One by God, One by a Worker and One by a Methodist

We were eating lunch the other day and the waitress looked at my daughters and said,

"You must be from America! Your teeth are so white!"

"It's the chloride." said Laura,

(I think she meant Flouride, which really doesn't have anything to do with whiteness...but it does make a father proud to know that an entire nation admires his daughters' dental hygiene or at least one waitress in Olde Lincoln does.) 

Later that same day I was standing admiring the Cathedral and a woman walked past me on the street and pointed at me and said, "American!" and she and her husband kept on walking.

York

York too, has this amazing Cathedral...all these cities do...which is why I came. What I didn't know is that York is the land of the midnight sun. I think we're north of the Artic Cirlce. It gets light really early here in York. But, the better to see things like this.

York has it going on, plus in the fictional TV series "Downton Abbey" they are always running up to York for important things which the Landed Gentry required in 1914....so it's natural that I would want to make York a destination. 

It seems that York has had this struggle with Canterbury for centuries...as to which is more important. Canterbury is the seat of the Anglican Church but years ago York was still angling to be the seat and lost out and is now second most important but it has some complex church-lingo title which makes it seem just as important as Canterbury, but really isn't. In any case, this is the largest Cathedral in Northern Europe. I thought that odd, since the Brits I knew didn't admit to being part of Europe, I guess unless you can one-up those on the Continent.

Look at this place. It is magnificent. Like so many of these cathedrals, they started as Norman architecture and over the years, Gothic took hold as they added this wing and that wing. Lots of upgrades. Lots of statues of kings.

And talk about attention to detail. Look at this ceiling. Stunning.

How many people have the neck strength to really look at the detail, but that is exactly what they wanted to do...dazzle the people and glorify God. 

I was standing in the South Transept, which is merely a way to demonstrate that I am totally in command of my Cathedral jargon...I was in the south wing of the church. And I looked on the floor and there was a marble slab commemorating and thanking the Queen, in 1988 for Re-dedicating the Re-furbished South Transept after its devasting fire.

I looked at the marble floor, and the marble arches which reached to the heavens and the marble ceiling and thought to myself, "what is there around here that could possibly burn?" So I asked a guide seated nearby.

She miled and said that I asked a good question. It seems the ceiling does indeed have stone, and marble arches but between it is wood which is plastered over for effect. Hence, a lightning strike can set the roof on fire. And it did and it burned and was repaired and the Queen stopped by (on her way to Downton Abbey no doubt) and Re-dedicated the Cathedral or at least the roof. I don't know if the Queen has ever re-dedicated anything in Canterbury and if not, I am sure that York will never let Canterbury forget it either.

(There is wood underneath the plastered ceiling)

Besides and act of God, the other fwo fires are blamed on A. A workman who a few hundred years ago forgot to douse a candle at the end of the day while working on the roof (thereby ensuring himself of even more work, unless the culprit was caught.) And B.  A Methodist was blamed for the third devastating fire. 

(Here is another thing about Cathedrals which last for a thousand years, their history records and celebrates the great disasters, every cathedral I have been in has historical timelines noting the disasters of the place.)

It seems the Methodist was a disgruntled ex-Church of Englad fellow who argued with the clergy a lot. The priests thought him a nuisance, but harmless and they would just nod and show him to the door after Evensong. But one night he hid behind a statue and was locked in and went to the choir where all the Prayer Books and Hymnals for the Anglican Church are kept for worship. He put them in a pile and started a fire which burnt the choir section (which always has the most wood furniture and wooden decorations in these cathedrals). The ne'er-do-well was captured and thrown into Bethlehem Hospital in London, which was for the insane (hence the term "Bedlam"...a corruption of the pronunciation of Bethlehem.)

The Choir

You can't trust those Methodists.

York Minster as it is known, since it is a missionary church, like all these old cathedrals is under constant repair. Scaffolding all over inside and out...and that is good. Where York excells is in their displays explaining the repairs. York appears to have hired George Lucas to design the displays and video presentations about the work undertaken. They are well done and educational. I also noted that some big-time benefactors have stepped forward. Cathedarls are fascinating for the dedication plaques scattered about the chapels, walls, floors, burial sites within the cathedrals. One woman started talking to me about her great great grandfather (I think she liked my white teeth) who was an Archbishop in the late 1800's and we stood there at at his burial site in the Nave. She was thrilled to have arrived and she had many questions about great great grandpa. I pointed out the knowledgeable guild who told me of the fires. "Just ask her about your Great Grandfather the Archbishop, she's a wonderful historian." (And I hoped to God, that her great grandfather wasn't in any way connect with the Methodists during his lifetime.)

Pay some extra money and you can walk to the roof. All the Cathedrals are aware of this extra revenue stream and its a great one. We bought the tickets and climbed the stairs....

Across the roof to the Central tower. The steps are there for the workers to use.

And, these steps are not for the faint of heart or weak of knee or if you have vertigo or if you are rational...but otherwise....it is a journey to undertake and when you reach the top. For another 3 pounds (note: another revenue stream for the cathedral) you can purchase a Red and Gold Lapel pin which reads "York Minster...I Made it to the Top".) I like it!

About fifty years ago it occurred to someone that the Cathedral was having some foundational problems and they got some good structural engineers to survey the foundations and it seems the place was about to fall over because of time and age and weight. They went about a progam to secure the entire foundation of the cathedral and while down there digging around discoverd the Roman buildings on which the cathedral was built. They got lots of artifacts, built a great huge display under the cathedral and now you can walk in the Undercroft, (which means you are under the croft: this lingo-thing: it's a gift) of the cathedral. And it does what it is most important to do for such old cathedrals...supplies another revenue stream.

I have been to the croft and to the Central Tower. I also kept it quiet that my mother grew up Methodist.

Peace,  Bob