HOME  OUR ADVENTURES       CHURCH INDEX   BUILDING SYTLES   CHURCH MODELS      

U.K. 2013

Day 9,

Wednesday, Sept. 11 York

 

 We weren’t in a hurry to get up this morning as we had no time schedules. 

 

It is still cold, but we decided our first stop today was to walk on the city wall.  There is the old wall around most of the city, and you can walk on it so we walked most of the way into town on the wall.

 Our next adventure was to take a boat ride on Ouse River.  We walk over a little bridge which goes over the river every time we go into York.  It was a fairly good size tourist boat.  There was an enclosed lower deck and a top deck with a partial roof.  We decided on the top deck.  It was a scenic ride for about 45 minutes.

 

Next we wanted to visit a street in the old town called the Shambles.  On the way we stopped in a small Anglican Church- St. Martins-Le-Grand A sign in front of the church it reads:

 "A mainly 15th century church, pre-conquest in origin, largely destroyed by fire in air raid 1942.  The tower was completed before 1437.  The great West window, considered to be one of the finest early 15th-century windows in the country was taken out at the beginning of the 1939 – 45 war and has been rehoused in the quasi– transept of the restored to south aisle.  It depicts St. Martins of Tours with 13 scenes from his life.  The remaining old glass which survived the air raid has also been restored.  The former south aisle has been restored as a Shrine of Remembrance of the cities fallen in two wars.  The distinctive clock was first directed in his present position in 1668.  It was overhauled and renovated in 1754, in 1778 it was given a new dial, and a little admiral with his sextant was placed upon it.  The clock was badly damaged in the raid of 1942 and was restored and returned to its own position in 1966.  The adjoining churchyard was repaved and restored in 1968 through the initiative of York Civic Trust."

When we got back on the street we ran into a couple about our age…maybe a few older…  who sat next to us at breakfast.  We had exchanged a few words during breakfast. It turns out that he is a retired priest in the Church of Scotland.  He had me beat by one year on ordination- he celebrated his 51st this year.   We walked together for a while.

We went through an area that had a lot of outdoor tents where they had a large market- fresh veggies, clothes, all kinds of stuff.   We found the street called The Shambles.  It is a narrow street with overhanging timber framed houses.  It was where the butchers sold their meat.  We stopped for lunch in a little café called Little Shambles Coffee House.  I had a tuna melt and Kathleen had a grilled cheese.  We sat next to a couple from Australia. They had lived in York.  We had a good conversation.

It was raining when we came out of the tea shop.  We walked to the cathedral which wasn’t too far away.  I took more photos.  I do have a model to make, but haven’t done it yet. 

 On the right side of York Minster is a another large church – St. Michael le Belfry. There has been a church on the site of Michael le Belfrey Church from the 8th Century. The present building dates from the 1500's.

There have been Christians in York since Roman times and church buildings in this area since at least the year 627 when Bishop Paulinus baptised Edwin, King of Northumbria. Saxon burials discovered in Petergate are evidence that St Michael's is of early origin.

The "le Belfrey" either refers to the next-door Minster belfry or to an older church on this site which had a bell tower. It was controlled by the Minster's Dean and Chapter from 1294 for several hundred years. It is a parish church serving the local community. (The Minster is not a parish church.) It was, and still is, the largest parish church in the city.

 The building is rectangular, with a nave and two aisles. In the church are boards bearing the names of York Lord Mayors who lived within the parish, and information about Guy Fawkes who was baptised here in 1570.  This a replica of the earliest known bell tower, first depicted in 1705. The west front was "restored" in 1867 after houses attached to the church had been pulled down. The lathe and plaster ceilings, originally painted blue, probably with gold stars, date back to 1766. John Etty designed the large reredos with its four fluted Corinthian columns. His son William completed it in 1712. The communion rails are contemporary with this.

 Originally the Ten Commandments appeared in the center. In 1924-1926, the reredos was "beautified" by a copy of Zurbaran's "Adoration of the Shepherds" to replace the Ten Commandments. The choir stalls and the pulpit were removed from the chancel in 1973. There is now a modern pulpit, and a lectern, and a stage area for the musicians who lead the singing.  There is large early-eighteenth century stone memorial at the end of the south aisle - blocking out a previous window. The present church community continues to emphasise the priority of mission.

 It was still raining so we decided to come back to the hotel.  Kathleen went swimming and I caught up on my journal of photo identification.

 We walked to the train station to pick up our reserved ticket for tomorrow.  The lady was able to print out all of our reserved tickets.  We were able to print some of our train tickets at home, others we reserved and paid for but had to pick them up at the train station. We were very happy to have all our train tickets in our hands.

We caught a taxi to take us to the Piano Restaurant in the Churchill Hotel. We have had reservations there since July.  It was a beautiful room with a grand piano.  Tonight was the pianist night off, but they had recorded piano music….good old favorites.   We had a wonderful dinner.  Kathleen had carrot soup and I had tomatoes and goat cheese for starters.  For the main plate, Kathleen had duck and I had beef.  Both were excellent.  We shared orange sorbet for dessert. 

 We got a taxi back to our hotel and started packing as our train leaves at 10:00 in the morning for Lincoln.  We have enjoyed our visit in York.

NEXT DAY

PREFACE

Day 1 -Arrival in Edinburgh

Day 2 - Edinburgh

Day 3- Edinburgh to Inchcolm Abbey

Day 4 - Edinburgh to Melrose & Rosslyn

DAY 5 - Edinburgh   

DAY 6 - Edinburgh

DAY 7 - York  

DAY 8 - Durham

DAY 9 -York 

DAY 10 - Lincoln

DAY 11 -Ely  

DAY 12 - Peterborough

DAY 13 - Cambridge 

DAY 14 - Ely to Worchester  

DAY 15 - Tewkesbury and Gloucester

DAY 16 - Hereford         

DAY l7 - London   

DAY 18 - London  

DAY 19 - London   

DAY 20 - London to Guildford, Chichester, Midhurst

DAY 21 - London      OUR LAST DAY

HOME