From my hotel room glowing in the early morning sunshine
is York Minster in the heart of the medieval city.
Join us as we take a visit inside this impressive cathedral and learn a bit about its past.
As we walk across the bridge heading to the Minster I just wanted to give a bit of a back
story. The city has a rich Roman legacy, they were in control of York or Eboracum as they
called it from 71 a.d until around 400 a.d. A wooden church was built on the site of a Roman
settlement by the Saxon King Edwin. He converted to Christianity and was baptized in the church.
Stone churches would follow increasing in size and grandeur. The large Gothic
Cathedral we see today was started around 1230 and would take 250 years to complete.
So I've pre-booked a ticket online to York Minster, you can't actually just
walk up and go in at the moment. I'm not sure whether that'll change at the end of covid but
you have to pre-book a time slot. I've booked half-past nine and we're on our way there now!
For more information on tickets, opening times and booking check out this website.
I was a little bit early, in fact, the cathedral was not even open yet.
Still, it gives us a chance to walk around Minster Yard in the sunshine
with very few people about. So come early if you want to have the place almost to yourself.
As we walk the yard and take in some of the stunning architecture of the cathedral
you can see reminders of when York was the furthest most city in the Roman Empire.
This solitary Roman column was found in 1969 during excavations of the south transept,
lying where it had collapsed in around 400 a.d, when the site was a roman headquarters.
It was reassembled to mark the 1900th anniversary of the founding of York.
This is the statue of Constantine the Great,
he was proclaimed Emperor of Rome in 306 a.d, right here in York!
Welcome inside York Minster.
Work on the nave started in 1291, 60 years later this gothic masterpiece was completed.
80 meters long, 30 meters wide and 29 meters high making it the largest gothic nave in England.
The great west window finished in 1340 known as the heart of Yorkshire because of the upper
stonework. The Minster has the biggest collection of medieval stained glass windows in the country,
some dating back to the 12th century. It is a small miracle that much of it has survived the
ravages of time and war, in fact since 1861 the church has been taking steps to protect the glass,
being the first to add external glass panels over the windows and now in more
modern times embarking on a 20-year project to use more modern UV glass protection.
The Archbishop of York has his seat here and is the third most important person in
the Church of England after the Queen and then the Archbishop of Canterbury.
York Minster the name derives from when it was a mission or monastery church
in Anglo-Saxon times, today it's more of an honorary title.
In the south transept is the famous and my personal favourite the rose window. Dating
from 1515 to commemorate the union between the royal house of York and Lancaster. I visited the
Minster as a child and it always stuck in my mind, it was only a few weeks after my visit in 1984
that lightning struck the church and a terrible fire ripped through the south transept. The
window shattered into forty thousand pieces but incredible craftsmen have managed to restore it.
This is looking right up inside the central tower with wonderful detail.
You can climb the 276 steps to the top but today it was closed.
The wonderfully decorated organ dates from the 1830s and has just gone through
a once-in-a-century restoration program. The 5000 plus pipes were removed and sent for repair and
restoration. The earlier organ which dated from the 1600s was destroyed in a deliberate
fire started in the choir by Jonathan Martin in 1829. Everything in that area was ruined.
Below the organ is the King's stone screen separating the nave and the transept to the choir.
This 15th century marvel has 15 near life-sized sculptures of the kings
of England from William the Conqueror to Henry VI.
Five sisters window was dedicated to all the women of the empire
that lost their lives in the first world war, the only such dedication in the country.
The window dates from the mid-1200s but was re-dedicated around 1924
after the windows returned following the removal during the first world war.
The astronomical clock is a memorial to the airmen based in Yorkshire Durham and
Northumberland who lost their lives in the second world war.
Chapter House, a real gem of the Minster. This octagonal room is supported by a timber
roof rather than a central column and was the earliest example of this design back in the 1280s.
The vaulted ceiling is magnificent there are some wonderful carvings in this space.
This is the choir, even song takes place here. It was originally built between 1361 and the 1420s
but much was destroyed in the fire of 1829 as we mentioned earlier.
The cathedral has an undercroft museum that charts the history of the Minster.
It was sadly closed due to covid. This has many
artefacts and interactive displays which I would have loved to have shared with you.
The great east window is the size of a tennis court
and is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the country, absolutely wonderful.
The western crypt holds the tomb of Saint William of York,
along with a number of Roman and Norman carvings. It was very dark inside so sorry about that.
Here you can just about see a column base from the original Roman fortress on the site in 400 a.d.
Having seen many wonderful highlights of the Minster do head outside and walk around the
Dean's Park adjacent to the church before you finish your tour of the wonderful York Minster.
For more on York, its history and the many things to do check out our other videos. The
links will be at the end. We hope you enjoyed the visit. Do subscribe to see future videos,
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