Nowhere in northern England says ‘medieval’ quite like York, a city of extraordinary cultural and historical wealth that has lost little of its pre-industrial lustre. A magnificent circuit of 13th-century walls encloses a medieval spider’s web of narrow streets. At its heart lies the immense, awe- inspiring York Minster, one of the most beautiful Gothic cathedrals in the world. York’s long history and rich heritage are woven into virtually every brick and beam, and the modern, tourist-oriented city – with its myriad museums, restaurants, cafes and traditional pubs – is a carefully maintained heir to that heritage.
Try to avoid the inevitable confusion by remembering that around these parts, gate means street and bar means gate.
History of York
In AD 71 the Romans built a garrison called Eboracum, which in time became a large fort with a civilian settlement around it. Hadrian used it as the base for his northern campaign, while Constantine the Great was proclaimed emperor here in AD 306. When the Roman Empire collapsed, the town was taken by the Anglo-Saxons, who renamed it Eoforwic and made it the capital of the independent kingdom of Northumbria.
In 625 a Roman priest, Paulinus, arrived and converted King Edwin and his nobles to Christianity; two years later they built the first wooden church here. For most of the next century, the city was a major centre of learning, attracting students from all over Europe. In 866 the next wave of invaders arrived, this time the Vikings, who gave the town a more tongue-friendly name, Jorvik. It was their capital for the next 100 years, and during that time they turned the city into an important trading port.
King Eadred of Wessex drove out the last Viking ruler in 954 and reunited Danelaw with the south, but trouble quickly followed. In 1066 King Harold II fended off a Norwegian invasion at Stamford Bridge, east of York, but was defeated by William the Conqueror a few months later in the Battle of Hastings.
After William’s two wooden castles were captured by an Anglo-Scandinavian army, he torched the entire city (and Durham) and the surrounding countryside. The Normans then set about rebuilding it, adding a grand new minster. Over the next 300 years York (a contraction of the Viking name Jorvik) prospered through royal patronage, textiles, trade and the Church.
Throughout the 18th century the city was a fashionable social centre dominated by the aristocracy, who were drawn by its culture and new racecourse. When the railway arrived in 1839, thousands of people were employed in new industries that sprang up around it, such as confectionery (the Terry’s and Rowntree’s brands were founded here). These industries went into decline in the latter half of the 20th century, but by then a new invader was asking for directions at the city gates, armed only with a guidebook.
Top Things to see in York
City Walls
If the weather’s good, don’t miss the chance to walk the City Walls, which follow the line of the original Roman walls and give a whole new perspective on the city. Allow 11⁄2 to two hours for the full circuit of 4.5 miles or, if you’re pushed for time, the short stretch from Bootham Bar to Monk Bar is worth doing for the views of the minster.
Start and finish in the Museum Gardens or at Bootham Bar (on the site of a Roman gate), where a multimedia exhibit provides some historical context, and travel clockwise. Highlights include Monk Bar, which is the best- preserved medieval gate and still has a working portcullis, and Walmgate Bar, England’s only city gate with an intact barbican.
At Monk Bar you’ll find the Richard III Museum, which sets out the case of the murdered ‘Princes in the Tower’ and invites visitors to judge whether their uncle, Richard III, killed them. Micklegate Bar Museum charts the history of the city walls and the Battle of Towton, chief conflict in the Wars of the Roses.
Jorvik Viking Centre
Interactive multimedia exhibits aimed at bringing history to life often achieve exactly the opposite, but the much-hyped Jorvik manages to pull it off with aplomb. It’s a smells-and- all reconstruction of the Viking settlement unearthed here during excavations in the late 1970s, brought to you courtesy of a ‘time-car’ monorail that transports you through 9th-century Jorvik. You can reduce time waiting in the queue by booking your tickets online and choosing the time you want to visit (£1 extra).
