Nowhere in northern England says ‘medieval’ quite like York, a city of extraordinary cultural and historical wealth that has lost little of its preindustrial luster. Its medieval spider’s web of narrow streets is enclosed by a magnificent circuit of 13th-century walls. At its heart lies the immense, awe-inspiring minster, one of the most beautiful Gothic cathedrals in the world.
The city’s long history and rich heritage are woven into virtually every brick and beam, and modern, tourist-oriented York—with its myriad museums, restaurants, cafes, and traditional pubs—is a prudently maintained heir to that heritage.
Orientation Compact and eminently walkable, York has five major landmarks to take note of: the wall enclosing the old city center, the minster at the northern corner, Clifford’s Tower at the southern end, the River Ouse that cuts the center in two, and the train station to the west. Just to avoid the inevitable confusion, remember that round these parts “gate” means “street” and “bar” means “gate.”
YORK MINSTER
Not content with being Yorkshire’s most important historic building, the overwhelming York Minster is also the largest medieval cathedral in all of Northern Europe. Seat of the archbishop of York, primate of England, it is second in importance only to Canterbury, home of the primate of all England—the separate titles were created to settle a debate over whether York or Canterbury was the true center of the English church. But that’s where Canterbury’s superiority ends, for this is without doubt one of the world’s most beautiful Gothic buildings.
If this is the only cathedral you visit in England, you’ll still walk away satisfied—so long as you have the patience to deal with the constant flow of school groups and organized tours that will invariably clog up your camera’s viewfinder. The first church on this spot was a wooden chapel built for the baptism of King Edwin of Northumbria on Easter Day 627; its location is marked in the crypt.
Therefore, it was replaced with a stone church that was 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; again, you can see surviving fragments in the foundations and crypt.
Moreover, the present minster, built mainly between 1220 and 1480, manages to encompass all the major stages of Gothic architectural development. The transepts (1220 to 1255) were built in Early English style; the octagonal chapter house (1260 to 1290) and the nave (1291 to 1340) in the Decorated style; and the west towers, west front, and central, or lantern, tower (1470 to 1472) in Perpendicular style.
You enter via the south transept, which was badly damaged by fire in 1984 but has now been fully restored. To your right is the 15th-century choir screen depicting the 15 kings from William I to Henry VI. Facing you is the superb Five Sisters Window, with five lancets over 15 meters high. This is the minster’s oldest complete window; most of its tangle of colored 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, whose aisles (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 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. At 23.7 meters by 9.4 meters—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. At the heart of the minster is the massive tower, which is well worth climbing for the unparalleled views of York. You’ll have to tackle a fairly claustrophobic climb of 275 steps and, most probably, a queue of people with cameras in hand.
Access to the tower is near the entrance in the south transept, which is dominated by the exquisite Rose Window commemorating the union of the royal houses of Lancaster and York through the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, which ended the Wars of the Roses and began the Tudor dynasty.
Another set of stairs in the south transept leads down to the undercroft, where you’ll also find the treasury and the crypt—these should on no account be missed. In 1967 the foundations were shored up when the central tower threatened to collapse; while engineers worked hysterically to save the building, archaeologists exposed 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.
The treasury houses 11th-century artifacts, including relics from the graves of medieval archbishops. The crypt contains fragments from the Norman cathedral, including the font showing King Edwin’s baptism that also marks the site of the original wooden chapel.
AROUND THE MINSTER: Owned by the minster since the 15th century, St. William’s College is an attractive half-timbered Tudor building with elegant oriel windows built for the minster’s chantry priests. Hence, if you’re in England, don’t miss York’s cultural and historical wealth.
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