York: Layers of History

York is a highlight. We chose to spend three nights because the city offers so much, and it was a wise decision. The first obvious choices are the Minster and the York Castle Museum. The Minster is the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, but more than that, it houses the finest displays of early stained glass that you’re likely to see anywhere. The Museum is a social history museum, and as such, presents living history. There’s not much dusty here, just things with which we can identify. I also recommend that you visit the Treasurer’s House. Its name could be changed simply to "treasure house" and it might make more sense.

You will spend time in the Shambles, the narrow streets of early York and you will poke about in the shops and pubs but after that there is a long list of things to do in York. Walk a city wall, see Fairfax House, the Society of Gentleman Adventurer’s Tudor building, the massive National Railway Museum or the minute York Model Railway. There is the art museum and the Yorkshire Museum, Clifford’s Tower or the Market in Parliament Street and it goes on. And all these can be found within the small footprint that central York makes.

Quick Tips:

First, go to the Tourist Information office in St. Leonard’s place (between Lendal Bridge and the Minster). You’re really going to need a map. York within the walls may not be very large, but in the Shambles in particular, it can be confusing. Consider a guided walking tour of the city. They leave across from the information centre twice daily in tourist season; they’re free and take about two hours.

You may wish to consider a York pass, available at Tourist Information. The adult pass costs 19 pounds for one day, 25 for two, and 32 for three. It will get you into a lot of things for free including Fairfax House, Cliffords Tower (3.50), the Treasurer’s House (4.30), the York Model Railway (3.70), the Yorkshire Museum, York City Sightseeing and the Guide Friday tour (8.50) and the Minster (5). Outside town it will also get you into Castle Howard and a variety of other places. There are also discounts in theatres, ghost walks and some restaurants. Would I have saved money with it over a couple of days--I’m not really sure. I saw enough that after a couple of days, I was "yorked-out".

Best Way To Get Around:

You may wish to consider the York Sightseeing bus and the Guide Friday bus. They are on the same ticket (8.50) and while the Sightseeing bus had commentary "in the can", the Guide Friday bus had a live commentator who was excellent. The red buses pass stops every 15 minute; the Guide Friday buses pass every 1/2 hour as they do a larger circuit, going all the way to the race course.

Old York is actually very small. Once you are in, everything that you want to see is a short walk away.

If you’re driving, there are parking lots--I would suggest the one on Nunnery Lane beside Micklegate. It’s a pay lot, but it’s very handy to the city. I don’t think you want to drive in York. The traffic wardens seemed very busy.

The Acer is a 4 diamond (English Tourist Council) establishment. Run by Sandra and David Wreglesworth, it is a consistently well-recognized establishment, having received a Silver Award and several awards from York Tourism.

We had booked the four-poster luxury suite which overlooks the street. It was clean and pleasant with the bed, a loveseat and vanity, and all the usual amenities: hairdryer, hot drinks tray, colour TV and ensuite bath with tub and power shower. (I don’t understand the concept of "power"--there was little power in that shower.) The price at that level was 90 pounds a night. It was nicely decorated with substantial cornice moldings and a fleur-de-lys theme. The thing we really didn’t like was the sliding bathroom door. It didn’t really close completely, making real bathroom privacy impossible. Just don’t understand the thought process that made it necessary.

On the other hand, there is a nice lounge downstairs for guests with a large colour television. Breakfast is served in the breakfast room which seats about 12 people at tables for two and one for four. We were there three mornings and the hot breakfast never deviated… there were no options. It consisted of one sausage, two pieces of back bacon, a spoonful of beans, one fried egg sunny-side up, three or four fried mushrooms and two slices of tomato. I was tired of it after two days, unhappy with it on the third.

We had arrived on a bad day, there was an illness in the family and the Wreglesworth’s weren’t really on their game. We had a devil of a time getting in touch with them after arrival. They weren’t there, so we went downtown and wondered whether we should try to find another place. We got them on the third phone call. It was clear to me that they had no back-up system for emergencies and they really didn’t handle this one well. There is a bar advertised, but in order to get service one has to push a button in the lobby… apparently the Wreglesworths live in a residence immediate to the establishment, but not in it. With everything going on, I was not tempted to push the button and one evening, the button disappeared altogether.

My other caveats are that the parking is street parking… you will find a space on Scarcroft somewhere--there usually seemed to be a space or two free. Also, the walk to the city gate is about 15 minutes. To get to York Minster is about half an hour. Restaurants start about 12 minutes away. In my judgment, awards or no awards, it was all a bit spotty. You may wish to check their website at Acer.

