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Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
November, 2010.
York began as Eboracum, the northernmost city in the Roman empire. It then became Eoforwic, the capital of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. The Vikings later took over the town and named it Jorvik. It was then invaded by Normans and destoyed, then rebuilt the city, with the walls which currently surround it. Henry VII used it as the Anglican Church's northern capital, and to this day the Archbishop of York is second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. York later became the railway hub of northern England, and today the main industry is tourism.
Like many other cities with town walls, you can walk atop much of the ones surrounding York.
The York Castle Museum sits on the former site of the York Castle before it was torn down, with Clifford's tower being the only remaining part of the original castle. The museum concentrates on the lives of ordinary people, ranging from the Victorian era to present day.
The Yorkshire Museum had just reopened a few months before we were there. It concentrates on the archaeological history of York, with artifacts from Roman, Viking, and Anglo-Saxon times. Not only is the museum sited next to the outdoor remains of St. Mary's Abbey, the museum is also built on top of parts of the original abbey, and you can see the foundation in the building's basement.
York Minster is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. It sits on the site of a former Roman fortress, but isn't the first church at that location. A smaller Norman church used to be there, and you can see parts of both the Roman and Norman foundations in the church's undercroft.
York Minster is both a cathedral (the seat of a bishop) and minster (derived from "mynster", the Anglo-Saxon name for a missionary church). While many abbeys were destroyed when Henry VII created the Church of England, York Minster was not part of a monastery, so was spared.
The National Railway Museum shows both Victorian-era history (such as Queen Victoria's royal car) and examples of recent trains (such as a Japanese bullet train). It includes a working turntable, a working cut-away steam engine, and even a miniature train you can ride on outside.
Durham is about 45 minutes north of York by train, and has England's third-oldest university. You can't miss its castle and cathedral as you go by on train. It was settled around the end of the 10th century when the body of St. Cuthbert arrived, and the castle and cathedral were built to house it.
The history of Durham Cathedral centers around St. Cuthbert, who was a leader in the early Christian Church of Northern England. His body was exhumbed years after he was buried and was found to be miraculously intact. The body became a shrine for many to visit, but when the Vikings raided where the body was kept, the monks fled with it and settled in Durham (after over 100 years of roaming) where the River Wear bends tightly and creates a peninsula which is easy to defend. The cathedral was built over where his body was buried.
