England-Scotland Day 2 (Part 2) – Getting into the City of York and our B&B accommodation at York

4 April 2010

York is a city of extraordinary cultural and historical wealth and was one of the city we intended to stay over while on our road trip. It is surrounded by an old city wall that is worth a walk and in its city center, there is the immense, awe-inspiring York Minster, one of the most beautiful Gothic cathedrals in the world.

We arrived at York at about 2.30 PM. After check-in, we walked towards the York city centre to get our lunch.

Bootham Bar - York City Wall.

Friendly neighbourhood cat just outside our B&B.

 

The old town of York is surrounded by an old city wall. We had to pass through one of the gates (or Bar) to get into the city centre. In this city, gate means street and bar means gate. Confused?

Parts of the old outer City Wall. Roman built.

Could imagine arrows coming out from here during the medieval days.

Bootham Bar - York City Wall.

Bootham Bar – Bar here refers to “gate”, not a place to get drunk. This gate is one of the four main entrances to the old Roman fortress.  We went through the gates of the York City Wall and into the town centre. One of the key attractions in York is the York Minster.

Outside York Minster, on the West side.

York Minster -  The largest gothic cathedral in northern Europe. Built between the 1220s and the 1470s.

Beautiful stone carvings on the York Minster.

After seeing the exterior of the York Minster, we went into the pedestrian-only shopping areas in the city centre.

Where we stayed in York:

I had chosen to stay at the The Holme Lea Manor, a Bed & Breakfast accommodation in York. The B&B is located in the Bootham area, within walking distance of the York City Centre. There are many B&Bs along that street and in that area. The plan was only to stay one night in York and we would only be visiting the attractions in the town centre on foot.

I had booked a Family room for the 4 of us and the room allocated to us was on the top floor of the Victorian house. Learning from our experience with our B&B yesterday, we had packed a small hand-carry bag with only stuff that we would need for the overnight stay, and left the rest of our luggage in our car.

Entrance to our Family Room.

Family Room at The Holme Lea Manor.

Queen-size bed in one room.

Twin beds in adjoining room.

The ensuite bathroom was very large.

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England-Scotland Day 2 (Part 3) –York Shopping Streets and The Shambles

4 April 2010

The best way to explore York’s City Centre was on foot. From the York Minster, it was a short walk to the pedestrian-only shopping streets. This was a lively place with plenty to see, do, buy and eat.

Get a caricature done? Not for us.

Buying postcards for a friend who collects them.

Easter goodies on sale.

King-size chocolate Easter eggs!

“The Shambles” is located in the middle of the pedestrian-only shopping area near the York Minster. It is known as the best preserved medieval street in the world. Many of the buildings date back to around 1350-1475. The Shambles was a street of butchers’ shops and houses, many complete with a slaughterhouse at the back of the premises, ensuring a ready supply of fresh meat.  The meat was hung up outside the shops and laid out for sale on what are now the shop window-bottoms.

Lacking modern-day sanitation facilities, there was a constant problem of how to dispose of the waste produced by the slaughter of animals in the city.  The pavements were raised either side of the cobbled street to form a channel where the butchers would wash away their offal and blood twice a week.

Narrow cobble street leading to the Shambles. Note the levels of the cobbles street and sidewalks.

The Shambles.

In some sections of the Shambles, it was so narrow that it was possible to touch both sides of the street with your arms outstretched.  The architecture which now appears so quaint had a very practical purpose.  The overhanging timber-framed fronts of the buildings were deliberately close-set so that it is difficult for sun to shine on the meat in the butcher shop below. 

So close! Almost cannot see the sun from the street.

Look and feel of a medieval town.

Shrine to St. Margaret Clitherow (with green plaque) who met a rather gruesome martyrdom in 1586 for being a Catholic in a newly Protestant England.

York - Market Centre, England.

We had our lunch at a pie shop here. Colourful interior of the pie shop.

Colourful street windows in York.

 Not all of York are medieval looking. Some parts are more modern.

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England-Scotland Day 2 (Part 4) – Walking the Old City Walls of York

4 April 2010

A visit to York is incomplete without walking on the old city wall of York. According to one of the brochures, a walk on the wall is “A walk through 1,900 years of history”.

“The Bar Walls of York are the finest and most complete of any town in England. There are five main “bars” (big gateways), one postern (a small gateway) one Victorian gateway, and 45 towers. At two miles (3.4 kilometres), they are also the longest town walls in the country. Allow two hours to walk around the entire circuit. In medieval times the defence of the city relied not just on the walls but on the rampart underneath and the ditch surrounding them. The ditch, which has been filled in almost everywhere, was once 60 feet (18.3m) wide and 10 feet (3m) deep! The Walls are generally 13 feet (4m) high and 6 feet (1.8m) wide. The rampart on which they stand is up to 30 feet high (9m) and 100 feet (30m) wide and conceals the earlier defences built by Romans, Vikings and Normans.” – according to a guidebook.

We did not have the intention, energy and time to walk the complete wall. So it was “Let’s see how much we can cover”.  We started our walk at Lendal Bridge, after visiting the shopping areas in the town centre and taken our lunch.

Crossing Lendal Bridge to start the City Wall walk.

Lendal Tower is very unusual in that from 1631 it was used as a water-tower, one of the earliest in the country. On the opposite bank of the river is the 14th century Barker Tower. In the old days, an iron chain could be stretched between the towers to close the river in times of trouble and to ensure that boatmen paid a toll.

View of Ouse River from Lendal Bridge.

