Pictures:
Top - York Minster from Petergate. Middle - The Shambles. Bottom - Clifford's Tower.
York - ‘Best-preserved mediaeval city in Britain’
Even in Viking times York (49M) was a flourishing commercial centre, (visit the Jorvik Viking Exhibition) but its mediaeval market and narrow streets with overhanging eaves have given the town its evocative character. The city's wealth came with horse-racing in the Georgian age and later again when the railway (visit the National Railway Museum) brought visitors from London. The City still benefits financially from both.
York Minster, its extensive city walls and narrow shopping streets no doubt make it the best-preserved mediaeval city in Britain. The 3 mile walk along the walls (which still stand around most of the old town’s perimeter) takes in views of the Minster and many of York’s historic buildings, as well as many carefully-planned modern buildings.
The Minster is one of the grandest gothic cathedrals in the whole of Europe, and is England’s largest mediaeval church, with its central tower at 198 feet high (60 metres). It took 250 years to build and was completed in 1472.
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