A – Z of Locations: Y is for York

During this year I shall be posting photographs from places around the UK, many of which have not been published before. Where I have previously blogged about a location I will provide a link to the post, though you won’t be able to comment on it as I restrict comments to six months.

Y is for York

I couldn’t miss out York seeing that I am a Yorkshire lass and spent a good part of my childhood growing up in and around the county and then moved back to South Yorkshire for almost 19 years. York was a city I visited fairly often as a child. My dad loved horse-racing so we would all go to the York races most years and my brothers and I would walk around the city walls, or go to the fair that was always there at the same time.

The City Walls form a walkway on both sides of the River Ouse.

York still has most of the medieval walls that surrounded the city 700 years ago. The tops of these walls were partly rebuilt about 150 years ago so the public could walk along most of them –and feel safer by having a tall parapet on one side of them. There is a guided trail walk for those of you that fancy it.

Later on I would take my own children to the city for a day out as it was easy to reach by train and the museums were fun. (Jorvik Viking Centre – all about the Viking era and complete with smells and my favourite the Castle Museum with its world renowned Victorian street Kirkgate.  For the trainspotters amongst you the National Railway Museum is extremely interesting and there is even a chocolate museum now).

There is so much history to be found in this compact city including these wonderful gateways. Bootham is a continuation of Petergate outside the city walls. There has been a gateway here for nearly 2000 years and Bootham Bar stands on the site of the western entrance to the Roman fortress.

Bootham bar is topped by three statues which were added in 1894 to replace the rather weathered medieval originals. From left to right there is a stone mason holding a model of the bar, 14th Century Mayor Nicholas Langton and a Knight carrying a sword and shield.

Another beautifully preserved gateway is Micklegate Bar, famous for displaying the skewered heads of rebels and traitors above the gate as a warning to others. These were a regular fixture with the longest being up there for 9 year. The last one to be displayed was removed in 1754.

Taking its name from Mykill (Great) and Gata (Street) Micklegate Bar is the prestigious entrance to within the City Walls at which important guests from London and the Monarchy would be met and welcomed into the city.

The best way to explore York is on foot. I love simply wandering around the centre of the city, within the city walls, walking alongside the river and on the walls themselves.

The majestic York Minster is very difficult to get a good photo of as it is hidden behind trees, even in winter they obscure the view. It is quite expensive to visit so we didn’t actually go in (plus there was a service on at the time), but it is an impressive building and I hope one day to actually have a look around inside.

York Minster in evening light. The huge 13th-century Gothic cathedral has medieval stained glass and 2 functioning bell towers. The south transept contains a rose window, while the West Window contains a heart-shaped design colloquially known as The Heart of Yorkshire.
West doors of York Minster – not the entrance to the cathedral
Bronze statue of Constantine the Great (274 – 337 A.D.) Commissioned by York Civic Trust to commemorate his accession as Roman Emperor in York (then Eboracum) in 306.
The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe.

Tucked behind York Minster, Treasurer’s House is not as it first appears. In 1897 it was bought by Frank Green, the grandson of a wealthy industrialist, and by 1900 he had transformed it at great speed into an elaborately decorated town house, ready for the visit of Edward VII.

Treasurer’s House. An example of Dutch stepped gables. A classic architectural feature.

In November 2008 I was in the city for a few days when it happened to snow. Although rather cold, the place was decorated for the coming Christmas holidays so looked rather cheerful. We stayed in a typical terraced guest house (the type with brown linoleum in the hallway and heavily patterned carpets in the rooms) just outside the city walls which was convenient for us to walk along the riverside and through the museum gardens and into the city.

River Ouse
Ruins of St Mary’s Abbey in the Museum Park. Built in 1088 this was one of one of the wealthiest and most powerful Benedictine monasteries in England.
The Hospitium was built as part of St Mary’s Abbey. The name Hospitium (related to hospitality) suggests that the building was used for housing guests. These would have been people such as merchants who were not allowed to stay in the main abbey with the monks.

There is so much to say about York and Yorkshire (we also took a trip out to the North York Moors and to Whitby Abbey whilst there) but this would turn into a very long post. If you haven’t discovered the pleasure of this lovely city then I urge you to find out about it for yourself. Shops ✔ Restaurants.✔  Great Pubs. ✔

What are you waiting for?

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Heyjude

I have lived in the UK for most of my life, but when young I definitely had wanderlust and even ended up living in South Africa for several years which was a wonderful experience. I now look forward to a long and leisurely retirement doing what I like most - gardening, photography, walking and travelling.

35 thoughts on “A – Z of Locations: Y is for York”

  1. What a beautiful city York is. Just to date myself, I first visited York on a school trip – 1967! I’ve been back since (of course), and been to the Races, and it is always enchanting.

    1. I have no idea when I first visited York, but it would have been long before you. And, yes, it is a lovely city.

  2. Of course I loved this post. York is pretty near to us, though we rarely go (pesky tourists!). As a car-travelling day-tripper, Park and Ride from one of the ring-road sites offering the service is the way to go, as cars and York city centre do not match. You’re right, this city always has something new to discover, and a walk-about is definitely the way to explore.

    1. Park and ride services are my favourite. I use one when going into Truro (was very useful when I was regularly visiting the hospital). Luckily where we stayed in York was just outside the city walls and we could park on the street. Never used the car except for the trip to Whitby.

  3. There’s no escaping those Romans, is there? A good potted guide, Jude. It really is a beautiful city. A friend asked me yesterday if I missed the UK at all, and I have to confess to a wave of nostalgia when I read posts like this, but I’m glad to have been there- many times!- and, like Margaret, find tourists doing their best to ruin the place.

    1. Ah, but we are all tourists aren’t we? It’s just a shame that so many of us descend on a place all at once. We need to spread the love 💕

  6. Your mention of Bootham Bar had me wondering just what a bar is in that context. An old dictionary gave me what seems the answer: ” A gatehouse of a castle or fortified town.” Then I came to your confirming sentence: “Micklegate Bar is the prestigious entrance to within the City Walls….”

    Also not sure I knew exactly what a parapet is. Look at the interesting etymology in the American Heritage Dictionary: “French, from Italian parapetto : parare, to shield; see PARASOL + petto, chest (from Latin pectus).”

    1. I hadn’t stopped to consider the word Bar. Lots of the old Roman towns and cities have streets named ?gate which once would have had a gatehouse leading into the place.

  7. I love York. Hubby and I have had a few good visits to it over the years, though not recently. My Dad was from Yorkshire, but sadly there’s no family left up there now.

    1. Can’t see me revisiting unless we manage a holiday in Yorkshire which I have been trying to sort out for the past two years! Life (and illness) keep getting in the way.

  8. I was in York for the first time in ages last year and reminded what a lovely city it is! Your post does that too, and with more sights and info than I was able to absorb in my too-brief visit (a day trip from Newcastle). I must go again 🙂 Fabulous evening light in that shot of York Minster!

    1. I can’t believe it has been 15 years since I was there, but it doesn’t change much within those walls.

        1. The one thing I remember about the Jorvik is the smell! Haha… I bet it is a pretty price to enter now.

  9. One of my favourite places in England, and I have visited many times. Also only the second place in Britain (after Edinburgh) that I almost moved away from London to live in during the late 1980s. I actually left a holding deposit (which I lost) on a city-centre riverside flat there, but couldn’t get a transfer to the Ambulance Service there at the time.
    I later saw the same flats under water, after extreme flooding!
    Best wishes, Pete, x

    1. Both wonderful cities to live in. I was very taken with Edinburgh, but I think moving north is out of the question now.

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