York, two thousand years of English history

York is perhaps the most complete historic city in England. In two thousand years it has been a Roman fortress where an emperor was proclaimed, a Viking capital, the kingdom's second city in the Middle Ages, the seat of one of the Church of England's two archbishops, and later a great railway junction and the home of chocolate. All these eras can still be read in its streets: the almost intact medieval walls, which you can walk along, the magnificent Gothic cathedral of the Minster, the crooked lanes of the Shambles with their timber-framed houses leaning over the street, and the railway and Viking museums. Compact and human in scale, with ancient pubs and tea rooms, York is less than two hours by train from London and half an hour from Leeds.

York at a glance

The city has about 200,000 inhabitants and stands at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss, in the middle of the Vale of York, between the North York Moors and the Wolds. Since 2024 it has been part of the new York and North Yorkshire combined authority, led by an elected mayor. It is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second most senior figure in the Church of England after the Archbishop of Canterbury, and of two universities, the University of York, founded in 1963, and York St John. It is one of the most visited cities in the UK, with millions of tourists a year, and its economy rests on tourism, services, education, research and technologies linked to the biosciences and the railways.

The history of York

Eboracum, Roman York

In AD 71 the Ninth Legion founded the fortress of Eboracum on the bank of the Ouse, which became the main military centre of northern Britain and capital of one of the island's provinces. Two emperors died here, Septimius Severus in 211 and Constantius Chlorus in 306, and here in 306 the troops acclaimed his son Constantine emperor, the future Constantine the Great who would legalise Christianity: his statue sits outside the Minster. Beneath the cathedral are the remains of the Roman headquarters, and a polygonal tower of the Roman walls, the Multangular Tower, can be seen in the Museum Gardens.

Jorvik, the Viking capital

After the Romans left, York became Eoforwic, capital of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria and a great centre of Christian learning, with a famous school where Alcuin, later adviser to Charlemagne, studied. In 866 the Vikings of the Danish "great army" captured the city and called it Jorvik: for almost a century it was the capital of a Viking kingdom and a busy trading port linked to Scandinavia, Ireland and the rest of Europe. Many of York's street names still end in -gate, from the Norse word gata, "street": Coppergate, Micklegate, Stonegate, Goodramgate. The Coppergate excavations of 1976 to 1981 uncovered Viking houses, workshops and everyday objects remarkably preserved in the waterlogged soil.

England's second city

After the Norman Conquest William the Conqueror built two castles to subdue the rebellious North, which he punished with a ferocious harrying. In 1190, in the castle's wooden tower, the city's Jewish community, besieged by a mob, met its death in one of the worst anti-Jewish massacres of medieval England; today the stone tower that replaced it, Clifford's Tower, keeps its memory. In the Middle Ages York, enriched by the wool trade and by guilds of merchants and craftsmen, was the kingdom's second city, and the House of York gave its name to the white rose of the Wars of the Roses. In 1570 Guy Fawkes was born here, the Catholic conspirator who in 1605 tried to blow up Parliament in London.

Railways and chocolate

In the 19th century the "Railway King" George Hudson made York one of the country's main railway junctions, on the line between London and Edinburgh; the great curved station of 1877 was then the largest in the world. In the same period the Quaker families Rowntree and Terry founded the chocolate and confectionery factories that employed thousands: the KitKat was born here in 1935, as were British Smarties, Fruit Pastilles and the famous Terry's Chocolate Orange. Joseph Rowntree was also a pioneer of social reform, and his son Seebohm carried out in York, in 1899, one of the first great scientific surveys of poverty.

What to see in York

York Minster

York Minster is one of the largest Gothic churches in northern Europe, built between 1220 and 1472 on the site of earlier churches. It holds the largest collection of medieval stained glass in the UK: the Great East Window, completed in 1408, is the size of a tennis court and the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the country, while the Five Sisters Window, with its grey and green grisaille glass, is a spectacle of light. You can visit the crypt and the undercroft with its Roman and Norman remains, and climb the 275 steps of the central tower for an exceptional view of the city. Choral Evensong is an unforgettable experience, and free.

The cathedral has also lived through dramatic moments. On the night of 9 July 1984 lightning set fire to the roof of the south transept: the heat cracked the great 16th-century Rose Window into some forty thousand pieces, but it miraculously stayed in place and was later restored piece by piece. The new transept vault was decorated with bosses designed by children through a competition run by a television programme, including one celebrating the Moon landing. Maintenance never stops: a stonemasons' yard and a glaziers' studio work permanently to conserve the building's stone and glass.

