Hotels in York Centre

History of York (Eboracum)

Looking into its history we can see that York has always been an important spiritual and military capital in the north of England. The Romans first came to York and set up an encampment at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss which has been central to York’s development. This begins with the arrival of the ninth legion in AD 71 and the fortress of Eboracum – ‘place of the yew trees’. Prehistoric settlers had tended to avoid making homes in the vale of York due to bad drainage, poor soils and large areas of heathland, swampland and open forest. The end of the Roman occupation of York can be dated to somewhere in the fifth century, a time in which civil war and barbarian attacks threatened to destroy the heart of the Empire.

The most famous attraction for tourists staying at hotels in York has to be the Minster. Second in importance to Canterbury, York Minster has played key roles in the shaping of English history. The largest Cathedral Church in Northern Europe, the history of York Minster can be traced as far back as AD 627, when King Edwin and his court were baptised by the priest Paulinus in a small wooden structure near the site of the present Church. Paulinus is considered to have been the first Archbishop of York, but he would not have received the Papal vestment authorizing the title. This was to be Ecgbert in 732, the year in which the seat of York became an Archbishopric.

The Anglo-Saxon structure was burned and pillaged by the Norman soldiers during the infamous ‘Harrying of the North’, during which William the Conqueror mercilessly asserted his sovereignty on the northern people. The building that we see today took 250 years to build and was instigated by Archbishop Walter de Gray in 1220.

During Walter De Gray’s forty year reign as Archbishop of York, the Minster would play host to the marriage of Henry III’s daughter Margaret to Alexander III of Scotland this being only one of only three royal weddings to take place in the Cathedral. The others in 1328 by Edward III and Philippa of Hainault and then in 1961 by HRH Duke of Kent and Miss Katherine Worsley who were married in the presence of the Queen. www.yorkminster.org

York has played host to a number of famous and indeed infamous people. York was an important staging point from which people left hotels in York centre and travelled by stagecoach to the next staging point on the way to London. Dick Turpin became notorious on the staging road when he and his “Essex Gang” held up and robbed stage coaches. His work was not just confined to robbing stage coaches, but farmers and any one who had goods or money. The legendary Highwayman was born in 1706 in rural Essex and met his end in York after a career of theft, smuggling, highway robbery, terror and murder. King George offered a reward of £50 for the capture of Turpin and his gang, which was eventually doubled after a vicious attack on the family of a rich farmer. Turpin was eventually caught at Beverley, transferred to York Castle and on the 19th April 1739 was hanged at Tyburn on York's Knavesmire. www.britania.com/BritHeritage/turpin.html

2005 was the 400th anniversary of the “Gunpowder Plot” when a group of conspirators tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament destroy the Government and King James 1st all in one fell swoop! However the plot was foiled and the group were arrested sent for trial and subsequently “confessed” to their part in the foiled plot. The result of the trial was in no doubt. All the prisoners, having "confessed", were hanged; drawn and quartered The arrest of Guy Fawkes is probably one of the best known incidents of the Gunpowder Plot. It will perhaps surprise many people to discover that he was not the leader of the conspiracy. This was Robert Catesby, a young Roman Catholic gentleman who, tired of the many broken promises of James I to grant religious toleration, decided on desperate action. Eventually there were thirteen plotters - three of whom - Guy Fawkes and the brothers John and Christopher Wright were schoolfellows at St Peter's School in York. www.st-peters.york.sch.uk/

York was to prove to play a prominent part in the English Civil War (1642/1651) During the Civil War, York would serve as the northern headquarters for the Royalist supporters of Charles I. Even when the city came under siege in 1644, the Royalist army of 8,000 led by the Marquis of Newcastle managed to maintain their stand against the 28,000 parliamentarians surrounding the city long enough for Prince Rupert of the Rhine to come to their rescue and force a roundhead retreat. The parliamentarians, led by Cromwell, on hearing of Rupert’s approach decamped and took up station at nearby Marston Moor. After relieving York, Rupert insisted that he and Newcastle go and fight the roundheads. The battle would be the bloodiest of the whole war and would prove to be a turning point in the fortunes of the parliamentarians. With the battle for York over, Lord Fairfax was appointed Governor of the city and Cromwell’s forces took up the garrison of York Castle.

Since the days of William the conqueror, York has always had a castle. After his victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William set about announcing his arrival and asserting his sovereignty by building motte and bailey design castles throughout England. Two such castles were built in York; Baile Hill and the monument now known as Clifford’s Tower. These castles consisted of a roughly circular ditch with a bank of earth piled up just inside. On top of the bank was a wooden palisade with a wall-walk from which soldiers could look out for attacks. The area inside the castle is known as the bailey and had enough room for a large wooden hall where the Baron lived and for smaller huts for his attendants. There may also have been space for livestock as well. A fine example of this form of construction is illustrated by Clifford’s Tower, which would have been originally a wooden structure. This was destroyed in 1190 during the anti Jewish riots when a group of Jews took refuge and in the ensuing battles it was burned to the ground. A second wooden tower was constructed but was destroyed in a gale and between 1245 and 1265 a stone tower of quatrefoil design resembling a four leafed clover was built on the orders of Henry III. The Castle construction also included the bailey walls, towers, gates, two halls, a chapel, kitchen and prison. This example of motte and bailey construction together with the nearby Castle Museum is within easy walking distance of the hotels in York centre and provides part of York’s fabulous visitor attraction readily available without the concerns and worries of car parking.