York 3

The final installment of my visit to York.

York Part 2

York Minster is the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe and is situated in the city of York in Northern England. It is the seat of the Archbishop of York (the second highest office of the Church of England), and cathedral for the Diocese of York, and is run by a Dean and Chapter under the Dean of York. Its formal title is The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St Peter in York.
It has a very wide Decorated Gothic nave and chapter house, a Perpendicular Gothic choir and east end, and Early English north and south transepts. The nave contains the West Window, constructed in 1338, and over the Lady Chapel in the east end is the Great East Window, (finished in 1408), the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. In the north transept is the Five Sisters Window, each lancet being over 16 metres high. The south transept contains the famous Rose window.


The Minster is built in the shape of a cross, this is the view if you stand where the cross meets at the centre looking straight up Inside the minster, changed the white balance setting on the caamera to give this rosy coloured effect.
Looking from the southern end of the minster.
The Minster has one of the best collections of Stained glass in England. There are 128 windows, containing about 2 million individual pieces of glass. The Great East window of York Minster is the single largest area of medieval glass in the world, it is about the same size as a tennis court
City walls which surround York.
Holy Trinity Stocks, the originals stocks are inside the church and date back to the 16th century
A cobbled street in York
Most of the Minster in its full glory.
The chapter house inside the minster at the Northern end.The beautiful and airy octagonal room is one of the oldest parts of the Minster. It was begun in 1260 and completed in 1286.
Created as a meeting place for the Dean and Chapter of York Minster, it is still used for the same purpose.
Each of the seven walls of the Chapter House has six seats to emphasize the equality of the Chapter members. No one can sit in the center. The eighth side of the octagon is the archway of a passage leading to the nave. There are also seven windows - among the oldest in the Minster, with glass dating from 1270. Above the archway on the eighth wall, the stonework of the seven windows is repeated.

Another view and entrance to the Minster
Guy Fawkes plaque found in the streets of York
Self explanatory, its an old pub !!
The Little Devil in Stonegate.
In the 16 Century Stonegate became famous for its book shops and printers. At 33 Stonegate there used to be a printers, outside at the corner of the shop is a little Devil. This guy got any blame when metal type was miss spelt when going to Press. It is said to unlucky to look into his eyes!

York Part 1

Staircase inside Clifford Tower at York. More info on the tower is below. One of the entrances into the walled city of York
The Shambles, tiny streets and original buildings mix with the new.

Clifford's Tower. Here you can see part of the high mound upon which the tower was raised by William I.
Clifford's Tower is all that remains of York Castle. William the Conqueror built a wooden castle here in 1086, atop a high conical mound over looking the River Ouse.
That first castle was burned by rebellious natives, and a second one built. That building saw one of the most horrifying episodes in York's colourful history in 1190.
A mob of citizens rioted against the Jewish population of York, and 1190 of the Jews took refuge inside the castle. Many of the Jews committed suicide rather than allow themselves to be captured by the bloodthirsty mob outside, and more died when the building was set on fire. The remainder were slaughtered by the mob.(Courtesy of britainexpress.com)
A view from the top of the tower.
Caroline and another view of inside the tower walls.
Taken inside the Castle Museum. This is the actual cell where the infamous Dick Turpin was held. His ghost paid Caroline a visit !!!
Inside the Castle Museum again, this time a 1960's themed room.
A young girl innocently eats an ice cream outside of the musuem
The street of kirkgate as it would of looked in early victorian times

The Merchant Hall at York, In 1357 a number of influential men and women came together to form a religious fraternity and to build the Hall. By 1430 most members were merchants and mercers, and alongside the fraternity they set up a trading association or guild. They used the Hall to transact their business affairs, to meet together socially, to look after the poor and to pray to God.

Catch up time.

Hi everyone, its been a while so I thought I should bring you up to date. As you may be aware I was Cardioverted just over a month ago which is where my heart was zapped with an electric current...pretty much the same as you see on the emergency room Tv programmes. The out come was that the heart immediatley began to beat normally and held that rythm for round about a month until it decided for no reason to revert back to doing as it wished. Luckily I had an appointment with the cardio clinic at the hospital the next day and the doctors confirmed that indeed it had took a step backward so I was prescribed some new drugs which I would need to take for a month. The next day, for no reason again my heart began to beat normally so at the minute I am waiting for another visit to the hospital to give them the good news.
I have no idea as to when I will be returning to Canada, the initial plan was for January but its anybodies guess at the minute.
The following pictures are from Bonfire night again only this time from Gainford which is were my parents live. Coming up soon will be a post on my visit to York which I totally forget to tell you about and happened ages ago.

All pictures taken at really long shutter speeds, sometimes over 6 seconds.