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York Minster

There has been a church on the site of York Minster since the seventh century. The first church was a wooden structure built for the baptism of King Edwin of Northumbria. Throughout the Saxon and Viking ages, from the Roman withdrawal to the Norman invasion in 1066, York was a centre of power in northern England. In the tenth century during the rule of King Edmund, the Archbishop of York, and his counterpart in Canterbury decided that England would be best organised in two halves. The north would be centred on York, York Minster symbolising this power base.

The church was destroyed and rebuilt a number of times. In 1075 it was burnt down by Danes, and then rebuilt in the Norman style in 1080. Then when Walter de Gray became Archbishop of York in 1215 he ordered rebuilding in a fashionable Gothic style. The result was one of the biggest Gothic cathedrals in Europe. The Gothic style in itself symbolised religion's continuing relationship with political and military power. Church architecture had long mimicked that of castles, ever since religious sites such as Stonehenge and Silbury Hill were built with structural echoes of the iron age castles of their day. These parallels then continued into later church architecture. G.K. Chesterton, in describing Lincoln Cathedral's Gothic architecture, has written: "The truth about Gothic is, first that it is alive, and second that it is on the march. It is the Church Militant... All its spires are spears at rest; and all its stones are stones asleep in a catapault. In that instant of illusion I could hear the arches clash like swords as they crossed each other. The mighty and numberless columns seemed to go swinging by like the huge feet of imperial elephants. The graven foliage wreathed and blew like banners going into battle; the silence was deafening with all the mingled sounds of the military march... And amid all the noise I seemed to hear the voice of a man shouting in the midst like one ordering regiments hither and thither in the fight; the voice of a great half-military master builder; the architect of spears." (From A Miscellany of Men by G.K. Chesterton. Quoted in The Plantagenets by John Harvey P92)

View from the top of York Minster tower

The connection between York Minster and more down to earth concerns continued into recent times. York minster was, in the late eighteenth century, the site of a revolutionary turning point in the history of geology. In the 1790s a mining surveyor named William Smith was observing through his work how rock sits in layers, and how different layers possess characteristic fossils. He began to think that rock layers, or strata, were formed at different times, and might provide a record of earth history. Unless land had been disturbed by violent geological forces, rock layers would become progressively older the deeper they sat in the earth. It was the view provided by York Minster tower that finally allowed Smith to confirm this theory. Looking out from the tower in 1794 he realised that British rocks are tipped towards the south east. Forces of erosion would generally flatten out this tipped landscape, revealing older rocks in raised western areas and younger rocks in lower land in the east. Smith could see a great swathe of land from the top of York Minster tower, and with his geological knowledge, he realised the rocks were getting older as he looked northwest. Smith then went on to create the first geological map of Britain which was finally published in 1815. It is a great irony of history that a cathedral tower, an expression of a school of thought which saw the world as unchanging, should provide the view that allowed William Smith to confirm that the world is changing all the time.

Address: York Minster, Church House, Ogleforth, York YO1 7JN.

Opening Times: The tower at York Minster is open every day, except Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and in severe weather.

Opening times are 9.45am - 4.45pm Monday to Saturday and 12.45pm - 4.45pm on Sunday. During July and August the tower is often open later.

From November to March opening is from 10am to thirty minutes before dusk.

Children under eight are not allowed and children under sixteen must be accompanied.

Directions: York Minster is in the centre of York close to the A19. Click here for an interactive map centred on York Minster.

Access: Wheelchair access to the Cathedral is good, but there is no access to the tower. There is a Touch and Hearing Centre, and a Braille guide.

Contact:

telephone: 01904 557216

fax: 01904 557218

e-mail: visitors@yorkminster.org

web: www.yorkminster.org

 

William Smith's geological map of Britain