York is one of the most popular places to visit in the UK, and it’s no surprise – spend a day in York and chances are you’ll have walked past every type of architecture from every era in human history. Here are five facts about the city that you might not have heard about… 1. The Leaning Tower of Pisa could fit inside York Minster’s central tower.
York Minster ©iStock/franckreporter
2. York Castle Museum is housed in the city’s old 18th-century prison buildings. The original prison gates are incorporated into the Victorian Street inside the museum.
The prison gates in the Victorian Street in York Castle Museum Photo: Rachel Ricks
3. The stained glass windows of York Minster were painted with close attention to detail, even down to the eyelashes on the faces. It’s even more remarkable to consider they were crafted back in the early 1400s and were to be put in windows some 100ft from the ground – never to be seen by the eyes of the people of medieval York.
A stained glass panel from York Minster windows Photo: Rachel Ricks
4. You can stay with nuns in the oldest working convent in England – the Bar Convent was founded in 1686.
Bar Convent House, York
5. The National Railway Museum reveals stories about life on the railways back in days before modern telecomms. If chefs ran out of supplies, they hollowed out a potato, put a note inside and threw it out at the next signal box. The signaller telegraphed up the line and everything they needed would be waiting at the next station!
Window of a train carriage at the National Railway Museum, York. Photo: Rachel Ricks
