York 1998

York

September 21-23, 1998

I decided (adamantly) that I was going to go to York. York is the ancient capital of Northern England, a former Viking stronghold (there's a viking museum there that boasts of smelling like York did during the Viking times), the holding of Richard III (alledged killer of the Princes in the Tower at the end of the fifteenth century, not that I buy it) before he met his end at the hands of Henry VII, and, as much as I can tell, the county seat of the shire from which my father's family originated. (Walkley, if you must know, breaks down into two distinct words: Walk and Ley/Lea, which means fields. All this means is that my ancestors were probably peasants.) There is a Walkley Clogs business in western Yorkshire, fairly well known as I even saw a pamphlet about it.

York Walk

York Walk, York

The city of York was originally settled many, many years ago by the Celts. Eventually, the Romans made their way up to York and built a fortress, some walls, and other buildings. You can still see remains of the Roman wall beneath the more recent (but still very old) York city walls, built in medieval times.

As you can see, the medieval builders thoughtfully provided a ledge for the willing tourist to walk upon, should they choose. I am sure that when the walls (and ledges) were actually built, tourists weren't on their minds. Given what little I know about medieval cities and their defenses, this ledge was probably used by the defenders of the city to repel attackers. For those, like me, who are scared of heights, the lack of a rail does make for a queasy stomach. But the ledge is never that far off the ground and, at least in these pictures, there is some nice, grassy ground to land on should you fall.

York Abbey I arrived in York during the afternoon of September 21, a Monday. I took the train from Betws-Y-Coed in northern Wales, changing trains at Manchester. The entire train trip took about 5 hours. I had planned on not doing to much the rest of that day. After all, I had some laundry that needed to be done and I was getting to be sight-seed out (not sure that is a word but you get the idea).

The B&B proprietor sent me to a landrette down the street, about 1/2 mile away. I actually ended up doing two loads (colors and whites). I could have left it for the attendants to do, but that would have cost more and I did not trust them to wash the colors in the delicate cycle. So I stayed. To do laundry, I had to purchase to tokens and some soap, which cost about $3-$4. Kind of expensive by US standards. Then I had to dry them. Three dryers (and about $6 later), the clothes were mostly dry. I took them back to the B&B and let them continue drying on the hangers.

I finished with laundry about dinner time so I decided to take a night tour. The YorkWalk, or Snickelways tour, started about 7 p.m. Snickelways is a word dreamed up by a resident of York, used to describe the various winding passages the permeate York. It is very easy to get yourself turned around. Our guide (there were only three of us on the tour), Dominick, was very excited as he was off to university very shortly. I forget where he said he was going.

From the tour, I deduced that York itself (the touristy part of it) is not all that large. Very self-contained within a 1-2 square mile area. This was further reinforced the next morning, when I boarded the Guide Friday bus for a quick tour of the city during the day. Guide Friday is a wonderful invention, and most major cities in England have them (except London, but they have other vendors). The person (in this case me) purchases a ticket from the busdriver. Then you can get on and off the bus as you wish for the rest of the day. While on the bus, you get to hear about the city from a tour guide, who tells you what you're driving past and a bit of history about it. And it's not all that expensive, either.

Cliffords Tower

Cliffords Tower, York

On Tuesday, September 22, I took the Guide Friday bus from my B&B into York (by this time I was beginning to feel the blisters, which would cause me much pain during the final week of my trip, and wanted to give my feet a rest). I hopped off at Clifford's Tower, the last remaining remnant of the Castle of York. Clifford's Tower is the site of an anti-Semitic riot and massacre in 1190, and a plaque to the victims of that action is posted outside. It is perched on the summit of a small hill, so one is required to climb a rather lengthy set of stairs to get there. There really isn't all that much to the Tower. I climbed up to the tops of the turrets and looked around, took some pictures.

I then crossed the street over to the York Castle Museum. This was the only museum I visited during my time in England, and it really wasn't worth the time and effort. I was not impressed. After about an hour, I left and walked over to the Shambles.

The Shambles is a narrow lane of shops. It used to be where the butchers lived and worked, and was probably pretty disgusting looking and smelling in the middle ages, when sanitation wasn't a great concern. Now, it's very pretty. There is a cobblestone street (again, not all that great on the blisters), a market, and the most gravity-defying dwellings I have seen. Either to get more room (at least I think that's the reason) or because of some legal restrictions on how wide the lane between the houses needed to be, owners of homes and/or businesses on the street began building their upstairs rooms out over the street. In some instances, the buildings got so close together that I am sure people could climb over from one window to the other.

After lunch, I went on another walking tour of York, this time showcasing Roman York. The tour was offered by the same people that did the Snickelways tour of the night before. The tour lasted about 2 hours, and we spent a lot of it walking on the wall ledges, looking at evidence of Roman occupation. The Romans originally called York Eboracum (later renamed Eoforwic by the Saxons). Since it's been about a year since I went on the tour, I don't recall everything I saw. Just that I saw a lot.

After dinner (at Pizza Hut, no less and no, I don't want to hear how I should have eaten the local foods), I went on the Original Ghost Walk of York, another walking tour. It's main intent is to walk the tour participants around various parts of the city and tell ghost stories. Since there isn't much else to do at night, it's a good way to see things, hear a bit of history about them, and then hear some legends and stories about some deceased locals (everyone talked about is usually long dead).