A list of places to visit in York 🏰

York - Wiki

• York is a cathedral city with Roman origins at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire.
• The city was founded as Eboracum in 71 AD
• The city had a population of 153,717 in the 2011 census. The wider district had a mid-2019 est. population of 210,618, making it the 87th most populous in England
• The Old French and Norman name of the city following the Norman Conquest was recorded as Everwic (modern Norman Évèroui) in works such as Wace's Roman de Rou. Jórvík, meanwhile, gradually reduced to York in the centuries after the Conquest, moving from the Middle English Yerk in the 14th century through Yourke in the 16th century to Yarke in the 17th century. The form York was first recorded in the 13th century
• York was voted European Tourism City of the Year by European Cities Marketing in June 2007, beating 130 other European cities to gain first place
• York was also voted safest place to visit in the 2010 Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Choice Awards In 2018
• The Sunday Times deemed York to be its overall 'Best Place to Live' in Britain 2018
• During Roman times, the land surrounding the Ouse and Foss was marshy, making the site easy to defend.
• York is the headquarters of the confectionery manufacturer Nestlé York (formerly Nestlé Rowntrees) and home to the KitKat and eponymous Yorkie bar chocolate brands. Terry's chocolate factory, makers of the Chocolate Orange, was located in the city; but it closed on 30 September 2005, when production was moved by its owners, Kraft Foods, to Poland. The historic factory building is situated next to the Knavesmire racecourse.
• Yorkshire's largest beer festival every September run by York CAMRA – York Beer & Cider Festival.
• York ham, a mild-flavored ham with delicate pink coloring. It is traditionally served with Madeira Sauce. (Mentioned on my Madeira blog post)

Places to visit:

York's Chocolate Story - Website - Location - Wiki

• Opened in March 2012, it shows the history of chocolate making in York, including the Rowntree's factory which opened in 1890, owned since 1988 by Nestlé.
• In 2018 it won gold in the Guided Tour of the Year category of the VisitEngland Awards.

Yorkshire Museum - Website - Location - Wiki

• It was opened in Feb 1830 (which makes it one of the longest established museums in England), and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy.
• Founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS) to accommodate their geological and archaeological collections, and was originally housed in Ousegate (A street in town), York, until the site became too small. In 1828, the society received by royal grant, 10 acres (0.040 km2) of land formerly belonging to St Mary's Abbey.
• Grade I listed building.
• Museum Gardens - Location

The Ghost Bus Tours York - Website

• Sightseeing bus tour around York, will tell you stories to do with key buildings and areas of York.

York Minster - Website - Location - Wiki

• The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire.
• The minster was completed in 1472 after several centuries of building
• It is devoted to Saint Peter, and has a very wide Decorated Gothic
• The first recorded church on the site was a wooden structure built hurriedly in 627
• Some of the stained glass in York Minster dates back to the 12th century and much of the glass (white or coloured) came from Germany.

Monk Bar - Website - Location

• is the largest and most ornate of the bars, it dates from the early 14th century. It was a self-contained fortress
• Monk Bar has the city’s only working portcullis, in use until 1970.

St. Mary’s Abbey - Website - Location - Wiki

• is a ruined Benedictine abbey. The original church on the site was founded in 1055 and dedicated to Saint Olaf.

Shambles - Location - Wiki

• is an old street in York, some dating back as far as the fourteenth century
• It was once known as The Great Flesh Shambles, probably from the Anglo-Saxon Fleshammels (literally 'flesh-shelves'), the word for the shelves that butchers used to display their meat. In 1885, thirty-one butchers' shops were located along the street, but now none remain.
• "Shambles" is an obsolete term for an open-air slaughterhouse and meat market.
• During that period there were no sanitary facilities or hygiene laws as exist today, and guts, offal, and blood were thrown into a runnel down the middle of the street or open space where the butchering was carried out.
• It’s said this place was inspiration for Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter franchise.

Clifford's Tower - Location - Wiki

• Built originally on the orders of William I to dominate the former Viking city of Jórvík
• After a major explosion in 1684 rendered the remaining military defenses uninhabitable, York Castle continued to be used as a jail and prison until 1929.
• During the Scottish wars between 1298 and 1338, York Castle was frequently used as the centre of royal administration across England, as well as an important military base of operations.

City Walls - Location - Wiki

• Comprise 3.4km (2 miles) of surviving masonry. A walk round the walls takes about 2 hours
• They were built mainly in the 13th century of magnesian limestone

Coffee ☕

• Brew & Brownie - Location - Website
• Gatehouse Coffee - Location - Website
• Daughter Café - Location
• Drift-In York - Location
• The Perky Peacock - Location
• Bison Coffee House - Location
• Partisan - Location

Next time

• Golden Fleece York (Pub) - Website - Location
• JORVIK Viking Centre - Location
• The York Dungeon - Location
• Barley Hall - Location
• National Trust - Treasurer's House - Location
• Dean's Park - Location
• National Railway Museum York - Location
• Beety’s Tea room (afternoon tea) - Location