C5

By ALAN SEARS
For The Daily Gleaner

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

British author Kate Atkinson titled her award winning first novel Behind the Scenes at the Museum. It is set in the English city of York and, since no actual museum figures in the story, I take the title to be, at least in part, a reference to the historic city itself that is a popular tourist destination.

1 of 2

CITY WALLS: York has more kilometres of intact city walls than any place in England and it is possible to do almost a complete circuit of the old city walking on the walls.

GOTHIC CATHEDRAL: York is dominated by the massive towers of York Minster Cathedral. It was built over the remains of a Norman cathedral in the 12th and 13th centuries and is the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe.

York has a long history as a major settlement dating from Roman times. The Roman fortress there became one of the most important settlements in the region and capital of Britannia Inferior (Lower Britain).

In 306 Eborcaum, the Roman name for York, became central in Imperial politics when the Emperor Constantius and his son Constantine visited. While there, the older man died and the troops immediately proclaimed Constantine Emperor.

A statue of Constantine commemorating the event occupies a central place in the square outside York Minister Cathedral.

Four centuries after the Romans left Britain in 410, the Vikings arrived in York establishing a settlement that lasted about 200 years.

Shortly after 1066, York became an important Norman centre and in later English history was a key bastion in the Wars of the Roses and the English Civil War.

The current walls that encircle most of the city were first built between the 11 and 14th centuries.

York has more kilometres of intact city walls than any place in England and it is possible to do almost a complete circuit of the old city walking on the walls.

The walk offers great views of the warren of ancient streets and buildings that form the old city as well as excavations of walls from the Roman period and the beautiful parks surrounding the cathedral.

York is dominated by the massive towers of York Minster Cathedral - or simply the Minister, as it is known by locals.

The Minister was first built over the remains of a Norman cathedral in the 12th and 13th centuries and is the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe.

The architecture is spectacular and stunning carvings and beautiful stained glass windows combine to create a compelling worship space.

Hearty visitors can climb the 275 steps to the tower where they will be rewarded with very nice views over the rooftops and walls of York and out into the green fields of Yorkshire.

One of the most interesting parts of a tour of the Minster is the crypt. It isn't, as it is in many cathedrals, only a visit to the tombs of the famous and infamous but a walk through the history of York itself.

In the late 1980s excavations in the crypt as part of an effort to shore up the sagging towers of the Minister laid bare ruins and foundations for both the Roman settlement at York and the Norman cathedral that preceded the Minster.

A museum has been created with a very good audio tour that takes visitors through the various groups who settled York and shows detailed models of their architecture and settlement patterns.

In addition to the Minster, there are more than 50 historic churches in the city of York there but there are also more than 100 pubs - I'll leave to others a determination of what that says about the place.

Many of the pubs are also quite historic and engaging places with wood panelled nooks and crannies and all kinds of interesting things hanging on the walls. Not to mention the ghosts, which almost all claim to have hanging around.

One of the more interesting pubs is the Punch Bowl, which takes pride in having been a Whig hangout for more than 300 years.

The name comes from the Whig preference for drinking punch as opposed to their Tory counterparts' partiality for more upscale beverages such as claret and port.

The pubs of York are wonderful places to enjoy a meal or just to have a cold drink and read the paper or a book in the afternoon.

At the end of the novel Behind the Scenes at the Museum the main character laments that the constant stream of tourists has turned York "into an upmarket shopping mall . . . like one big, incredibly expensive souvenir shop."

The place is certainly almost constantly teaming with tourists and there is a sense at times that it is artificial.

But attending Evensong at the Minister or enjoying a pint in a pub allows one to get behind the scenes and experience York as a living place and not a staid and sterile museum.