York is a city in the north of England built at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss. In 1991 the city had a population of 123,126. Its geographic coordinates are 53°57' North, 1°05' West.

York is the traditional county town of Yorkshire, to which it lends its name. However, it did not form part of any of the three ridings of Yorkshire. The modern City of York, created on April 1, 1996, is a unitary authority and an administrative county in its own right. As well as York itself, it includes a number of neighbouring parishes which formerly belonged to the surrounding districts of Harrogate, Ryedale and Selby. It borders on North Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The city is over 2,000 years old, and has a rich Roman and Viking history. The historical aspects of York attract a great deal of tourism. York is also known for its chocolate factories, and is home to the University of York. The city sometimes suffers from flooding.

Contents [showhide]
1 History and tourism

2 Modern York

3 Etymology

4 York and Quakers

5 Places of interest (City Centre)

6 Places of interest (Suburbs and Villages)

7 Districts, towns, villages

8 Notable People from York

9 See also

10 External links

[edit]
History and tourism

York MinsterYork is renowned for its history, which is preserved in its architecture. The city was founded over 2,000 years ago, and for much of the intervening period has been the main city in the North of England. Every year, thousands of tourists flock to see the surviving medieval buildings, interspersed with Roman and Viking remains. The City Council has 27 Conservation Areas, no fewer than 2084 Listed buildings and 20 Scheduled Ancient Monuments in its care.

For the Romans, York ("Eboracum") was a major military base; Emperor Septimius Severus died there in 211 AD, and Constantius Chlorus, the father of Constantine I, died there in 306. In York, Constantine's troops proclaimed him emperor. Substantial Roman remains were discovered under the Minster and a re-erected Roman column now stands on Deangate. There are also the remains of a Roman bath, but a temple and the site of the Roman bridge over the River Ouse have also been excavated of late years. Outside the city walls ther are the remains of substantial Roman cemeteries. A large number of Roman finds are now housed in the Yorkshire Museum.

Paulinus of York brought Christianity to the region in the early seventh century with the conversion of King Edwin of Northumbria and the first Minster is believed to have been built in 627, although the location of the early Minster is a matter of dispute. York became a centre of learning, its most famous scholar being Alcuin.

A "great Viking army" captured York in AD 866, and in 876 the Vikings settled permanently in parts of the Yorkshire countryside. Viking kings ruled this area, known to historians as "The Viking Kingdom of Jorvik", for almost a century. In 954 the last Viking king, Eric Bloodaxe, was expelled and his kingdom was incorporated in the newly consolidated Anglo-Saxon state.

Following the Norman Conquest of 1066, York was substantially damaged by the punitive Harrying of the North (1069) launched by William I of England known as 'the Conquerer' in response to regional revolt. Two castles were erected in the city on either side of the River Ouse. In time York became an important urban centre as the chief city of the county of Yorkshire and as the seat of an archbishop. It was an important administrative and trading centre. Several religious houses were founded following the Conquest, including St Mary's Abbey and Holy Trinity Priory. The city as a possession of the crown also came to house a substantial Jewish community under the protection of the sheriff.

On March 16, 1190 a mob of townsfolk forced the Jews in York to flee into the wooden castle, which was under the control of the sheriff. The castle was set on fire and the Jews were massacred. It is likely that various local magnates who were indebted to the Jews helped instigate this massacre or at least did nothing to prevent it. Commemoration of the York massacre passed into the Jewish liturgy and until 1990 orthodox Judaism forbade Jews from living within the city.

York prospered during much of the later medieval era and this is reflected in the built environment. York Minster is the largest medieval cathedral in England and one of the largest gothic churches in Europe. The medieval city walls, with their impressive entrance gates, known as 'bars', encompassed virtually the entire city and survive to this day.

Another popular tourist attraction is the Shambles (York), an old street with overhanging timber-built shops, now occupied by souvenir shops as opposed to the original butchers. York is also home to numerous Ghost Walks where tourists can learn about York's folklore.

[edit]
Modern York

Looking towards the Minster from the city wallsAs well a tourist destination, modern York is a centre of communications, education and manufacturing. It is a major railway junction, situated on the East Coast, Cross Country and Transpennine mainlines. Two large factories make chocolate (Nestlé Rowntree and Terry's), while another refines sugar. York is the home of KitKat, Smarties, the Chocolate Orange and the eponymous Yorkie bar. However, in April 2004, Terry's announced their intention to close their York-based operations.

The city has one of the country's leading universities (the University of York), a higher education college (York St John College) and a branch of the College of Law. The City's football team (York City) was relegated from the Football League to the Nationwide Conference at the end of the 2003/4 season. York also has a rugby league side, York City Knights. The York area is served by a local newspaper, the Yorkshire Evening Press.

