Murton : Attractions of York

Murton is a small village and a civil parish located on the outskirts of York. To the west there is the A64 and the village of Osbaldwick, to the south the A166 road to Bridlington, to the north the village of Stockton-on-the-Forest, and to the east the villages of Holtby and Warthill.

According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 423. Prior to 1996 it had been part of the Ryedale district.

The village has around a hundred properties ranging from traditional large country houses to more modern buildings.

The village is home to the Yorkshire Museum of Farming at Murton Park. Here there is a small railway track which is the remains of the Derwent Valley Light Railway. Trains are run on Sundays and bank holidays. The village has a local pub called the Bay Horse. The York Livestock Centre is also located in Murton.

The village has a small church named after St James, which is linked with St Thomas’ Church in Osbaldwick.

Heslington Hall : Attractions of York

Heslington Hall is an English manor house located on the campus of the University of York, near the village of Heslington. Constructed in 1568 for Secretary and Keeper of the Seal to the Council of the North Thomas Eynns, the house has been rebuilt several times, the latest major modification being in the early 20th century.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the house was vacated by its then inhabitants, the Yarbrugh family, leaving it to be taken over by the Royal Air Force for the headquarters of 64 Group Bomber Command. The hall was abandoned after the war until 1962, when Dr Bernard Fielden supervised its conversion into the original home of, and latterday administrative headquarters of, the University of York.

Murton : Attractions of York

Murton is a small village and a civil parish located on the outskirts of York. To the west there is the A64 and the village of Osbaldwick, to the south the A166 road to Bridlington, to the north the village of Stockton-on-the-Forest, and to the east the villages of Holtby and Warthill.

According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 423. Prior to 1996 it had been part of the Ryedale district.

The village has around a hundred properties ranging from traditional large country houses to more modern buildings.

The village is home to the Yorkshire Museum of Farming at Murton Park. Here there is a small railway track which is the remains of the Derwent Valley Light Railway. Trains are run on Sundays and bank holidays. The village has a local pub called the Bay Horse. The York Livestock Centre is also located in Murton.

The village has a small church named after St James, which is linked with St Thomas’ Church in Osbaldwick.

Elvington : Attractions of York

Elvington is a small pit village in between Canterbury and Dover located near to the nearby settlement of Eythorne. The village lies on a ridge and offers commanding views of the surrounding countryside from Terrace Road and Roman Way.

The village was mostly built in the early 20th Century to serve the nearby pit at Tilmanstone - there are other villages in the area much the same including Sandown, Aylesham and Betteshanger. Today the pit is an industrial estate between Tilmanstone and Eythorne located on the Pike Road.

The new housing estate was built originally in the mid 1990’s and has been extensively added to since however some areas of the estate were built much earlier possibly being Beech Grove.

Recent investment from agencies such as SEEDA has led to the development of the former miners hall into a communication and learning centre for the village. They are numerous local activities within the village community centre as well in the future to open a long distance footpath throughout the mining villages called the Miners Way.
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Yorkshire Air Museum : Attractions of York

The Yorkshire Air Museum, (RAF Elvington airfield during the World War II), is an air museum in the United Kingdom. Highlights include the museums recreation of a Halifax Bomber and A Handley Page Victor, one of the 3 V-Bombers.

Contact information

Yorkshire Air Museum,
Halifax Way, Elvington, York, YO41 4AU
Phone: (44) (0) 1904 608595
Fax: (44) (0) 1904 608246

York Racecourse : Attractions of York

York Racecourse is a horse racing track in the southwest of the City of York with a spectator capacity of 56,000. The most famous race to be held at York on an annual basis is the Ebor. On June 14-18, 2005, the York Racecourse held Royal Ascot due to Ascot Racecourse being closed for its £185 million redevelopment.

The track is situated on the Knavesmire, in the southwest of the City of York and on race days has its own radio station ‘York Raceday Radio’ (1602 kHz, medium wave) which can be picked up up to 10 miles from the course.

The track won the Racecourse of the Year title in 2003 and come out on top in The Times newspaper survey of all Britain’s racecourses.

Vale of York : Attractions of York

The Vale of York is the area surrounding the city of York, in the north of England. It is bounded by the North York Moors and Yorkshire Wolds to the east and the Pennines to the west. It consists of flat, arable land and is surrounded by terminal moraines - ridges of small hills. The River Ouse and a number of its tributaries run through it.

Strays of York : Attractions of York

The Strays of York is a collective name for four areas of open land, comprising in all over 800 acres (325 hectares), within the City of York. Their individual names are Micklegate Stray (which includes the Knavesmire and Hob Moor), Bootham Stray, Monk Stray and Walmgate Stray.

History of Strays of York

The Strays are the remains of much greater areas of common land on which the hereditary Freemen of the City had, since time immemorial, the right to graze cattle.

After the Parliamentary Enclosures of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, whereby commons were enclosed and rights of pasturage extinguished, areas of grazing land were allotted to the Freemen in lieu of their existing rights. Together with the Knavesmire and Hob Moor, land already used by the City for pasturage, these areas became the Strays, land vested in the Corporation to be held in trust for the Freemen of each of the original four Wards of the City.

