Walking On Walls: York, New & Old
After moving to York, spending 2 months taking apart a squalid apartment and putting it back together in a more habitable state, I am glad to get back to the cleaner, calmer and somewhat safer sport of blogging.
The best way to get one’s bearings in York is to walk along the city walls. I hadn’t done this since I was about 12, but the wonderment was the same, if not more profound, after 25 years.
York’s are said to be the most complete city or town walls in Britain. Their foundations are Roman, built around 1900 years ago, with the most visible parts, such as the ornate gates, or bars dating back to Medieval times.
It’s tempting to get caught up with the fascinating facts about the city’s history. The walls and the spectacular Minster (deserving of its own post), draw tourists all year round, and the plaques dotted about are full of bizarre information for the curious to feast upon.
It is not so much the historical facts that fascinate me, as a lot of them are brutal and gruesome, but the sense of connecting with a structure that has weathered so many centuries.
York seems mollycoddled like a favourite child, adored by its proud inhabitants, and admired by its many visitors. The fact that such a robust fortification seemed necessary implies that York itself was a jewel well worth protecting, and that adds to its mystique.
The main attraction for me is having somewhere peaceful but central to take a walk. There is also something very satisfying about making a tour of a city’s circumference, even if it does only span 2 miles and is not an absolutely complete route.
Walking the walls is a way to see the new in the context of the ancient, away from the bustle, jostle and urgency of modernity. Finally the peaceful space they were built for, for which many fought and died grizzly deaths, has been born within these walls. Long may it live.
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September 5th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Your new city looks lovely . I hopes the apartment is crenelated too. Keeps out the riff-raff. Good to find you blogging again.
September 5th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Thanks, Alf, it’s good to be back. Yes the crenelation is what took most of the time of course. Still trying to work out how to install my new boiling oil dispenser
September 5th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Perhaps only just a month ago, I was weeding through old stuff and came across a travel diary I kept when I went to England and Scotland in 1985 (I actually haven’t been back since). My entry on York, the walled city, was quite exuberant. I especially enjoyed it and the memory is refreshed from having re-read those impressions recently. Your blog makes it sound like it will be a nice place to live. Good luck settling in! Wales is already the poorer relation for losing you…
September 5th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Thanks so much for your kind comments, Sharani! An English girl can only feel at home in England, and Wales has boundless inner wealth, so all is harmonious after all.
Glad you got to visit York, and have fond memories of it. The city’s beauty and culture have a symbiotic relationship with visitors. It used to be the spiritual capital of the north, and inherited its wealth from the church, but now York relies on tourism in order to maintain its charming appearance. Thus your visit added to its beauty.
Thanks for taking time out from your own fabulous new blog to visit my re-born one. A warm welcome to the blog world.
Sumangali
September 6th, 2007 at 6:19 am
Welcome back to the blogosphere—you were sorely missed!
Your story reminds me of my own touring of England’s ancient walls, age 11, in the summer of ‘86; 4 weeks spent on the border with Wales in the Midlands, plus a few days in London.
Along with visits to straight-out-of-Arthurian legend Welsh lakes, Castles in Chirk, and the Royal Shrewsbury Medical College to repair an unexpected sporting injury, highlights included a walk along the walls and gardens of Chester, whose Roman-era ruins were my first ever encounter with actual tangible human history.
For one who comes from a country where little stands with more than a hundred years, coming face to face with man-made objects so vastly predating my own little self was magical, eye-opening and imagination-fueling—the thought of so many lives once present, now passed away, standing right there before me was not only mind-blowing—but I could actually feel their weight and depth before me—cut a knife through the air thick with their layered memory.
September 6th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Thanks, John, for your impressions of British architectural relics. One can definitely feel the weight and depth of man-made ancient structures, especially in cities where the events indeed seem almost like tangible layers, or as though the objects themselves are thick tomes of memories.
I think I have mixed feelings about this sort of experience. As Sri Chinmoy says, “The past is dust.” and I like to live by that ever-new maxim as much as I can; it evokes a sense that all can be improved upon, and all can be forgiven.
As I mentioned in my post, I suppose it is only curiosity that is satisfied by the gory details and fascinating facts about a place, but there is something inspiring about buildings that have stood the test of time. Perhaps, as I started to suggest, it is that people cared enough about a place and about each other to build things properly in those days… although I think we are probably better at looking after ourselves and each other generally, judging by some of the fascinating historical facts I’ve read in the past few days
September 7th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Hi sumangali!
It is so great to have you back!
I’m glad you are settled in and able to enjoy the beautiful part of the world in which you reside!
Thank you for sharing these photographs!
Lots of love,
Jennifer
September 7th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Thanks so much, Jennifer! Glad you enjoyed your virtual visit to York.
It’s great to be back. I’ve had a quick peep at your site, and your new site too. Your boundless enthusiasm for spreading goodness and graciousness is an inspiration! Will have a proper look later when I have time to give your sites the proper attention they deserve.
Love
Sumangali