Day 139, 20 November 2012. York - Walking tour including St Mary's Abbey, St Leonard's Hospital ruins, King's Manor, ruins of old Roman walls and Medieval walls, walked the near intact City Walls between Bootham Bar and Monk Bar, saw the York Minster and where the stonemason's work behind it constantly carving and fitting replacement stones, St William's College, The Shambles shopping street, The shrine to Margaret Clitherow, Our Lady's Row (one of the oldest rows of houses in York), Treasurer's House (National Trust), Newgate Market.
Note: Navigation in York is interesting. Streets are called Gates (from the Norwegian/Vikings) - thus our hotel is on Marygate. Gates are called Bars (from the French - barriere) - thus we walked from Bootham Bar to Monk Bar along the walls, and of course Bars are called Pubs. That's where we drink!
We tripped over today's morning activity. We walked to Exhibition Square and were about to walk a section of the city walls, when we noticed the Volunteer Guides Association was due to take a free walking tour of York. Well that was us joined up and before we knew it Gordon the Guide was leading us into the Museum Gardens and explaining all sorts of good stuff - for instance, the multitudes of stone Roman coffins lying around were actually found in burial sites outside the walls and brought in to be "enjoyed". Very sensible not burying folks willy-nilly in the town. He explained many interesting facts about things we never would have noticed on our own. And part of the tour included walking the section of city walls we'd planned on which took us right behind the Minster. The poor bloke couldn't believe how much he was managing to fit in and thought he'd gone a bit fast as we reached the finishing spot at 11.45 am instead of 12.30pm. At which point he realised his watch had stopped and it was actually 12.45 pm. As a wag in the group said, he certainly gave us value for money on the free tour. We stopped for lunch and James got to have his very first Cornish Pastie which went down a treat. We managed to use our National Trust membership on our way home and nipped into the stunning Treasurer's House, furnished with stunning antiques by eccentric millionaire Frank Green. He's considered a bit of a legend in that he gave the property and contents to the National Trust in the 1930s on condition he would come back and haunt the property if they ever shifted the furniture. He died about 50 years ago in the enviable position of not owing anyone a penny and not having a penny in the bank. He was determined the Exchequer would receive nothing on his death and succeeded. The Treasurer's House is also the site of one of York's most famous ghost sightings. It is built on an old Roman road and when work was being done in the basement in the 1950s a young man witnessed Roman soldiers coming out of a wall and walking before him. And at that point they had no idea the road was there.
http://www.britannia.com/history/legend/yorkghosts/yorkgt05.html
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/treasurers-house-york/
A rest in the afternoon set us up for the evening's spookie pookie adventure - The York Ghost Hunt! We stood at the meeting point at the Shambles, not knowing what to expect, and right on time a ghoulish looking fellow (pictured), tolling a bell trudged mournfully towards us and had us laughing from the get go. The walk around various haunted properties was a mixture of jokes, gags and tormenting a couple of members of the group. But also included were stories of specific hauntings. One that resonated in particular was in a small stone house, during the black death, a couple with a young daughter kept themselves indoors to stay safe from the plague. They would send their young daughter out to the market for food. One night, when they put her to bed, they noticed she had black marks on her skin and had obviously caught the plague. They kissed her goodnight, locked the bedroom door. Walked out of the house, put a red cross on the front door and locked it behind them. No one came to the young girls aid when she woke up and started screaming. Now she is seen a few times a year at the upstairs bedroom window... crying. And people have been known to got to the front door and demand the residents go and take care of their distressed daughter and they say, of course, we have no children...
And after the walk, to the sound of the bell ringers in the York minster, we walked home through twisting alleys in the dark...