Essential York
York Minster
York Minster is loved the World over, and is a treasured place of Christian worship. Built using limestone from quarries in nearby Tadcaster, the Cathedral’s beginnings can be dated to 1230. This awe inspiring structure is the second largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe.
Today the team at York Minster have embarked on a £10 million project to promote the highly skilled arts of stone-masonry and stained glass conservation. York Minster has secured a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to provide the funds to ensure that future generations retain the skills to maintain such historic landmarks.
This project not only celebrates and protects York Minster, but it is the start of an exciting time for learning at the site. Through interpretation the last two thousand years of York Cathedral will come to life and be shared with others.
Many passionate people work behind the scenes at York Minster, and the conservation effort to retain it for the future and hopefully the next 2,000 years is to be both revered and applauded. Like the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty, don’t come home until you have seen it for yourself.
York Racecourse
The first recorded race meeting in York has been traced back to the time when Queen Anne was on the throne, and the Duke Of Marlborough was off winning the battle of Malplaquet. After using several locations around the city, York Racecourse itself took shape at Knavesmere in 1754. It was at this time that the first grandstand was erected, designed by architect John Carr.
Many of Carr’s designs can be seen around Northern England and in York itself he also designed the Pikeing Well, the Assize Courts, Bootham Park Hospital and the Women’s Prison. Be sure to check out the New Walk where Carr’s Pikeing Well stil stands today. The walk is a tree lined avenue approximately one mile in length that was created in the 1730s.
You’re not just taking in the history of horse racing at York racecourse, you are taking in the history of York. Highwayman Dick Turpin was hanged at Knavesmere in 1739. It’s not all about the history though, York is an excellent and highly rated flat course with a capacity to house 60,000 spectators. Every year it stages the Ebor Handicap, which takes place during the Ebor Festival meeting in August.
If you are in and around the racecourse on raceday, tune in to York Raceday Radio (1602 MW)
National Railway Museum
As well as its own history, York is home to the history of the railway in Great Britan. The National Railway Museum walks you through the history of rail transport in the UK and how it impacted on society with its large collection of locomotives, artifacts and records from the time.The museum is located on the site of an old locomotive power depot next to the East Coast Main Line.
It is the largest museum of its type in Britain and spans approximately 20 acres. Leave yourself plenty of time to get around the museum as over three hundred years of history amounts to around three quarters of a million objects for you to look at and learn about. And I have saved the best bit until last, the NRM is free to enter.
York Opera House
The Grand Operas House is York’s entertainment centre. Built on the site of the old Corn Exchange it now plays host to all types of theatrical performance.
The Corn Exchange dates back to the mid nineteenth century. It was developed to become the Grand Opera House in 1902 upon the request of its then owner William Peacock. Like many sites in York, it has an interesting architectural history, and maintains a lot of the features from the original structure. This red brick and terracotta building also boasts a great theatrical history. It was a popular Music Hall venue throughout its early days and was managed by the Peacock family until 1945.
In more recent times, the building was acquired by the Ambassador Theatre Group in 2009. Its diversity is reflected in its Autumn 2010 programme which includes the musical Tell Me On A Sunday, Comedian Jimmy Carr and a performance of Sleeping Beauty by the Vienna Festival Ballet.