York is also noted for its wealth of pubs. The York area is said to contain one pub for every day of the year, although this is now a little exaggerated. It is said, with perhaps a touch of poetic licence, that there is no point within the city walls where one can stand and not be able to see at least one pub and at least one church.

The city is prone to severe flooding from the River Ouse, and has an extensive (but not always effective) network of flood defences. These include walls along the Ouse and a barrier across the Foss (see River Foss). Much land within the city has always been too flood-prone for development. Partly as a result of this, there is an unusual amount of green space. The ings are flood meadows along the River Ouse, while the strays are scattered around the city in marshy, low-lying places; another such area is the Knavesmire. In summer, when they are drier, these areas are used for recreation, and some are grazed by cattle.

[edit]
Etymology
This city was originally named by the Celts after the Yew tree. The Yew was Efrawg in Brythonic, Efrog in Welsh, Eabhrac in Irish Gaelic, Iorc in Scottish Gaelic, and Eboracum/Eburacum in Latin (after the Romans seized it). The next people to assume ownership of the city assumed that the earlier name meant "boar" because the way it sounded to them like the Germanic "Eber-"/"Ever-", which is why the Deira Angles translated the local names into Eofer-wic/Eofor-wic for their capital which became Northumbria's centre of power later on. The Swedes and their Norse counterparts just assumed that the city's local name was the way they should format their term for it, thus calling it Jorvik (pronounced Yor-vik in modern English), which eventually changed to York after the Normans introduced their hybridised tongue to the land. "Wic"/"Vik" means a fishing port, most notably in an estuary so could also be described a river port. See Viking.

[edit]
York and Quakers

St Williams College near the MinsterYork has a long association with the Religious Society of Friends. The York-born Quaker chocolate entrepreneurs and social reformers Joseph Rowntree and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree left an indelible mark on the city, through both their business interests and their philanthropy. They built the village of New Earswick to provide quality affordable housing for their employees. They also founded two Quaker schools, and contributed in large part to the building of York Public Library and the creation of Rowntree Park. The four Rowntree trusts, funded from the Rowntree legacies, are based in York.

Another notable York Quaker was the sculptor Austin Wright. The Retreat, opened in 1796 by William Tuke (great-grandfather of the painter Henry Scott Tuke), is a large Quaker mental hospital in the Walmgate area of the city.

[edit]
Places of interest (City Centre)

The Mallard locomotive, National Railway MuseumArchaelogical Resource Centre
Bar Convent Museum
Barley Hall
Clifford's Tower
Jorvik, The Viking City
Micklegate Bar Museum
National Railway Museum
National Centre for Early Music
Treasurer's House
York Castle Museum
York City Art Gallery
York Dungeons
York Minster
Yorkshire Museum
[edit]
Places of interest (Suburbs and Villages)
Archbishop's Palace, Bishopthorpe
Askham Bogs
Askham Bryan Hall
Elvington Hall
Haxby Hall
Heslington Hall
The King's Manor
The Knavesmire
Middlethorpe Hall, Middlethorpe Manor
Osbaldwick Hall
Skelton Hall, Skelton Manor
Vale of York
West Huntington Hall
York Racecourse
Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington
Yorkshire Museum of Farming, Murton
[edit]
Districts, towns, villages
Acaster Malbis, Acomb, Askham Bryan, Askham Richard
Bishopthorpe, Bootham
Clifton, Copmanthorpe, Crockey Hill
Deighton
Dunnington
Elvington
Fishergate, Fulford
Haxby, Heslington, Hessay, Heworth, Holgate, Holtby, Huntington
Kexby, Knapton
Middlethorpe, Moor End, Murton
Naburn, Nether Poppleton, New Earswick
Osbaldwick
Rawcliffe, Rufforth
Skelton, Stockton on the Forest, Strensall, South Bank
Tang Hall, Towthorpe
Upper Poppleton
West Huntington, Wheldrake, Wigginton, Woodthorpe
[edit]
Notable People from York
Alcuin (influential Christian scholar)
John Barry (composer)
Judi Dench (actress)
John Earle (clergyman and author)
Guy Fawkes (Catholic conspirator)
John Flaxman (sculptor and draughtsman)
Christopher Hill (Marxist historian)
Thomas Morton (clergyman)
Joseph Rowntree and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree (chocolate entrepreneurs and social reformists)
William Hepworth Thompson (classical scholar)
Henry Scott Tuke (painter)
[edit]
See also
Bridges of York
[edit]
External links
York Tourism (http://www.york-tourism.co.uk)
This Is York (http://www.thisisyork.co.uk) (local newspaper site, including classified advertising)
The University of York (http://www.york.ac.uk)
York St John College (http://www.yorksj.ac.uk)

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "York".

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