Welcome to York Minster Hi there! I’m Josh the apprentice mason. I lived 550 years ago when the lantern tower was being built. I’m 11 years old and I’m learning to be a mason. I helped to build this Minster! My job now is to take you round the Minster. Please enjoy your visit quietly remember that we’re in a place of worship.
There has been a Minster in York since 627 AD. Look at the timeline on the back. Earlier Minster buildings might have looked like this:
Saxon 627 AD
Saxon c. 640 AD
Norman 1080 - 1100 Produced by: The Centre for School Visits Enquiries & school bookings tel: 01904 557224 © The Dean & Chapter of York
The Great East Window 10 11 12 Quire
Chapter House
9 8
4 7 North
5
6
13
South
Shop
3
2 Nave
1
West Doors
Open the page to follow me round the Minster.
1. Start at the west doors and look down the Nave. It was built 1291-1360, so it’s more than 600 years old. The statue behind you is St Peter, the patron saint of York Minster. The “keys of Heaven” are his symbol. Look out for red shields with crossed keys around the Minster. 2. Walk halfway down the Nave. Watch out for the dragon above your head! It is on a pivot. It was probably used to lift a heavy font lid in medieval times. A font holds the water for baptism. In front of you are: the altar, (a table) the lectern, (an eagle-shaped bookstand) and the pulpit (a raised platform for preaching).
Turn round and look back towards The Great West Window. Its nickname is “the heart of Yorkshire”. Can you see why? You may be able to count 8 archbishops in the lowest row of figures, and (look carefully!) 11 disciples in the middle row. The window was made in 1338. 3. Find the Bellfounder’s Window in the North Nave aisle, given by a York bell maker. Notice the gold and white bells in the glass - there are more than 100 in total. 4. The striking clock has two oak figures called “quarterjacks”. They strike the bars every 15 minutes. The figures were made in Tudor times. To see the figures move, wait for the next quarter. 5. You are in the North Transept. The Five Sisters Window was made about 750 years ago. The “greyish” glass is called “grisaille”. Look at each window to identify one of these patterns repeated from the top to the bottom.
6. You are under the Central Tower, so look up! It’s 60 metres high, weighing 16,000 tons; about the same weight as 40 jumbo jets! This is the part that I helped to build, more than 500 years ago. It was finished in 1472. Can you see St Peter & St Paul carved on a boss in the centre of the vaulting? 7. The carvings on the Quire Screen are the kings who ruled England, whilst the Minster on this site was being built. Their names are underneath each statue. 8. If the screen gates are open you may walk through into the Quire. This is where daily Evensong takes place. The carved wood and furniture are only about 170 years old - a fire in 1829 destroyed the medieval woodwork and the roof.
9. This huge wooden chair, on the right, is the “cathedra” - or the seat for the archbishop. The Latin word gives us the name “cathedral”. 10. The Great East Window, behind the scaffolding is being restored. The display panels show what it really looks like. It is the largest area of medieval stained glass in the world. 600 years ago, John Thornton from Coventry was paid £56 to make the window. He took just 3 years to make it from 1405-1408. The cost today to repair the glass is £7,000,000 and will take about 10 years! 11. The man who carved these kneeling desks was nicknamed “Mousey Thompson”. He left his trademark on some of them. Try to find it. 12. These two chests, which are 700 years old, once held the magnificent copes (cloaks) worn by the clergy. Can you see why each chest shape is half a semi-circle? 13. You are in the South Transept. In 1984 fire destroyed the roof of the South Transept. New round wooden carvings called “bosses” decorate the ceiling. Six were designed by children who won the BBC Blue Peter competition after the fire. They are the coloured carvings which you can see along the two sides of the vaulting. (Check the designs overleaf.)
Look up at the round Rose Window. Around the edge are red and white (Tudor) and red (Lancastrian) roses.
This Tudor glass was badly cracked and blackened in the blaze, but has been carefully restored.
The Blue Peter Bosses These bosses are part of the new vaulting in The South Transept. Can you identify them?
1. Man on the Moon 2. Save the Whale 3. Fire in the South Transept 4. Famine Relief 5. Raising the Mary Rose 6. Conquest of Space
Minster or Cathedral: what’s the difference? A cathedral is the Mother Church of a diocese. It is where the bishop has his seat or “cathedra”. York Minster is the cathedral church of the Diocese of York. A “mynster” was the Anglo-Saxon name for a missionary church - a church built as a new centre for Christian worship. That was the reason the Minster was first built in 627AD.
Not all cathedrals are minsters; not all minsters are cathedrals - but York Minster is both. (A cathedra is only found in a cathedral.)
Look out for similar pieces of furniture in your own parish church.
pulpit
altar
font
lectern
York Minster Timeline From AD 71 Where the Minster stands today was once the site of the Roman HQ building. It was in the middle of a Roman fort.
From AD 627 The first Minster in York, was small and wooden. It was built for the baptism of Edwin, the Saxon King of Northumbria. Shortly afterwards, a stone Minster replaced the wooden building. This was probably enlarged and improved several times before the coming of the Normans. The exact site of the Saxon Minster is unknown. 1080 to 1100 Archbishop Thomas of Bayeux built a Norman Cathedral on the present site. c. 1160 Archbishop Roger rebuilt the East End and West Front. c. 1220 Archbishop Walter Grey started to rebuild the South Transept in the Gothic style. Over the next 250 years, the whole of the Minster was slowly rebuilt. Our cathedral as it stands today, was finished in 1472. For further information please visit our web site on: www.yorkminster.org