We are staying in the city centre part of York and most of the roads are closed to vehicular traffic during the day so it was great for exploring. And for a Thursday there sure are a lot of tourists here, with lots of children around too.
We took a tour of York Minster this morning and had a knowledgeable guide help us understand the history of the cathedral. It is a really stunning place with lots of history for David to soak up. The statuary and the carvings and monuments seemed more plentiful than other cathedrals we have visited but perhaps it is because of the age of the building. The current building was started around 1080 and the Norman’s started this version of the cathedral. There have been several fires over the years. Our guide entertained us with stories of the various societal changes over the centuries and how they have changed the design of the cathedral. It took over 250 years to actually build the current building. Throughout that time design changes took place throughout the world and these are reflected in the numerous styles of Gothic architecture evident in the building.
Our taxi driver told us that there’s been a law for years that York must not build any buildings above the height of the Minster, so sprawl in York has gone outwards, not upwards. It is also the second most expensive place for residential housing prices in the U.K.
The section of the cathedral that I found particularly interesting was called The Chapter House. This is essentially the boardroom where the various religious celebrants would gather to hold their meetings although it doesn’t resemble any current day boardroom I’ve ever been in. The room is configured as a circle and the leaders all sit in designated seats on the outside of the vast circle (two cushions per person). The design had to be such that if anyone whispered on one side of the circle, someone had to be able to hear it on the other side of the room. In the early years when the room was first built major decisions on music, landownership, property management, and personnel etc. were all made in this room. Perhaps my choir meetings should move to a circular style meeting room?? Meetings continue to be held in the Chapter House to this day. The Chapter e was finished in the early 1290s.
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| This is York Minster’s Chapter House. It’s a circular room actually and all of the white signs allocate two seat cushions to each person entitled to be in the room for all of the meetings that take place there. |
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| How is this for a choir loft? |
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| Apparently the roof design with the arcs meeting in a point allows significantly more building support. |
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| A magnificent building. |
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| How would you like to play this organ? |
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| I find these intriguing. |
We strolled through the Shambles, a marketplace, well-known in York. Within this neighbourhood, we also stumbled upon a very crowded street with numerous Harry Potter type stores and then realized that it is the actual street that represented the design for Diagon Alley in the first Harry Potter movie. The cobblestone streets and the curvy houses and buildings are just like they were pictured in the movie. The medieval shopping street with its narrow street width was apparently originally designed so that sunlight didn’t enter the street and spoil the meat that was being sold by the street shopkeepers.
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| Street that was the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter |
 | | One of the first passenger cars in the British Rail system. |
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| Another photo of Diagon Alley’s inspiration. The street and buildings really curved. Doesn’t really show in these photos. |
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| One of the first train engines. |
Taken out of various train stations in the U.K. and recreated at the Railway Museum.
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| This is the first train engine. They called it The Rocket. |
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