By Ines Keane
Two rivers meet at York, and a fortress went up on the flat ground between them in the year 71. Nearly everything else the sources mention, the walls, the Minster, the narrow lanes, follows on from that choice of site.
Where it is, and how old
Wikipedia calls York a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss. Wikipedia says the city was founded as Eboracum in AD 71, when the Ninth Legion conquered the Brigantes and built a wooden military fortress on flat ground above the Ouse. Britannica gives the same year and says Eboracum served as the Romans’ northern military headquarters until they withdrew about 400.
After that the names change. Wikipedia says the Old English Eoforwic became Jorvik, the capital of Viking territory in Britain, with more than 10,000 inhabitants at its peak. Britannica says the Danes took York in 867, kept it as their Northumbrian capital, and that the present name comes from the Danish Yorvick.
How many people live there now? Here the sources part. One passage in the Wikipedia article gives the built-up area a recorded population of 141,685 at the 2021 census. Another passage in the same article gives approximately 202,800 for 2021, citing the Office for National Statistics. We are not choosing.
The walls
Britannica says the medieval walls are 2.5 miles (4 km) in circumference and date from the 14th century, and that they incorporate remnants of the original Roman fortifications. Wikipedia’s York article agrees on the circuit, about 2.5 miles (4 km), and adds that it encloses 263 acres (106 hectares). Its article on the walls says they are generally 13 feet (4 m) high and 6 feet (1.8 m) wide.
Wikipedia lists four main gatehouses, or bars: Bootham Bar, Monk Bar, Walmgate Bar and Micklegate Bar. It says most of Walmgate Bar was built in the 14th century, though its inner gateway dates from the 12th. Micklegate takes its name, the article says, from the Old Norse for “great road”. The entry that follows it, which we read as Micklegate’s, puts the lower section in the 12th century and the top storeys in the 14th, and says the original barbican was removed in 1826.
One stretch of the circuit never had a wall. In the north-east, Wikipedia says, the Norman moat of York Castle, formed by damming the Foss, also made a lake that served as a city defence.
The Shambles
Wikipedia calls the Shambles a narrow medieval street of shops and tea rooms. The name, it says, comes from the Old English for a bench or stall, and in the street’s case it meant butchers’ stalls. By 1426 it was known as the “Great Flesh Shambles”, later shortened. The article says a Domesday Book entry of 1086 listing two butchers’ stalls near St Crux has been identified with it. In 1885 there were thirty-one butchers’ shops along it. None remain, though some shopfronts still have meat hooks outside. The article says many of the buildings date from about 1350 to 1475, that they are timber-framed with jettied upper floors, and that almost all are listed.
The Minster
Wikipedia’s article on the Minster says the first record of a church on the site dates to 627, and that the bulk of the present building was put up between 1220 and 1472. Britannica calls it the largest Gothic church in England, built between the 13th and 15th centuries. Wikipedia describes it elsewhere as the second-largest Gothic cathedral of Northern Europe, 524.5 feet (159.9 m) long, with a central tower 235 feet (72 m) high.
The two Wikipedia articles do not agree on when building began. The York article says Archbishop Thomas started the cathedral that became the current Minster around 1080. The Minster article says the present building was begun about 1230 and completed in 1472. We do not decide between them.
The glass gets the superlatives. Wikipedia says the east window is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world, and that about two million pieces of glass make up the stained-glass windows. The Great East Window was designed by John Thornton from 1405 and is 77 feet (23 m) tall and 32 feet (9.8 m) wide. One line says it depicts the Last Judgment; another says scenes from the Book of Revelation. The Five Sisters window in the north transept has five lancets, each over 53 feet (16.3 m) high, filled with grisaille glass.
Dates in order
- 71: Eboracum founded, according to Wikipedia and Britannica.
- 627: first recorded church on the Minster site, according to Wikipedia.
- 867: the Danes take York, according to Britannica.
- 1086: Domesday entry for butchers’ stalls, according to Wikipedia.
- About 1080 or about 1230: Minster building begins, according to two Wikipedia articles that differ.
- 14th century: the medieval walls, according to Britannica.
- 1426: “Great Flesh Shambles”, according to Wikipedia.
- 1472: the Minster completed, according to Wikipedia.
What kind of sources these are
Wikipedia is an open encyclopaedia and gave most of the detail, across four articles. Britannica is an edited encyclopaedia and is the second source for the founding, the walls and the Minster. We read no page from the city, the Minster or a tourism board, and give no opening times or fees.
Quick answers
How long are York’s city walls? About 2.5 miles (4 km) in circumference, according to both Britannica and Wikipedia.
Why is it called the Shambles? According to Wikipedia, the name comes from an Old English word for a bench or stall, and the street was where butchers sold meat.
How big is York Minster’s east window? Wikipedia says the Great East Window is 77 feet (23 m) tall and 32 feet (9.8 m) wide, and calls it the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world.
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Roam first. Shop later.