York Minster (2)

On 24 October 2016 I showed some photographs we'd taken in York during a holiday there earlier that month, and on 17 November 2016 some photographs of the exterior of York Minster. It's by no means a comprehensive record of the inside of the Minster, but here are some of the photographs we took went we visited.

When you enter the Minster through the west door you are facing the North Aisle.

The present Minster took almost 250 years to build, between about 1230 and 1472AD, and the Great West Window dates from 1338-39. The window is known as 'The Heart of Yorkshire' because of the shape of the upper stonework.

The Nave is some 80 metres long, 29 metres high and 30 metres wide, making it the widest Gothic Nave in England.

Behind the Nave Altar is the Kings' Screen, also known as the Quire Screen. This was designed around 1420 and was intended to have carved statues of all the Kings of England from William the Conqueror up to the then current King, Henry V, a total of 14 statues - 7 on either side of the doorway to the Quire. Unfortunately Henry V died in 1422 before the screen was finished making it necessary to add another statue, that of Henry VI, meaning that there are 8 statues to the right of the doorway.

These are the figures on the right hand side of the doorway: Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI.

There are several chapels in York Minster, and this is St John's Chapel in the North Transept.

The windows of the Chapter House, which is an octagonal building adjoining the main Minster building where the Dean and Chapter would meet to discuss the administration of the Minster. There are 44 seats set into the walls round the perimeter of the Chapter House.

This is the ornate ceiling of the Chapter House.

Looking up to the ceiling of the Central Tower.

The Quire, looking towards the King's Screen.

The Lectern in the Quire.

There are many tombs and memorials around the Minster, and this memorial in the South Aisle of the Quire is to John Dolben, Archbishop of Canterbury 1683 to 1686 and was sculpted by Grinling Gibbons,

The Crypt is the earliest part of the present Minster and the architectural style is late Norman.

Also in the crypt is the shrine of St William of York, Archbishop in the middle of the 12th Century. On the far wall is a mosaic of St William.

In the Undercroft is this Gospel book, over 1,000 years old and still in use at the Minster today - as these descriptive notices tell you.