More about your Treasure The statue you found is St Peter. He is the patron saint of York Minster. The full legal title of York Minster is “The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York.” The Minster has been dedicated to St Peter ever since the first Minster was built in 627AD. His feast day is the 29th June. The statue itself dates from 1906. You will have found this detail on the Astronomical Clock. It shows the positions of the stars over York. The clock was made as a memorial to pilots and air crew who lost their lives in the Second World War, flying from bases in the North of England. They would have used the stars to help with their navigation at night.
The beautiful seated figure over the gateway into the Quire is of “Christ in Majesty”. This way of depicting Christ is often used and portrays him as the King of Heaven. On the Quire Screen this belief is reinforced by the fact that Christ is seated above the carved Kings of England from William I to Henry VI.
This detail is on the monument to Rear Admiral Christopher Craddock. He died when his ship HMS Good Hope was sunk in a naval battle during the first World War. At the time his bravery was considered heroic and he was even compared to the great Lord Nelson. However, had he survived he may have had to face a court martial for risking his squadron. Robert ‘Mousey’ Thompson was a Yorkshire based furniture maker. It is claimed that the mouse trademark came about accidentally in 1919 following a conversation about "being as poor as a church mouse". The mouse that you found is just one of many that are hiding in the Minster on furniture made by the family firm. Robert died in 1955, but the firm still bears his name.