Ownership and administration

Originally, each Stray was controlled and managed by Pasture Masters for the exclusive benefit of the Freemen resident in their Ward. in 1905, the City took over Micklegate Stray, and in 1907 an Act of Parliament extinguished the Freemen’s rights over it in exchange for the payment of an annual sum of money. in 1947, the City approached the Pasture Masters of the other three Strays with a view to making similar arrangements in their cases.
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Skelton Hall : Attractions of York

Skelton Hall was the home of John Hall-Stevenson, friend of Laurence Sterne, in the mid 1700s. it was situated in the village of Skelton, York.

Sadly there is no picture of the old castle which was pulled down and rebuilt at the end of the eighteenth century. Some have suggested that the illustration for the frontispiece of Stevenson’s “Crazy Tales” represents old Skelton Castle. However it looks like no other Norman castle and like the surrounding scenery is probably a creation of the illustrator’s imagination.

A hundred years after Sterne’s death, Skelton still held his memory, an area near the wood above Skelton Mill being called Sterne’s Seat and the wood behind is Mount Shandy (named after Sterne’s famous novel Tristram Shandy).

Knavesmire : Attractions of York

The Knavesmire is one of a number of large, marshy undeveloped areas within the city of York, England which are collectively known as Strays. The Knavesmire, together with Hob Moor, comprises Micklegate Stray.

Situated in the south-west of the city, some distance outside the historic walls, the Knavesmire’s low-lying position makes it liable to severe flooding in times of heavy rain. As a consequence, it remained undeveloped as the city expanded around it.

For many years, the Knavesmire was the site of public hangings in York. The gallows were erected in 1379, a few miles outside the city on the main southern approach road (now known as the A1036 Tadcaster Road). Probably the most famous person to be executed was Dick Turpin, who was hanged in 1739. By the beginning of the 19th century, it was felt that the gallows did not create a good first impression for visitors to the city. The last hanging at the Knavesmire was in 1801, after which the gallows were moved to a more discreet (although still public) location near the castle. A paved area with a small plaque today marks the position in which the scaffold stood.

These days, the Knavesmire is used for recreation and for public events of a happier nature. it is a popular site for dog-walking, and a large part of it is occupied by York Racecourse.

Knavesmire was also the site for Knavesmire Secondary School, now one of the campuses of The College of Law.

Heslington Hall : Attractions of York

Heslington Hall is an English manor house located on the campus of the University of York, near the village of Heslington. Constructed in 1568 for Secretary and Keeper of the Seal to the Council of the North Thomas Eynns, the house has been rebuilt several times, the latest major modification being in the early 20th century.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the house was vacated by its then inhabitants, the Yarbrugh family, leaving it to be taken over by the Royal Air Force for the headquarters of 64 Group Bomber Command. The hall was abandoned after the war until 1962, when Dr Bernard Fielden supervised its conversion into the original home of, and latterday administrative headquarters of, the University of York.

Bishopthorpe Palace : Attractions of York

Bishopthorpe Palace is a stately home and historic house at Bishopthorpe south of York in the City of York unitary authority and ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. it is on the River Ouse and is the official residence of the Archbishop of York; within the local area it is sometimes simply called “the Archbishop’s Palace.”

in the 13th century, Archbishop Grey bought the manor house at what was then St. Andrewthorpe and gave it to the Dean and Chapter of York Minster. Since then, the village became known as Bishopthorpe.

The Palace is a listed building in a wooded, rural setting and includes a Gatehouse, Stables, a Brewhouse and Brewster’s Cottage. it was remodelled by Thomas Atkinson between 1763 and 1769.

York Minster : Attractions of York

York Minster is an imposing Anglican Gothic cathedral in York, northern England. it is the seat of the Archbishop of York, and cathedral for the Diocese of York.

it has a very wide Decorated Gothic nave and chapter house, a Perpendicular Gothic choir and east end, and Early English north and south transepts. The nave contains the West Window, constructed in 1338, and the Great East Window (finished in 1408) over the Lady Chapel in the east end. in the north transept is the Five Sisters Window, each lancet being over 16 metres high. The organ in the choir has been destroyed by fire on two occasions; the current device dates from 1829 and was substantially restored in 1993.

History of York Minster

York has had a Christian presence from the 300s. The first church on the site was a wooden structure built hurriedly in 627 to provide a place to baptise Edwin, King of Northumbria. Moves toward a more substantial building began in the 630s. A stone structure was completed in 637 by Oswald and was dedicated to Saint Peter. The church soon fell into disrepair and was dilapidated by 670 when Saint Wilfred ascended to the see of York; he put in place efforts to repair and renew the structure. The attached school and library were established and by the 8th century were some of the most substantial in northern Europe.
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York Dungeon : Attractions of York

The York Dungeon is a tourist attraction run by the same company as the London Dungeon and having a similar theme of gory exhibits. It is located on Clifford Street, York, near to the Jorvik Viking Centre.

York city walls : Attractions of York

The city of York in Yorkshire, England has, since Roman times, been defended with walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England.

History of York city walls

The Romans built a fort on the banks of the River Ouse, and circled the town of Eboracum with walls. These form the foundation and, for the most part, the line, of the existing walls. The Multiangular Tower in Museum Gardens is the most noticeable and intact Roman remains relating to the walls. it was constructed as part of a series of 8 similar towers to defend the fort, under orders from the Emperor Septimius Severus, who lived in York from 209 to 211 AD. it has 10 sides and is almost 30 feet tall.

The Danish occupied the city in 867 - by this time the Roman defenses were in poor repair, and the Danes demolished all but one of the towers (now near the public library) and restored the walls.

The majority of the remaining walls date from the 12th - 14th century, with some reconstruction carried out in the 19th century.
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