A short drive from the city of York is Skipton Castle, another place worth a visit.
York
The city of York, which dates back to Roman times, is the central city of the county of Yorkshire. Tourist sights include the old city wall, which has been restored in many places, a castle, Roman ruins, and of course, the magnificent York Minster Cathedral which is the largest north of the Alps.
Click on pictures to enlarge.
York Minster is visible from nearly every point in the city. As our luck would have it, the front of the cathedral was encased in scaffolding.
You could spend hours inside York Minster, just looking around. The vaulted ceilings of many of the old cathedrals were very interesting. Of course you'd get a kink in your neck walking around looking up. Many of the cathedral's staff took pity on the poor tourists and offered a simple solution to looking up at the ceiling. They supplied roll around carts with mirrors mounted at an
angle. You could stroll down the aisles while looking down into the mirror to see the ceiling above you.
The first two photos are memorials to local nobles. The items in the last photo are called "bosses". They are large, heavy, decorative wooden devices which served as lock points for the ribs of the vaulted ceilings.
Left: A timbered building in the city center. Second: Wood carving detail from one of the timbered buildings. Third: We stepped into this quiet little court yard and back about 500 years. Right: An area of the old town called "The
Shambles". The buildings protrude across the street far enough that people reaching out the windows can actually shake hands.
Left: Clifford's Tower. The center of the old castle, started by William the Conqueror. Middle: One of the old city gates. Right: A section of city wall.
Here are some interesting sites on the World Wide Web concerning the subject of this page.