York & Cambridge

Back in 1991, Mom and I had ended up being in the UK during the Gulf War. That trip had included an afternoon stop in York with a visit to York Minster. All of the church bells in York were ringing because the war had ended that day. There were military personnel and vehicles all over York then too.

In 2017, we arrived in York the previous afternoon and, the following day, I had a full day in York to spend as I wished. Since I wasn’t feeling quite 100%, I decided to set out early and return early enough to get some extra rest to try to stave off actually becoming ill.

The B&B in York was a little fancier than the one in Shrewsbury and more like a hotel. The room where we had breakfast was set up like a restaurant with separate tables and menus. It was run by two very nice ladies who had both dogs and cats, but kept the animals in their quarters and didn’t allow them to wander around where the guests would be.

While waiting for my order, one of the dogs managed to escape the kitchen and made a beeline straight for me. As a dog lover who was missing my own little fur ball, I was more than happy to pet the darling Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who was snuggling against me. One of his mamas noticed he was missing and came out to get him. He knew he was in for a scolding, but I guess he figured it was worth it. He obediently slinked back into the kitchen.

I was trying to time my arrival at York Minster for roughly opening time, which was 9am. Minster is a designation for a cathedral that dates to Anglo-Saxon times. The Bishop of York was in existence as far back as 314. The first recorded building on the site was a wooden structure in 627. That incarnation burned down and was replaced in the 10^th century. This version was rebuilt by King Edward I in the 1200s. Edward also built the Chapter House.

I headed down Bishopsgate to get to one of the gates in the wall. The B&B was on the opposite end of town from the Minster, but I had decided to start with the farthest point where I wanted to go and work my way back. On my way to the gate, I passed a grocers and a bakery. I planned to stop at both on my way back.

My memory of York Minster had been of a dark and crowded gigantic Gothic building where we had been hurried along and strained to hear our guide over the rest of the noise. When I entered the Minster, I was told of a tour that was coming up shortly that I could join. I thanked the woman who told me and purposely started my own tour in a different part of the building. I wanted to be able to see everything and take photographs of what I wanted. I had purchased a book on the cathedral back in 1991 and read it before I left home, so I was already aware of the history.

Much of the stained glass dated back as far as the 12^th century. The Rose Window (which I did remember from before) was quite beautiful.

The Screen of Kings dates to the 15^th century and portrays all of the kings of England from William the Conqueror to Henry VI. The quire is located behind the screen.

A younger brother of Edward, the Black Prince (son of Edward III and father of Richard II) was buried in the Minster. His name was William of Hatfield and he died as a child.

After a couple of hours exploring every inch of York Minster, I set off down a different street to see another part of York. The city was originally founded by the Romans in 71 AD as Eboracum. When the Vikings took over, it was called Jorvik. The river that flows through the city is the River Ouse.

I made my way through as many medieval streets as possible to get to The Shambles. This is a street where the majority of the buildings date back to between 1350 and 1475. They were originally butcher shops. The unique feature was that each story of the buildings overhung the floor below, so the buildings almost met over the street at the topmost floors.

The street was mentioned in the Doomesday Book of 1086, so it existed at least that far back. Most of the buildings were still shops – fudge, candles, chocolates, gifts and many other items are sold.

One that wasn’t a shop and was open to the public was a shrine to Saint Margaret Clitherow. She was pressed to death in 1586 for refusing to enter a plea regarding whether or not she was sheltering priests. Catholicism and harboring priests were against the law at that time. The front of the building slants in an interesting manner. Some of the timbers used were from a ship and still followed the curve of the ship.

Down near the end of The Shambles, I passed through an arch into an area that had several tables set up under tents and a number of stalls and wagons with various foods. I stopped at a place with kind of an interesting mix of Middle Eastern and French food. The fella who ran it was French and his assistant was Polish. I ordered a crepe with hummus, avocado, onions, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and several grilled vegetables, plus a sauce. The drink was fresh-squeezed lemonade with mint (which had been very common as a drink in both Turkey and Jordan when I had been there).

After I sat down at a table to tackle my lunch (which was served in a paper funnel that I could peal down as I ate), a couple asked if they could join me. I said “certainly”. They were both in their early thirties. She was originally from Florida and he was from York. They had met in York and lived there together.

He was a mechanic and she was a barista. One of the first things I said as they sat down was how much I liked her purple hair. That broke the ice and they were very friendly and talkative. I enjoyed their company.

Full and happy, I headed for the Medieval Guildhall, which had been built in 1357. The undercroft was originally a hospital and almshouse for the poor. It also had a chapel still in use. The upstairs had several rooms, the largest being the Great Hall. The building was pretty much original.

From the Guildhall, I went to Fairfax House, which was a Georgian Townhouse only a quarter of its original size, but still mighty impressive. They didn’t allow photos inside. It was built in the 1740s for a Viscount named Fairfax. He died without any heirs, so the house passed through various hands until it became rundown and parts of it had been demolished. It was acquired by the city in 1970 and, with the additional acquisition of loads of Georgian furniture from one of the leading merchant families of York, the house was restored and the furniture displayed.

I had planned to also visit the Jorvik Viking Center, but was nearing the end of my energy. It was then about 3pm. So I headed home, stopping off at the bakery and grocers as planned. I had an early dinner and went to bed early.

The next morning we left for Stamford on our way to Cambridge. It took a long time to get to Stamford because of a car crash that narrowed southbound traffic to one lane.

An old Anglo-Saxon town, Stamford’s current buildings dated mainly to the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th centuries. It had lots of churches. One of my favorite buildings was the London Inn, which used to be a coaching inn.

By the time we arrived in Cambridge, we were still behind schedule. Several of the places that offered lunch were no longer offering it. So it took some time to find a place, which I did, a bit off the beaten trail. The food was Middle Eastern and the people who ran it didn’t speak much English. But they were friendly and the food was good.

My main goals for the day had been to tour King’s College and Queen’s College and perhaps take a ride in a punt on the River Cam, but I didn’t have the time to do it all. The punt had a very long line to get on one and would have taken up all of my time, so I chose to visit King’s College. I paid for one ticket to get into the college and another to view the chapel. Then I started my tour.

Founded in 1441 by King Henry VI, shortly after he founded Eton College at Windsor, his plans for King’s College were disrupted by the War of the Roses. Henry VII (Henry Tudor) took an interest in the college and worked on it and the chapel (which had also been started by Henry VI). His son, Henry the VIII completed the chapel, adding the quire screen during the time he was married to Anne Boleyn.

The King’s College Chapel is considered to be one of the finest examples of Perpendicular Gothic Architecture in existence. It contains the world’s largest fan vaulted ceiling. I spent a good amount of time wandering around the chapel, its side rooms and the grounds of King’s College before heading back through Queen’s College.

Queens’ College had been founded in 1448 by Henry VI’s wife, Margaret of Anjou and re-founded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville, who was Edward IV’s queen. Some of its graduates have included Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Being a fan of all three, I was particularly interested in this college. It straddles both sides of the Cam River with a really picturesque wooden walking bridge connecting the two. Most of the buildings are Medieval on the one side of the river and a mixture of Medieval and modern on the other side.

When we got back to London, we were deposited at the Victoria Bus Station. I took a taxi from there to my hotel for the night. I walked to a nearby sandwich shop to pick up dinner, by which time it was nearly 9pm. I had a train to catch in the morning.

Next time – the Best of Scotland in a Day Tour

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