Jinnah is one of England’s many East Indian restaurants and they are doing it very well here. The ambiance is excellent… they have created interesting eating spaces using heavy lattice screens, plush chairs and well-set tables in green and white. The restaurant is charming and appears to be non-smoking.

Since I am still blissfully ignorant of the complexities of East Indian food, I generally throw myself at the mercy of the waiter who turned out to be very helpful. It might have been a better experience if I were more adventurous, but I suspect that if you know what you like, you will like Jinnah.

For starters, we opted for tandoori lamb and chicken tiki and followed it with a combination platter called Thali Deluxe… it was enough for two and logically, double the price of the other dishes which seemed to average about 7.50.

We found the food excellent and as hot as you want it to be. Expect a good evening out here, nothing terribly pretentious, but you will leave with what I call "happy mouth".

The restaurant has a pleasant ambiance and is actually deeper than it appears from the street. The reception area in front is followed by two dining rooms, the latter opening to the kitchen. The rooms are attractive with nicely set tables and tiled floors.

The menu is fairly extensive with a list of starters in the 5 pound range, pizzas for about 6.50 followed by pastas and a large number of meat dishes in the 10-pound-plus range. We chose a panzanella salad and a Caesar salad as starters. Since the Caesar isn’t actually an Italian dish, I shouldn’t have been surprised by the rather odd dish of frise lettuce, not romaine. I’m not sure if the whole thing was odd or interesting. I wouldn’t order it again. The panzanella salad, on the other hand, was fine. Our main selections were leek cannelloni and spaghetti carbonara. Both were quite good.

I’m not sure if there was actually a wine list–-five whites and five reds were posted on a chalk board as the house wines. We chose a Montepulciano at 11 pounds, and it was very good.

This was a nice evening--I would certainly try it again and move on through a varied menu. To see more, try Villa Italia.

Harker’s occupies the ground floor of the former Yorkshire Insurance Company building (1824). The room is high-ceilinged and quite elegant with large Georgian windows, columns, large cornice moldings… it’s all very classical and attractive. There is also a massive bar across the back where all orders are placed.

Sitting across from Mansion House, the building echoes the grandeur of the mayorial palace and more than that, it’s an absolutely great place for lunch. Prices are extremely reasonable and a snack of chicken fillets or fish goujons can be had for 3.50. (I have no idea what a goujon is, but it is extremely tasty and they are all well presented on a very good salad.) Hot and cold sandwiches run 4 to 5 pounds but they are absolutely massive and main meals run 5.50 to 7.50 (for an 8 oz. sirloin).

We went twice… it’s hard to find a place where two can sit in such a pleasant surrounding, have a couple of pints of beer and a light snack in the 10 to 12 pound range. It also happens to be within easy reach of almost anywhere that you’ll be when you’re walking around York. There is also a non-smoking room available. I recommend it highly.

One can’t add much to the descriptions of York Minster that appear in your guidebooks or in other articles. It is the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, but that’s quite an abstract idea. It is 518 feet long, 249 feet across the transepts and 90 feet from the floor to the vault, so it is big, but there are a number of things that will attract your attention in this huge space.

You might notice the 8 massive arches of the nave and the seven stained-glass Gothic windows in each of the side aisles. This cathedral has most of the pre-17th-century stained glass in England. The choir screen behind the altar in the nave is 15th-century and is particularly bright and gilded in contrast with the relative austerity of the nave itself.

The transepts (1220-1270) aren’t well balanced. The north transept houses the Perpendicular style 5 sisters window (1260), while the south transept, through which visitors enter, houses a rose window (1500). It is passing through the screen and beyond the transepts into the quire and the chancel that one sees the most decorative part of the cathedral.

The 14th-century quire features finely carved stalls and a beautiful organ case on top of the screen. At the far end of the quire is a stone Gothic screen behind which is the Lady Chapel. Above the altar in the Lady Chapel is a beautifully carved birth of Christ, which is surmounted by the 1405 Great East Window – the world’s largest area of medieval stained glass in a single window.

There are so many things including the wonderful memorials in the side aisles of the chancel and the chapter house with its glorious ceiling. For an additional 2 pounds (7 pounds for everything but the tower), you may see the undercroft and the crypt. An audio guide is provided and the tour reveals the Roman remains under the cathedral and the remnants of earlier buildings. There is almost too much information. The crypt also contains the cathedral treasury with its large collection of silver. I was happy to have seen it, but I found myself trying to hurry the audio guide.

The cathedral is at its best when it is alive. We decided to attend a Sunday morning "Sung Eucharist" service. The nave was being set up for an elaborate memorial service later in the day so our service was held in the quire. Sitting in the elaborate stalls of the quire listening to the power of the cathedral’s organ and the voices of its singers, one sees the church as a vital, living, and most interesting, thing. There are four services a day--it’s just a thought.

