Last Days in England

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Made it to our next to last city in England on 2 July. York has an extensive and varied history. First settled by the Romans who, of course, erected walls and other durable structures, followed by Saxons, Vikings, Normans then evolving into the English we know today. Quite a lot of history, but the Minster (think cathedral) is the most impressive sight. Construction began in 1230 and required a full 250 years for completion. It's the largest we have seen on this trip. The Middle Ages stained glass is breathtaking. There is more in this one cathedral than exists in the entire remainder of England. The reason it exists here is during the English Civil War York was pro-royal, but the commander of the Parliamentary forces who subdued the town was from York, and he precluded destruction of the stained glass as the crazed Reformists did elsewhere. BTW, today is July, 4th but we saw no celebrations. We had imagined the British would celebrate getting rid of us. Another BTW, HP is no longer suggesting to Bird England would be a nice place to relocate. The weather is very seldom even 70 F and something, generally not much, falls from the sky each day.

Bird was so looking forward to visiting our last English city, Cambridge, its Trinity College and Wren Library. However, no visitors have been allowed since the COVID pandemic began making the stop something of a bust. Silver living for readers as only two pictures.

Okay, we wing across the Irish Sea to Dublin tomorrow for a special treat. Stay tuned. Last note, one of us always becomes a bit sad when something ends. Including tomorrow we will have been to the Heathrow airport four times and very likely never again. Sure, London is no Rome (what is), but it's a fabulous city. The British Museum is way past amazing. Go there folks.

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Photos

York's Medieval Wall
As in other places with extensive walls, they can be walked, so off we skipped. Largely these Medieval folks built on top of the preexisting Roman wall.

York Minster from Wall
Snapped shot of the Minster as we journeyed along the wall. This is the only location we discovered where the entire Minster could be captured, albeit only upper elevation, as buildings clutter the view closer in.

Roman and Medieval Walls
We can clearly see where the Medieval wall is built upon the preexisting Roman one as Romans used the smaller stones.

Saint Mary's Abbey
Another Abby remains that would be glorious to see except for that scoundrel Henry VIII. This particular abbey has been been extensively scavenged for building stones. This small section remains as was used for background of a Middle Age market.

Stephenson's Rocket
York has a very large and extensive Railroad Museum. The Rocket, constructed in 1829, was an early engine that lighted the way for future engine development. Also present in the museum are a variety of bullet trains from the modern era, but the preponderance of the space is devoted to royal trains. Yes, they are rather opulent.

Front of York Minster
Scenes only become better from here.

Nave
This is a very large cathedral. The remainder of pictures are Medieval stained glass, and certainly not all that was present.

Chapter House
Bird's favorite. Entire picture actually more grand but was forced into excessive crop for the blog program to accept the file. There are eight or ten (don't recall exact number) of these sections.

Great West Window
Back of Minster.

Central Tower
Okay, not exclusively stained glass but some is present. Hight of the tower at the center of the Minster is 235 feet.

Great East Window
Fully the size of a tennis court.

Roman Column
Basilica column, along with fifteen others, existed at Roman York. This was the very spot where Constantine, later with the addition of "the great" added, was proclaimed Emperor of Rome in 306 AD. This is the fella who legalized Christianity within the Empire and converted to the new religion himself.

Round Church in Cambridge
Snapped this pix as round building is rather old being built in 1130. There was also one in town built even before the Norman Conquest with construction occurring in 1020, but some useless photographer neglected to take the picture.

King's Chapel
Picture from the back corner of the Nave. Henry VIII funded the Chapel, including the stained glass. During a period of crazy stained glass breaking, Henry declined to allow destruction here as he had paid the tab.

Comments

[carol a attaway]

All That glass
I thought the picture of all the sections was something then I saw the one you said was the size of a tennis court. How many glassmakers do you think worked on all these windows? The round church is so precious in comparison to the size of the cathedrals. Glad to hear you will not relocate to England but, have enjoyed your visit.