The walls and the bars

York has the most complete medieval city walls in England: about three and a half kilometres of walls, mostly from the 14th century and built partly on Roman and Viking foundations, can be walked for free, with superb views of the Minster and the rooftops. The old city gates are called bars: Bootham Bar, near the Minster, Monk Bar, the tallest, Walmgate Bar, the only one with its barbican still intact, and Micklegate Bar, on the road to London, where traitors' heads were displayed.

The Shambles and the historic centre

The Shambles is one of the best-preserved medieval streets in Europe: a narrow, crooked lane where the timber-framed upper storeys lean out until they almost touch. It was the butchers' street, and below the windows you can still see the meat hooks and shelves. Today it is lined with shops, and many visitors recognise a Diagon Alley atmosphere from Harry Potter. Around it, the centre is a tangle of historic streets such as Stonegate, Petergate and Goodramgate, and of snickelways, the passages and footpaths linking the streets. Don't miss the Merchant Adventurers' Hall, one of the finest medieval guildhalls in Europe, from the 14th century, and the reconstructed medieval townhouse of Barley Hall.

Museums

• National Railway Museum: the largest railway museum in the world, with free entry and historic locomotives such as Mallard, which in 1938 set the world speed record for a steam locomotive at 126 mph, the famous Flying Scotsman, royal carriages and a Japanese Shinkansen bullet train.
• Jorvik Viking Centre: built on the site of the Coppergate dig, it takes visitors on a ride through a reconstruction of the 10th-century Viking city, with sounds and even smells.
• York Castle Museum: in the old prison, it recreates everyday life over recent centuries, with the famous Victorian street of Kirkgate, and shows the cell of the notorious highwayman Dick Turpin, hanged at York in 1739.
• Yorkshire Museum: in the Museum Gardens, among the ruins of the Benedictine St Mary's Abbey, with Roman, Viking and medieval finds, including the Middleham Jewel.
• York Art Gallery, with a large collection of British ceramics.
• York's Chocolate Story, the museum devoted to the city's chocolate history.

Rivers, gardens and ghosts

Walks along the Ouse and river cruises offer another view of the city; the rivers often flood, however, and some riverside pubs are used to high water. York is said to be the most haunted city in Europe: every evening several ghost walks set off through the alleys and pubs, with tales of Roman legionaries marching through cellars and grey ladies in theatres. It is an entertaining, often very theatrical way to discover the city's history.

Eating and drinking

York is famous for its tea rooms, starting with Bettys, the historic Swiss-Yorkshire tea room opened in 1937 in an Art Deco building, where queuing for afternoon tea is part of the experience. Try Yorkshire pudding with Sunday roast, Wensleydale cheese with fruit cake, ginger parkin for Bonfire Night on 5 November, when the failed plot of York-born Guy Fawkes is remembered, and of course chocolate. The city also has the covered Shambles Market, with street food, and countless historic pubs: York is said to have a pub for every day of the year.

Events

Every February the Jorvik Viking Festival, the largest Viking festival in Europe, fills the city with costumed warriors, mock battles and markets. York hosts horse racing on the Knavesmire, one of the most prestigious courses in the country, and periodically the famous Mystery Plays, medieval religious dramas performed by the city's guilds, a tradition dating back to the 14th century. At Christmas the streets fill with the St Nicholas Fair market.

Living in York

York is often named one of the most pleasant places to live in the UK, for its beauty, safety, manageable size and closeness to the Yorkshire countryside. House prices, however, are among the highest in the North of England, driven by demand and tourism, with many homes turned into short-term lets. Wages are around the average and the job market rests on the universities, health, tourism, services and research. For the wider picture see living in the UK, quality of life and housing and rents.

Practical information

• By train: from London King's Cross in under two hours, with frequent trains on the line to Edinburgh, which is about two and a half hours away. The station is just outside the walls, a few minutes' walk from the centre.
• By air: the nearest airports are Leeds Bradford and Manchester, the latter linked to York by direct trains.
• Getting around: the centre is small and largely pedestrianised, easy to explore on foot. Driving is not advisable; use the Park & Ride car parks.
• Where to stay: inside the walls or just outside, near the station. On summer weekends, race days and in December prices rise steeply.

Day trips

• Castle Howard, the grand Baroque house where Brideshead Revisited was filmed, half an hour away.
• The North York Moors National Park, with heather moorland, the historic North Yorkshire Moors Railway steam line and the village of Goathland.
• Whitby, a fishing town whose ruined abbey inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula, and the seaside resort of Scarborough.
• The Yorkshire Dales, Fountains Abbey and Rievaulx Abbey.
• Leeds, Harrogate and Knaresborough, less than an hour away.

See also Leeds, England, the history of the United Kingdom, the Church of England and British cities.

York on the map

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