The Treasurer’s House overlooks the rear of the Minster, and sits on the site of the home of the medieval treasurer of the cathedral, hence the name. In the early 17th century, the original house was replaced by a large family home which was subsequently broken down into three separate houses. In 1897, a businessman, Frank Green, bought the three properties and within three years, he turned the building into what you see today… a sumptuous mansion in which he entertained the future Edward VIII, his wife and Princess Victoria.

It really is a wonderful house and achievement as Green didn’t really see it as a home but as a showcase. He had deep pockets and was an avid collector of fine furniture and fittings and he created 13 rooms which are decorated in the varying styles of four different centuries. The entry fee of 4.30, plus 2 for the ghost cellar will allow you a fairly full view of this National Trust property.

Entering through the first of the original three properties, you will find the King’s Room and the south dressing room, both of which are distinctly medieval as is the staircase leading up to them. The walls of the bedroom have been stenciled in medieval fashion but the bed dates back to George II. The downstairs rooms of the first house are exhibition space but for the withdrawing room and the kitchen.

The central property was totally gutted and now it presents as a medieval great hall of grand proportions with a massive fireplace and stone walls.

The final property was occupied by royalty. Downstairs there is a marvelous drawing room done to the 18th century. In the Court Room you will find a large model ship built in the early 19th century by French prisoners of war. You will assume, as Frank Green did, that it was made of ivory. It was actually made of fowl and meat bones… an interesting piece of scrimshaw.

Upstairs there is the royal suite. Again, the architectural designs go from the 18th century and drop back to the 17th century with paneled walls that look as though they could actually be Elizabethan. All the rooms feature wonderful furniture… everything has been done perfectly.

As epilogue, the ghost tour takes you into a small cellar of the house. The house is built over a Roman road and in 1953, a young worker witnessed a passing group of Roman soldiers. Perhaps you will too. It’s a good story and for a town that boasts of so many ghosts, it’s one of the better ones. It all makes for a good visit.

Make sure you put this museum on your list of things you must see in York. We felt that it was second only to the Minster… and it would have been a close second. The museum occupies buildings that were once used as prisons: the Female Prison Building of 1783 and the Debtor’s Prison Building of 1705. This is a marvelous social history museum--a museum of everyday life principally in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Not everything will appeal to everybody, but for 6.50 pounds, everybody will get their money’s worth. (This attraction is not on the York Pass.)

After entering, you will pass by a number of rooms including a Victorian parlour (1870), a Moorland cottage (1850), a Georgian room (1780) and even a front room from 1950. They are wonderful and combined with the displays of china and Victoriana, they hint at what’s to come. Displays deal with hygiene and household cleanliness, and you’ll find everything from washing machines to toilets. Here the exploration goes back 350 years, and Lord Hervey’s comment of 1728 reminds us of how far we’ve come, "At court last night there was dice, dancing, crowding, sweating and stinking in abundance as usual."

The displays move on to the subjects of marriage, birth and death and the social customs and mores that have surrounded them over the last 200 years. There is so much here, that one can pick and choose. Everyone will probably agree however, that the Victorian street scene with genuine storefronts that were rescued from destruction is the high point of the visit.

Displays in the former debtor’s prison include militaria and WW II social history and costume. On the lower floors, the old cells remain, a number of them containing displays of the tools of dying crafts: joiners, comb-makers, blacksmiths and gunsmiths etc. A few of the cells carry on the prison theme. You will see the condemned cell, the last home of the notorious highwayman, Dick Turpin, who was hanged nearby at age 26 in 1739. This is also the place where 17 Luddites were hanged in a single day in 1813.

The museum is a wonderful place, and the collection is incredibly extensive. There is something here for everyone in the family.

For 7.45 pounds, Jorvik provides a simple introduction to the Viking presence in York at the end of the 10th century. After all, the name York is derived from the Viking word and so many streets are "gates" because the word is derived from the Viking work for street. Using the concept of a time machine, one is whisked through a Viking village in a high tech carnival car. You are actually moving, well below street level, through the site of the actual Viking settlement and the homes you see are recreations sitting on the foundations of the original Viking buildings. There are life-sized manikins working, playing and doing the housework, all in Viking fashion. Add a bit of noise, some animation and a bit of smell and you have an interesting experience. Perhaps it’s history for people who don’t like history, or perhaps "Viking-lite".

The excavation of this part (16-22 Coppergate) of a much larger Viking community was done in 1976–1981. Many of the artifacts retrieved during the dig are displayed in the Skipper Gallery at the centre. The survival of so many objects, made of iron, leather, clay and wood, is surprising. You’ll see everything from shoes to combs to jewelry.