While some of the ‘you will now travel back in time’ malarkey is a bit naff, it’s all done with a sense of humour tied to historical authenticity that will give you a pretty good idea of what life must have been like in Viking-era York. In the exhibition at the end of the monorail, look out for the Lloyds Bank coprolite, a fossilised human stool that measures an eye-watering nine inches long and half a pound in weight, and must be the only turd in the world to have its own Wikipedia entry.
National Railway Museum
While many railway museums are the sole preserve of lone men in anoraks comparing dog-eared notebooks and
getting high on the smell of machine oil, coal smoke and nostalgia, this place is different. York’s National Railway Museum – the biggest in the world, with more than 100 locomotives – is so well presented and crammed with fascinating stuff that it’s interesting even to folk whose eyes don’t mist over at the thought of a 4-6-2 A1 Pacific class thundering into a tunnel.
Highlights for the trainspotters among us include a replica of George Stephenson’s Rocket (1829), the world’s first ‘modern’ steam locomotive; the sleek and streamlined Mallard, which set the world speed record for a steam locomotive in 1938 (126mph); a 1960s Japanese Shinkansen bullet train; and the world-famous Flying Scotsman, the first steam engine to break the 100mph barrier (scheduled to return to the tracks in summer 2015, but still undergoing restoration at the time of writing). There’s also a massive 4-6-2 loco from 1949 that’s been cut in half so you can see how it works.
Even if you’re not a rail nerd, you’ll enjoy looking through the gleaming, silk-lined carriages of the royal trains used by Queen Victoria and Edward VII, or having a Brief Encounter moment over tea and scones at the museum’s station platform cafe called, erm, Brief Encounter. Allow at least two hours to do the museum justice.
The museum is about 400m west of the train station and if you don’t fancy walking you can ride the road train (adult/child £2/1, April to October) that runs between the minster and museum every 30 minutes from 11am to 4pm.
York Minster
The remarkable York Minster is the largest medieval cathedral in all of Northern Europe, and one of the world’s most beautiful Gothic buildings. Seat of the archbishop of York, primate of England, it is second in importance only to Canterbury, seat of the primate of all England – the separate titles were created to settle a debate over the true centre of the English church. If this is the only cathedral you visit in England, you’ll still walk away satisfied.
The first church on this site was a wooden chapel built for the baptism of King Edwin of Northumbria on Easter Day 627, whose location is marked in the crypt. It was replaced with a stone church built on the site of a Roman basilica, parts of which can be seen in the foundations. The first Norman minster was built in the 11th century and, again, you can see surviving fragments in the foundations and crypt.
The present minster, built mainly between 1220 and 1480, manages to encompass all the major stages of Gothic architectural development. The transepts (1220−55) were built in Early English style; the octagonal chapter house (1260−90) and nave (1291–1340) in the Decorated style; and the west towers, west front and central (or lantern)
tower (1470−72) in Perpendicular style.
Entrance to the minster is via the south transept, which was badly damaged by fire in 1984, but has now been fully restored. The stained-glass windows, choir screen and chapter house within are superb examples of English Gothic architecture.
As you enter the transept, facing you is the magnificent Five Sisters Window, with five lancets over 15m high. This is the minster’s oldest complete window; most of its tangle of coloured glass dates from around 1250. Just beyond it to the right is the 13th-century chapter house, a fine example of the Decorated style. Sinuous and intricately carved stonework – there are more than 200 expressive carved heads and figures – surrounds an airy, uninterrupted
space.
Back in the main church, take note of the unusually tall and wide nave, the aisles of which (to the sides) are roofed in stone in contrast to the central roof, which is wood painted to look like stone. On both sides of the nave are painted stone shields of the nobles who met with Edward II at a parliament in York. Also note the dragon’s head projecting from the gallery – it’s a crane believed to have been used to lift a font cover. There are several fine windows dating from the early 14th century, but the most impressive is the Great West Window (1338), with its
beautiful heart-shaped stone tracery.
