Bad birds of Horsforth

There are not only bad birds in York, but they are here in Horsforth, as well! I have a tub of strawberries, just turning pink and this am, while watering them, I found one half eaten!!

Day out in York

Had a lovely day out with friends today in York. I was brought up in York, so my tour was liberally peppered with a variety of information. Some of it was not at all relevant, I'm afraid as there was a lot more personal history than Roman or Norman history. Even that was very limited to my schoolgirl history memory, so my disappointment at not finding places to pour boiling oil or molten lead onto enemies from the Bars (no, not public bars), somewhat dominated at times.  I will try to make up for this by filling in with more adult information!


  Parked at the Park and Ride and went past the racecourse: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Racecourse

Went past Micklegate Bar a gatehouse in the City Walls, allowing entry (or not) to the city.

Then past the station:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_railway_station
One piece of irrelevant information I didn't offer was that my brother designed the roof for the station when it was renovated some years ago.


We alighted from the bus at Clifford's Tower also known as York Castle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford%27s_Tower


I have no adult information about the bad birds of York, but they figured so frequently we will remember them, I'm sure.


We went past (not in) the pub at King's Staith, which is frequently flooded.

Through Parliament St:

Into Pavement

Then through the Shambles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shambles

We had a sit down in King's Square:

Here we spoke of the Mystery Plays or Biblical pageants: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_play#English_mystery_plays
Then we went down Low Petergate:

and into the minster:
What's the difference between a cathedral and a minster, by the way? Here is one answer from Yahoo:

"A Cathedral is always the seat of a bishop (from cathedra which means throne) - a minster is usually related to an ecclesiastical establishment (ie a monastery) at some stage and may or may not have a bishop - but the application of the title is largely historic rather than accurate (a hangover from Anglo-Saxon times). Several cathedrals were the remanants of abbeys (monasteries) but do not have the minster appellation - eg St Alban's Abbey, Selby Abbey.
York is a minister (it includes a song school) and a cathedral (the seat of an arch-bishop no less) , but Selby Abbey is a cathedral only - but Beverley is a Minster only.
In reality they are all major churches (whether in a town or city) and no difference in architectural terms- the crucial difference is whether there is an associated bishop for the local area." 

(http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110112003800AALZJ2Q)

We went round the back of the Minster past St William's College:

http://www.york360.co.uk/attractions/st-williams-college.htm

and then up Monk Bar and along the walls

with lovely views of the Minster:

At Bootham Bar, we saw the Portcullis: A Portcullis was used for defensive purposes. The Portcullis was a heavy grilled door that was suspended from the gatehouse ceiling. The portcullis was meant to be lowered quickly in times of attack. Ropes could be rapidly slashed or a quick release catch was enabled. The portcullis would come crashing down blocking the entrance to the castle, the spikes impaling the enemy.

I began to think I was making up the 'Murder holes' for pouring boiling oil or molten lead onto enemies, but see this link: http://viewpictures.co.uk/Details.aspx?ID=103270&TypeID=1&searchtype=&contributor=0&licenses=1&sort=REL&cdonly=False&mronly=False

We then visited the King's Manor:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/inc/img.php/tpl/uploads/PrincipalsHouse-KingsManor-York.jpg/240/1/fill&imgrefurl=http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/a-city-left-behind/king-s-manor-victorian&usg=__tjJKIu-BRn5G84TRaCdizb63jFk=&h=156&w=240&sz=10&hl=en&start=0&sig2=Sn06m3t39VVV7Hs6eEealw&zoom=1&tbnid=wKZAdttQsKvqKM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=192&ei=w6XvTeagNZGs8QOssMGgCQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dking%2527s%2Bmanor%2Byork%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D596%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=930&vpy=286&dur=8771&hovh=124&hovw=192&tx=130&ty=103&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0
We had a picnic lunch in the Museum Gardens (with some bad birds of York), in sight of the famous Multangular tower,  the most noticeable and intact structure remaining from the Roman walls built in 210AD:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_city_walls