The document provides historical information about York Minster Cathedral and the city of York, England. Some key details include: - York Minster Cathedral is 525 feet long and took over 250 years to build between 1220-1472. It suffered a serious fire in 1984 that destroyed its south transept roof. - The city of York was founded by the Romans in 71 CE and grew as an important settlement. It was later conquered by Vikings in 866 and renamed Jorvik, serving as the capital of the Viking kingdom. - York has experienced many wars and battles over the centuries that have shaped its history, such as a 1190 massacre that killed 150 Jews and the 1

1. Script

2. Minster Facts
• Length - 525 feet (160 meters) - That's 165 feet longer than an official, NFL
football field.
• Width - 249 feet (76 meters) - Slightly wider (by about 7 feet) than a UK soccer
pitch.
• Height to vault - 88.5 feet (27 meters) - The interior of the main part of the
cathedral is about the height of an 8-story building.
• West towers - At 184 feet each (56 meters), they are nearly as tall as a 17 story
building.
• Lantern tower - 233 feet (71 meters) is about the same as a 21 story building. It's
a 275 step climb up a winding staircase to reach the highest spot in the city of
York. At 16,000 metric tons, it weighs about the same as 40 jumbo jets.
• North Europe’s Tallest Gothic Cathedral
• It was built over 250 years, between 1220 and 1472.
• They have a police force of nine constables. The only other church to have its own
police force is St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

3. History of York
The Romans founded the city of York. They invaded Yorkshire in 71 CE and built a fort
between the rivers Ouse and Foss. By the mid 2nd century a small town grew up by the
fort. Craftsmen and merchants came to live there because the soldiers in the fort provided
a market for their goods and ships could sail up the River Ouse. The Roman name for York
was Eboracum, which may be derived from Celtic words meaning the place with yew trees.
By the early 3rd century Roman York was protected by a stone wall. In the town there were
public buildings such as a baths. Rich people lived in very comfortable houses with mosaic
floors. However in the 4th century Roman civilization began to break down. The last
Roman soldiers left Britain in 407 AD and afterwards Roman towns were abandoned and
they fell into ruins. At 3.4 kilometres long, the beautifully preserved walls are the longest
medieval town walls in England. About 2.5 million people walk along all or part of the city
walls each year, the original walls were built around 71 AD. The completion of the entire
circuit will take approximately 2 hours.

4. Jorvik• The Danes changed its name to Jorvik.
• Then on November 1st 866 the Vikings conquered northern England and York became the
capital of a new Viking kingdom. Viking York boomed and it grew much larger. In the town,
wool was woven. There were blacksmiths and potters. Other craftsmen made combs from
bone and antler. The Danish word for street was gata, which in time became corrupted to
'gate'. Copper gate was cooper gata.
• The Viking invasion of York was led by Ivar The Boneless who along with King Halfden
renamed the city Jorvik. The Vikings who settled in York were mainly a peaceful bunch
despite what we read about their bloody campaigns.
• Led by Halfdan and Ivar The Boneless, the Viking army attacked on November 1 866. This
date may well have been chosen with care. It was All Saints Day, an important festival in York
when many of the town’s leaders could have been in the cathedral, making a surprise attack
even more effective.
• It worked. They took York, although the Northumbrian kings Aelle and Osbert were not
captured.
• The Viking army spent the winter on the Tyne and had to recapture York in March 867. This
was a more violent clash. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles recorded that there was ‘an excessive
slaughter made of the Northumbrians’. Among those killed were Aelle and Osbert.
• After a series of campaigns against other kingdoms, part of the great Viking army returned to
Northumbria in 876. According to Anglo Saxon chronicles, Halfdan ‘shared out the lands of
the Northumbrians and they proceeded to plough and to support themselves’.

5. York Minster Fire
• 1984 fire. On 9 July 1984, York Minster suffered a serious fire in its south transept
during the early morning hours. Firefighters made a decision to deliberately
collapse the roof of the South Transept by pouring tens of thousands of gallons of
water onto it, in order to save the rest of the building from destruction.
• The devastation was caused by a lightning bolt which set fire to York Minster's
south transept - destroying its roof and causing £2.25m worth of damage.
• Locals wanted to rebuild it to the original style so that it looks like it did before
the fire, they also wanted to rebuild it straight away and raised a lot of money
and received a lot of donations such as wood to help rebuild the burnt down
area.

6. Clifford's tower
• Clifford’s tower. Much of York’s layout is the result of Roman and Viking
construction but one iconic feature is distinctly Norman. The original mound of
Clifford’s tower, with a timber structure at the top, was constructed by William
the Conqueror in 1068 as a statement of his power over the region.
• Battles: siege of York – 1644
• It was used as a prison after it was no longer needed for battles or wars in the
15th and 16th century.
• 150 Jews were killed by a mob of people in the tower in 1190
• Between 1190 and 1194, it was repaired at great expense, and the mound was
raised to its present height. The second timber structure was destroyed (this
time by a gale) in 1245. Under pressure from his wars with the Scots, Henry
III ordered the tower to be rebuilt and strengthened, this time in stone. Master
Simon of Northampton and Master Henry of Reyne's, the senior carpenter and
stonemason respectively in Windsor Castle, were sent up to York to consult on
the new design of the castle.

7. Wars and Battles
York has experienced many different types of wars and battles throughout its life
on this planet some more gruesome and brutal than others. But all these battles
have shaped and carved York into the history books and also made it the City it is
today.
1190 16th of March massacre happened because of a wave of anti-Semitic riots
culminated and led to a killing of 150 Jews in York which in that time was the whole
Jewish population of York.
At Selby on April 11, 1644, the parliamentary army, led by Lord Fairfax, inflicted a
heavy defeat on royalist forces from York. Their commander was captured and as
many as two-thirds of the 3,000 strong army were killed or captured.

8. Siege of York: http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/city-under-siege