Beyond the screen and the choir is the lady chapel and, behind it, the high altar, which is dominated by the huge Great East Window (1405). At 23.7m by 9.4m – roughly the size of a tennis court – it is the world’s largest medieval stained-glass window and the cathedral’s single most important treasure. Needless to say, its epic size matches the epic theme depicted within: the beginning and end of the world as described in Genesis and the Book of Revelations.
York City Art Gallery
Artists represented here include Joshua Reynolds, Paul Nash, Eugène Boudin, LS Lowry and the controversial York artist William Etty, who, back in the 1820s, was the first major British artist to specialise in painting nudes. Closed for redevelopment at the time of writing, the gallery is due to reopen sometime in 2015.
There’s a bewildering range of tours on offer in York, from historic walking tours to ever more competitive night-time ghost tours (York is considered England’s most haunted city).
Choir, Chapter House & Nave
Entrance to the minster is via the south transept, which was badly damaged by fire in 1984, but has now been fully restored. The stained-glass windows, choir screen and chapter house within are superb examples of English Gothic architecture.
As you enter the transept, facing you is the magnificent Five Sisters Window, with five lancets over 15m high. This is the minster’s oldest complete window; most of its tangle of coloured glass dates from around 1250. Just beyond it to the right is the 13th-century chapter house, a fine example of the Decorated style. Sinuous and intricately carved stonework – there are more than 200 expressive carved heads and figures – surrounds an airy, uninterrupted space.
Back in the main church, take note of the unusually tall and wide nave, the aisles of which (to the sides) are roofed in stone in contrast to the central roof, which is wood painted to look like stone. On both sides of the nave are painted stone shields of the nobles who met with Edward II at a parliament in York. Also note the dragon’s head projecting from the gallery – it’s a crane believed to have been used to lift a font cover. There are several fine windows dating from the early 14th century, but the most impressive is the Great West Window (1338), with its
beautiful heart-shaped stone tracery.
Beyond the screen and the choir is the lady chapel and, behind it, the high altar, which is dominated by the huge Great East Window (1405). At 23.7m by 9.4m – roughly the size of a tennis court – it is the world’s largest medieval stained-glass window and the cathedral’s single most important treasure. Needless to say, its epic size matches the epic theme depicted within: the beginning and end of the world as described in Genesis and the Book of Revelations.
Church of the Holy Trinity
Tucked away behind an inconspicuous gate and seemingly cut off from the rest of the town, the Church of the Holy Trinity is a fantastically atmospheric old building, having survived almost unchanged for the past 200 years (it has no electricity or running water). Inside are rare 17th- to 18thcentury box pews, 15th-century stained glass and wonky walls that seem to have been built without plumb line or spirit level.
Clifford’s Tower
There’s precious little left of York Castle except for this evocative stone tower, a highly unusual figure-of-eight design built into the castle’s keep after the original one was destroyed in 1190 during anti-Jewish riots. An angry mob forced 150 Jews to be locked inside the tower and the hapless victims took their own lives rather than be killed. There’s not much to see inside, but the views over the city are excellent.
Dig
Under the same management as Jorvik, Dig cashes in on the popularity of archaeology programs on TV by giving you the chance to be an ‘archaeological detective’, unearthing the secrets of York’s distant past as well as learning something of the archaeologist’s world – what they do, how they do it, and so on. Aimed mainly at kids, it’s much more hands-on than Jorvik and a lot of its merit depends on how good – and entertaining – your guide is.
Gatehall
The ruined Gatehall was St. Mary’s Abbey’s main entrance, providing access from the abbey to the river.
Hospitium
Hospitium dates from the 14th century, although the timber-framed upper storey is a much-restored survivor from the 15th century, used as the abbey guesthouse.
Micklegate Bar Museum
Micklegate Bar Museum charts the history of the city walls and the Battle of Towton, chief conflict in the Wars of the Roses.
