York – Where Old Meets New

When getting advice on what to do in York, the most common answer given was to walk the city walls, so Kevin and I decided to do just that. Originally built more than 1900 years ago by the Romans (seriously, what in England wasn’t originally built by them?), a good portion of the walls has been kept and maintained throughout the centuries. In fact, they are considered to be the most intact medieval city walls in the country.

Once surrounding the entire city, the remaining portions are indicated by the bold black lines

While on the way out to the start of our wall walk, I immediately became distracted by crumbling old buildings and taking pictures as Kevin will tell you is a common occurrence with me. Also, a cool fog had rolled in which made for some really good shots.

Distractions out of the way, we finally made it to the start of our York Wall Walk. When people talked about the walls in York, I guess I incorrectly assumed that the walls would be similar to the elusive Hadrian’s Wall that Kevin and I could not find in that there was very little actually left and that you merely walked along side the walls. However, I was mistaken. The walls in York stretch for almost 2 miles when you combine them , and you actually walk up along them, affording a spectacular view of the city.

One of the gates to the city

After we walked about half of the walkway, we stopped to visit a few museums – Clifford Tower, York Castle Museum and Jorvik Viking Center. As one of the benefits of our English Heritage Membership, we got in free at Clifford Tower – the only remaining part of the old York Castle that has a great view of the city skyline.

After Clifford’s Tower it was a short walk across the parking lot to York Castle Museum. The museum sits on the site of the former castle (hence the name) and houses a collection of items that represent York’s cultural history. It was different than the normal museum that focuses on archaeology or a castle, and made a great stop on the tour of York. The museum houses a great collection of furniture from the 1700’s to present day – arranged to depict key rooms in a York family’s home at different periods in time. There’s also an exhibit depicting aspects of York life in Victorian times from birth to death and my personal favorite – an exhibit about how women throughout history cleaned their houses. Definitely worth a visit should you make it to York.

Kevin tries his hand at being an Elizabethan soldier This causes Kevin to be thrown in the stockade

Next up on the tour de museums was the Jorvik Viking Center. Until recently, I didn’t realize how much of England the Vikings once controlled. Perhaps their biggest stronghold in England was York. During the period of 1979-1981, archaeologists uncovered the well preserved remains of a 10th century Viking village. The site was excavated and then turned into a below ground museum where the city of Jorvik has been recreated in 3D based upon the wooden remains of the buildings that were found. In addition, the artifacts recovered, including the World’s Largest piece of fossil poo (seriously) are displayed for visitors.

After we got our fill of museums for the day, we continued on our wall walk and wound up at York Minster. Like most things in this city, the Mister sits on the former site of a Norman Church and Roman fort. The beginnings of the Minster that we see today were built in the 13th century by the man that later built Westminster in London. It has been added to throughout the centuries until it became the building we see today.

Up Next – The Cold War hits York. See you tomorrow if I don’t die from Swine Flu first…