York

      We spent last weekend in York, and once again wished we had taken more time. In many guide books and websites, it is listed as a day trip from London. Technically it is with fast trains and a reduced itinerary, but it sure doesn’t do the city and environs justice.

The Shambles 

      The walls around the medieval town are mostly intact, the narrow street in the city centre (the Shambles) are still cobblestone in many places, the parks along the river are green and vibrant, the pubs snug and lively, and the York Minster and Cathedral dominates the skyline. (By the way, “minster” is a missionary, teaching church—this one was built upon a Roman site to convert the heathens of the north.)

      We walked most of the walls, peeking out occasionally at some well-kept gardens, a couple of small wedding receptions, a few noisy and happy beer gardens in the back of pubs, and many, many daffodils. We came down from the heights (brave Kate) to walk along the riverside, which was filled with young adults, ostensibly watching an FA Cup semi-final, but really simply enjoying beautiful weather.

      The York Minister claims to be the largest medieval cathedral in northern Europe and to have more medieval stained glass than the rest of England. The key word is medieval in both cases, but still the place is huge. I’m not looking up cubic footage, but it sure felt like the biggest church we’ve seen. Having scaled the town walls, we opted not to climb the 275steps to the top of the church tower.  The current building is at least the fourth on the site--one had burnt down, another destroyed by Normans, and a third destroyed by Vikings and Danes.  The construction of this one began about 1250; the East and West windows are mammoth and date from the 14^th Century.  The Reformation and Civil War did some damage on this one—lots of headless saints—but at least it survived. Well, not entirely, in the 19^th century there were two fires, one by arson and another by accident. In 1984 there was another fire started by lightening (no comment). Roughly in the middle of the church is a choir screen adorned by sculptures of the seven kings who can claim credit for supporting the church, from William the Conqueror to Henry VI (the latter also started the cathedral at Kings College, Cambridge). Attached to the church is an octagonal chapter house, which also seemed huge, partly because it doesn’t have a center column like most of the others we’ve seen.

from the city walls

note the dragon on the left wall

       We had a good tour with Wendy, a local woman with a keen sense of humor. She enjoyed pointing out the slight irreverences and quirks of the place—the statue with two right feet, the laughing and profane gargoyle-like carvings above where the Dean sits in the chapter house, the optical allusion of a bizarre dragon statue high on the nave wall.  She also showed us how they are restoring the stained glass in the north window, removing the 19^th century “improvements” and correcting the errors from when the windows were put back into place after World War 2—as with other great cathedrals in England, the stained glass had been removed to preserve them during the Nazi bombings of Britain. 

      After the tour we walked over to the York Museum and Gardens. The Museum had closed--no Richard III experience for us this day, but the gardens along the Ouse River were gorgeous. The museum is relatively late (1830) for York, but next to is the ruined St Mary's Abbey--Henry VIII ransacked the Abbeys to promulgate his new religion (and cover the expense of going through six wives). There are also remnants of Roman walls and towers in the park.

 We stayed in a family-owned small inn—they called it a B&B, and we did have a fine English breakfast. It also had a cozy whiskey bar in the front. And as this is the closest we will get to Scotland on this trip, we tried a few special malt whiskeys. Yum. We also spent the weekend trying local ales. A New York Times article in 2014  listed Yorkshire as one of fifty top destinations in the world--because of its famous local beer. There are 131 distinct breweries in the shire, and we heard there were over 300 pubs in York. I said at the start, we didn’t have enough time.

      The next day, we visited Castle Howard, about fifteen miles north of York. It is listed as one of the top ten great estates in Britain, a part of the treasure houses tour, and the location of numerous movies and TV shows, most notably Brideshead Revisited (twice).  I plan—foolish mortal—on writing about the great homes and gardens we’ve visited. Blenheim and Castle Howard, alone, each deserve an entry because of their history, architecture, and gardens, but then I am looking forward to offering some American views on the English aristocracy and their piles over the years (see past Warwick entry for a start)

Preview of coming attractions: