 19:00 on Sunday 9 August. It starts at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, and moves to Merchant Taylors Hall for the performance. The whole thing is a fundraiser for the 'Keep the Gate Open' appeal, which is raising money to restore the 1700s gateway at Holy Trinity — the very one Lister and Ann Walker are believed to have walked through.
If you've come across Lister through Gentleman Jack, you'll know the basics: the prolific diarist whose 1834 wedding to Ann Walker at Holy Trinity was a landmark moment in LGBTQ+ history. This afternoon goes a bit deeper. Historian Angela Clare opens with a talk titled Anne Lister: Three women, two marriages and one new play. Clare knows her stuff — she's spent years working at Shibden Hall and wrote The Moss House in 2019.
After the talk, there's a guided walk through York, retracing Lister's steps. You'll visit sites like the former draper's shop Bell and Nicholson and the workshop of joiner William Hubie, the kind of small, everyday details that bring her time here into focus. Then it's over to Merchant Taylors Hall for the play No Priest But Love, which Clare adapted from a script by biographer Helena Whitbread MBE. It focuses on Lister's relationships, including her 1816 'wedding' to Marianna Belcombe.
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So, in one afternoon, you get the talk, the walk, and the play. It runs from 14:00 to 19:00 on Sunday 9 August, starting at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate and finishing at Merchant Taylors Hall.
