York
York is an historic walled city. It had been here since the tribal times when it was ruled by a queen, Romans, Vikings, and more. There is so much history here. We signed up for a free walking tour with the Association of Volunteer Guides. We have used them before in Bath, England and really liked them. This was a two hour tour. Our volunteer was really passionate about the history of her town.
There are layers to this city. The lower layer still has some of the walls from the Romans. (The Vikings used mostly wood for construction, so there is not much left from them). The upper walls are built on the Roman Walls. The largest hospital in the north of England was here until King Henry VIII destroyed it.We heard all about the different invasions and wars that took place here as well.
Our tour took us through the city and a few snickleways (These are narrow medieval alleys and passageways, usually wide enough for one person, threading between the main streets of the city.
The tour did not include access into the York Minster Cathedral, but we did get the history behind it. A new statue of Queen Elizabeth had been added tothe Cathedral’s exterior.
The streets of the is town are very quaint and fun to walk around. Once architect placed cat statues on any building he helped renovate or build.
We also learned about Ann Lister, She inherited Shibden Hall in 1826 and ran a successful estate. She was known as “Gentleman Jack” as she wore mens clothing and had an assertive manner. She also wrote a diary detailing all her lesbian affairs, that has been made into a HBO series, Gentleman Jack. She took communion with her lover at Holy Trinity Goodramgate and considered it a wedding.
We walked through the Shambles. This is Yorks famous medieval street. It is a narrow timber-framed lane that once was fillled with butchers. Meat would hang from the buildings and the center of the road had a cobbled channel where butchers washed away blood, creating the street’s notorious “river of blood” on cleaning days.
Today is to more reminiscent of Diagon Ally from Harry Potter. Many of the stores carry that theme. One of York’s most important religious figures lived here as well. Margaret Clitherow, sheltered catholic priests in her home during Protestant rule. She was executed by laying a large stone under her back, then laying her front door on top of her and adding weight until she died. The Catholic Church canonized her in 1970.
This town is also known for all the ghosts that haunt it. We stopped in the Golden Fleece Pub where there are 5 ghosts that still haunt it. The pint of beer I ordered kept moving across the table when we sat down. I thought maybe the table was not level, but it was good and then it simply stopped moving. Hmmmm.
Next door was the York Gin store. I stopped in and sampled some gin and ended up buying a bottle and a proper gin glass.
We walked the part of the wall for a different view of the city. I would have loved to taken one of the ghost tours offered in the evening, but we had dinner reservations at a Michelin star restaurant called Roots.
Roots, had a special. We could get the Signature Menu for the price of the Core Menu, a $55 savings. The dinner was served in multiple courses with wine pairings for each. The food was good, as well as the wine parings. However, we felt it was not worth the total cost of the night.
