City in North Yorkshire, England
York
York has a street called Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, a Roman emperor who was proclaimed here, and a chocolate empire that gave Britain the KitKat.
Key information
- County
- North Yorkshire
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 202,000 (2021 Census)
- Known for
- York Minster, medieval city walls, the Shambles, Viking Jorvik, chocolate and the railways
- What locals are called
- Yorkies or Yorkers
- Famous people
- Guy Fawkes, Dick Turpin (executed here), Judi Dench, W. H. Auden
- Football clubs
- York City (the Minstermen)
About York
The street with the best name in Britain
Start with Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, a short lane in the centre of York that holds a decent claim to being the shortest street name-sign with the longest name in the country. It is a fine introduction to the city's habit of using 'gate' to mean street. That is a Viking leftover: the Old Norse 'gata' means road, so Stonegate, Petergate and Micklegate are all streets, while the actual gates in the walls are called 'bars'. That tells you something about York. It has been conquered, renamed and rebuilt so many times that its layers show up in the street signs.
Rome, Vikings and a very old name
The Romans founded Eboracum in AD 71 as a legionary fortress, and it became one of the most important cities in Roman Britain. Two emperors died here: Septimius Severus in 211 and Constantius Chlorus in 306. His son Constantine was proclaimed emperor in York that same year, and he went on to reshape the Roman world. A statue of Constantine sits beside the Minster. The Vikings captured the city in 866 and renamed it Jorvik, which gave it a trading hub that reached across the North Sea. The Jorvik Viking Centre now stands near the site of excavations at Coppergate, where archaeologists in the 1970s and 80s uncovered streets, workshops and houses from the Viking period in remarkable detail. 'York' itself is the worn-down descendant of Eboracum and Jorvik.
A Minster, a wall and a medieval maze
York Minster is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in northern Europe, and its Great East Window, completed in the early 15th century, is among the biggest expanses of medieval stained glass in the world. The building took around 250 years to complete, from the 1220s onwards. The city walls are the longest medieval town walls still standing in England, at roughly two miles, and you can walk almost the whole circuit along the top. Then there is the Shambles, a narrow street of overhanging timber-framed buildings that was once lined with butchers. Look up and you can see the old meat hooks still fixed to some of the shopfronts. The top floors lean so close that neighbours could almost shake hands across the gap. The Shambles is often said to have inspired Diagon Alley, though the books never name it.
From cocoa to KitKat
York was a sweet-making powerhouse. Rowntree's and Terry's both grew here. Terry's launched the Chocolate Orange in 1932, and Rowntree's gave the world the KitKat, Aero, Smarties and Fruit Pastilles. Joseph Rowntree, a Quaker, built the model village of New Earswick for his workers and funded social research that still carries his name. The railways added another layer. Thanks to George Hudson, the 'Railway King' of the 1840s, York became a major junction on the line between London and Scotland. The National Railway Museum, home to Mallard, the steam locomotive that set the world speed record for steam in 1938 at 126 mph, is a huge draw.
Ghosts, gallows and Guy Fawkes
York bills itself as one of the most haunted cities in Europe, and ghost walks are a nightly business in the old streets. The city has plenty of dark stories to draw on. Guy Fawkes was born here in 1570 and baptised at St Michael le Belfrey, right beside the Minster. Dick Turpin, the highwayman, was hanged at York in 1739, and his grave in St George's churchyard is still visited. The city's other celebrations are rather more cheerful. The Jorvik Viking Festival each February is one of Europe's largest Viking events, and York's main Christmas market, St Nicholas Fair, fills Parliament Street and St Sampson's Square in the city centre. York races at the Knavesmire, and the Ebor Festival is a highlight of the flat racing calendar.
Food, teams and local talk
The big dish here is the Yorkshire pudding, and York pubs serve it with roast beef or as a giant bowl-shaped wrap. The city has more than its share of tearooms too. Bettys, opened in 1936, is famous for its Fat Rascal, a fruity scone with a face made of cherries and almonds. York City Football Club, the Minstermen, won the FA Trophy at Wembley in 2012, and the city's rugby league side, York Knights, has a loyal following. Locals can be called Yorkies or Yorkers, though a good number will tell you they are simply from Yorkshire first and York second.
Related articles
The Vikings in Britain
Published
Vikings gave Britain its word 'law', a Dublin-style parliament on the Isle of Man, and a whole English region where they ran things for decades.
Roman Britain
Published
Rome ran Britain for almost 400 years, yet the island's most famous Roman road builders left behind a province that was never fully conquered and a capital that was never Rome's idea.
1066 and the Norman Conquest
Published
In 1066 England had three kings, two invasions and one arrow-strewn hillside, and the country's language, land and landscape were never the same again.
Bonfire Night
Published
Every year Britain burns a man who tried to blow up Parliament, and in Lewes the fire extends to flaming barrels in the river and a march of thousands.