Monk Bar
Monk Bar is the best preserved medieval gate and still has a working portcullis.
Multangular Tower
Multangular Tower was a part of the City Walls that was once the western tower of the Roman garrison’s defensive ramparts. The Roman stonework at the base has been built over with 13th-century additions.
Museum Gardens
In the grounds of the peaceful Museum Gardens, you can see the Multangular Tower, a part of the City Walls that was once the western tower of the Roman garrison’s defensive ramparts. The Roman stonework at the base has been built over with 13th-century additions. On the other side of the gardens are the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey dating from 1270 to 1294. The ruined Gatehall was its main entrance, providing access from the abbey to the river.
The adjacent Hospitium dates from the 14th century, although the timber-framed upper storey is a much-restored survivor from the 15th century, used as the abbey guesthouse. St Mary’s Lodge was built in about 1470 to provide VIP accommodation.
Richard III Museum
At Monk Bar you’ll find Richard III Museum, which sets out the case of the murdered ‘Princes in the Tower’ and invites visitors to judge whether their uncle, Richard III, killed them.
Shambles
The Shambles takes its name from the Saxon word shamel, meaning ‘slaughterhouse’ – in 1862 there were 26 butcher shops on this street. Today the butchers are long gone, but this narrow cobbled lane, lined with 15th-century Tudor buildings that overhang so much they seem to meet above your head, is the most picturesque in Britain, and one of the most visited in Europe, often crammed with visitors intent on buying a tacky souvenir before rushing back to the tour bus.
Treasurer’s House
Once home to York Minster’s medieval treasurers, this historic house – substantially rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries – contains a fine collection of furniture and offers a fascinating insight into 18th-century life. It is also the setting for one of York’s most enduring ghost stories: during the 1950s a plumber working in the basement swore he saw a band of Roman soldiers marching through the walls.
Undercroft, Treasury & Crypt
A set of stairs in the south transept of York Minster leads down to the architecturally outstanding undercroft, treasury and crypt. The treasury houses 11th-century artefacts including relics from the graves of medieval archbishops. The crypt contains fragments from the Norman cathedral, including the font showing King Edwin’s baptism, which also marks the site of the original wooden chapel. Look out for the Doomstone, a 12th-century carving showing a scene from the Last Judgment with demons casting doomed souls into Hell.
In 1967 the minster foundations were shored up when the central tower threatened to collapse; while engineers worked frantically to save the building, archaeologists uncovered Roman and Norman remains that attest to the site’s ancient history – one of the most extraordinary finds is a Roman culvert, still carrying water to the Ouse.
A new interactive exhibit in the Undercroft, Revealing York Minster, leads visitors through 2000 years of history on the site of the cathedral.
York Castle Museum
This excellent museum has displays of everyday life through the centuries, with reconstructed domestic interiors, a Victorian street and a prison cell where you can try out a condemned man’s bed – in this case, that of highwayman Dick Turpin (imprisoned here before being hanged in 1739). There’s a bewildering array of evocative objects from the past 400 years, gathered together by a certain Dr Kirk from the 1920s onwards for fear the items would become obsolete and disappear completely.
Yorkshire Museum
Most of York’s Roman archaeology is hidden beneath the medieval city, so the recently revamped displays in the Yorkshire Museum are invaluable if you want to get an idea of what Eboracum was like. There are maps and models of Roman York, funerary monuments, mosaic floors and wall paintings, and a 4th-century bust of Emperor Constantine.
There are excellent exhibits on Viking and medieval York as well, including priceless artefacts such as the beautifully decorated 9th-century York helmet and the exquisite 15thcentury Middleham Jewel, an engraved gold pendant adorned with a giant sapphire. Kids will enjoy the dinosaur exhibit, centred around giant ichthyosaur fossils from Yorkshire’s Jurassic Coast.
Hotels near York, North Yorkshire, England
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