Also fascinating is the display of skeletal parts, all of which show evidence of health problems and battle injuries. This history lesson is as deep as you want to make it. Everyone will enjoy the journey through the village and the exhibits after you disembark from your car are interesting.

The National Railway Museum boasts that it is the world’s largest, and after some time here, you will be inclined to believe it. It is quickly accessible from central York on foot in ten minutes (or you can take the connecting road train from the square in front of the cathedral for 2 pounds). Admission to the museum is free although there is a fee charged for the use of an audio guide.

It is huge… there are two major halls filled with British railroad history. In the Great Hall (try to be there for the turntable demonstration at 11:30am or 3:30pm) you will see a great variety of locomotives. There is a replica of the famous Iron Duke, a 1914 Star class 4-6-0, a 1942 Southern Railway Q1 0-6-0, the 1882 Gladstone (decorated as a royal train) 0-4-2 and a 1941 Ellerman lines 4-6-2. You will see a replica of Stephenson’s Rocket (1829), the lead car of a Japanese bullet train and of course, the pride of the place, the Mallard, the world’s fastest locomotive. And there’s more… much more. To tell you the truth, my wife found this all as interesting as watching paint dry and even I found it a bit much. As an added attraction, there is an O gauge model railway which may be, for many, more interesting than some of the static displays.

I knew however, that I could be redeemed in the Station Hall because it has a collection of Royal trains, and who can resist seeing how royalty lives? There have been 28 royal trains (70 pieces of rolling stock). You’ll see Edwardian royal saloon cars (1902) with clerestory ceilings, a fine war-time car last used in 1977, Queen Mary’s delightfully paneled and decorated saloon car (1905) and Queen Victoria’s very posh saloon car which was last used in 1900.

There is more in the Station Hall than just royal trains. There is the Duke of Sutherland’s saloon car (1899), a 1904 4-4-0 pulling an exquisite 1913 Pullman car, the Topaz, and a Great Western 4-8-0. Add to that the more mundane rolling stock and station cars and paraphernalia, and you have probably more to see than you’ll be able to absorb.

But there is even more (and by this time, I was on severe overload) in the South Yard where there is more rolling stock and a miniature railway and in theWorks where you can appreciate that this is a working museum occupied with restoration. If it has anything to do with railways--the extensive signals system on the Work’s catwalk, for instance--it is here, and it’s all been well done.

I am not a good judge of model railways, mostly because if they have any substance at all, I tend to get over-enthusiastic. This, however, was a good one, and I thought it worth the 3.70 price of admission. The layout features almost a third of a mile of 00 gauge track as well as an N scale Bavarian village. Every three minutes, it becomes night in our little world, but the nights are as short as the days. At night, though, you become aware that there are 2,000 lights on the set.

But there are more than lights, there are a number of trains running at any time and there are a number of engines that the spectator can control… most of them running over a limited section of track and returning to the starting point. The visitor can also control a number of the mechanical effects as well; for example, a pressed button will start the rides in a carnival and the appropriate music plays.

You’ll find villages, a couple of ports, industrial sites, cities and even a ruined Gothic church on a hilltop. It’s really quite a show. For children, there is a Thomas the Tank Engine layout in a separate room. Plexiglas protects the scene from busy hands, but the kids, too, can control a variety of trains and create sound effects.

If you’re a model railroader, you must see this attraction, but you don’t have to be a fan of model trains in order to appreciate the magnitude of this little world. Model railroaders will also be attracted to the large selection of equipment for sale in the shop in OO/HO, N and Z gauges. Good visit.

The normal river cruise is 6.50 pounds or 5.50 with the coupon found in the company’s brochure. Boats also leave from the Kings Staith landing further up the river and tickets are purchased as you enter the boat. The cruise lasts for about an hour and if you’re leaving from the Lendal landing, you will proceed down the Ouse as far as Clifton, turn and retrace your path, passing through York and beyond the town and then returning.

The boat was two decked with an open observation deck above and tables and chairs in the enclosed cabin below which also contains a bar and restrooms. On board, it is possible to purchase a variety of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, ice cream and candy.

The Ouse, apart from being the source of York’s drinking water, is part of the Inland River system. It is actually possible to travel from here all the way to London by boat. On your cruise, you will learn something about the river and its ecology, but you won’t actually see much. Apart from being able to have a sit-down in the middle of your touring, you’ll find little unusual about York’s waterfront and passing through the old city takes less than ten minutes.

The company also offers Ghost cruises, a flood-lit evening cruise and party cruises on Friday and Saturday nights (which must be pre-booked). To find more about the company, go to Yorkboats.