Fancy lamp posts on the Lendal Bridge.

Fancy railings of Lendal Bridge.

Views of the city from the York City wall.

Views of the York Minster from the battlements York City wall.

Outside view of the wall – what an attacker may see.

On the battlements of the York city wall.

Turret and battlements – expecting to see Robin Hood appearing anytime.

Micklegate Bar (Gate).

Description from a brochure:

Micklegate Bar was the most important of York’s medieval gateways and the focus for grand civic events. The ruling monarch traditionally stops at Micklegate Bar to ask permission from the Lord Mayor to enter the city. For many hundreds of years Micklegate Bar was also home to the severed heads of rebels and traitors, which were skewered on pikes and displayed above the gate. There they were pecked by crows and magpies - a suitable indignity. The last of the severed heads was removed in 1754. The Bar is now a museum.

Source :

www.visityork.org/explore

We decided that Micklegate Bar was as far as we go for the City Wall walk. At this stage, we had only completed about a quarter of the wall walk.

We headed back towards town, via the Micklegate Bridge Road. We passed by a church with replica of wooden stocks used to imprison and punish people who commit minor crimes and nuisances in the old days. Holy Trinity Stocks!

Holy Trinity Stocks! Used to imprison and punish people who commit minor crimes and nuisances in the old days.

View of the Ouse river from Ouse Bridge. Several York Attractions are located near here -  Original Ghost Walk, York Dungeon, and river cruise boats.

Then we went back to the shopping area near the Shambles. We saw the York Minster again. This time, from the South view.

York Minster, England.

Bronze statue of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great,  near the spot where he was proclaimed Augustus in 306.

We had decided that we would have dinner at a Thai restaurant called The Siam House, located near the York Minster. As it was too early for dinner, we decided to see the inside of the York Minster.  The inside of York Minster, with the stained glass were beautiful and impressive. See the next post for details.

My original plan was to take the Ghost Walk of York after dinner. The ladies in the family were not too keen. So, it was back to the The Holme Lea Manor B&B for a good rest after dinner.

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England-Scotland Day 2 (Part 5) – Inside the York Minster

4 April 2010 

The York Minster is one of the must-see attraction when visiting the beautiful city of York, England. It is beautiful on the outside and also on the inside. The highlights of this building were the stained glass windows.

High in the gable of the South Transept in York Minster is the Rose Window which is one of the best known stained glass windows in England. The red and white roses commemorate the union of the Houses of York and Lancaster. The sunflower at the centre was painted by William Peckitt in the 18th Century.

The Rose Window at York Minster.

The Rose Windows – circular stained glass at top.

Details of the stained glass panels at bottom of Rose Windows.

The High Altar and the Great East Window of York Minster.

The Great East Window, which is the size of a tennis court, is the single largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the country.

The choir (quire) screen separates the transept and nave areas. 15 nearly-life-size statues of the Kings of England from William I to Henry VI are guarding entrance to the choir.

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England-Scotland Day 3 (Part 1) – York to Jedburgh

5 April 2010

Day 3 required some long distance (about 310 km) driving from York to Edinburgh where we stayed for 2 nights. Along the way, we stopped by Jedburgh and also visited the Rosslyn Chapel, which is located south of Edinburgh.

The journey to Jedburgh took slightly over 3 hours, through a combination of A1 motorway towards Newcastle, round the “ring road” bypassing Newcastle and then followed by A68 towards Jedburgh. A68 passes through the town and we followed the road signs to the Jedburgh Abbey.

We parked the car at a public car park next to the river, across from Jedburgh Abbey, a prominent tourist spot in this town. An information board described how Jedburgh got its name. It used to be called “Jedworth” – meaning “an open space by a twist in the river”. Later, it was given the status of a “burgh” – a place with special privileges granted by the King. Hence Jedburgh.

View of Jedburgh Abbey and Mill House from the car park.

We crossed the stone bridge and walked pass the abbey on the way to the town centre or market place.

Jedburgh Abbey Mill. Scottish flag reminding us that we have crossed the border into Scotland.

Jedburgh Abbey, Scotland.

Jedburgh has a few other interesting sites such as the Castle Jail and Mary Queen of Scots Visitor Centre. Our main focus was to look for a place to have lunch.

We walked past the Castle Jail and Museum but did not venture inside.

Soon to be obsoleted red telephone box on the way to the Market Place.

Colourful houses at the Jedburgh Market Place.

Town was quiet and almost deserted.

In commemoration of Golden Jubilee of the reign of Queen Victoria 1887.

Vintage looking postbox at Jedburgh. Soon to be obsoleted too?

It was about 2 PM when we had our lunch.

Coffee with love – at the restaurant serving fish and chips.

From Jedburgh, we continued up the A68 towards Edinburgh. We decided to go to the small town of Roslin, to see the Rosslyn Chapel which is a location featured in the book and movie “Da Vinci Code”.

Roslin is located on the outskirt of Edinburgh. It required a short detour off the A68, through some smaller A-roads and residential areas to get there. It was not difficult to find, thanks to signposts and directions from the Rosslyn Chapel website. 

From the car park at the Rosslyn Chapel, we walked towards the historic and famous building but it was shrouded in tarpaulin and scaffoldings. A major restoration was in progress, so no photos of the chapel from the outside. The admission fees into the chapel was steep, and it was almost closing time. So we decided not go into the chapel but just took a walk and look from the outside.

Then, it was off to Edinburgh which is about an hour away from Roslin.

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