USEFUL INFORMATION |
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Useful Information - Did You Know
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Ancient Laws – An ancient law that has never been updated, tells that you can legally shoot a Scotsman with a cross bow, within the city walls. Peoples variations of this law say that it has to be on a Sunday only, and only one per day. I don’t know whether I would like to put that law to the test though. |
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Red Light – During ancient medieval times, it is said that Grape Lane, now a street full of Cafes and restaurants was use for a more frowned on purpose of prostitution. This police now have this under control. |
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Explosive times – The Fawkes family with their infamous son Guy Fawkes lived in York on Stonegate. Later Guy went on a trip to London to blow up the houses of parliament. Obviously there wasn’t anything better on TV that day. |
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Little Devil – Many people photograph the little Devil outside number 33 Stonegate, but not realize that the Devil is not anything bad or warning. The Devil simply signifies that the building was once upon a time a printer and that Printers Devils were errand boys. |
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Haunting – York is one of the most, if not the most, haunted city in England. Many people have told stories of seeing ghosts. Probably the most famous of all is a young lad by the name of Harry Martindale, who when working in a cellar saw a troop of Roman Legionnaires walk straight through the wall in front of him and through the cellar to the disappear the other side. He described the look of the uniforms in detail and this was then checked and verified by experts. I bet he didn’t go down any cellars on his own any more. |
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Butchering – one of the streets which is visited by tourists on a visit to York is The Shambles. This is quaint street of souvenirs and subject of many camera clicks with building leaning over, almost touching at the top. However, in ancient York times, the Shambles was a street of Butcher shops and slaughter houses. On an evening, the shops used to throw the guts and blood and any unusable parts into the street where it would be washed away or eaten by rats. Makes you wonder why the great plague didn’t start in York. |
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Stand and Deliver – Another infamous character of York is John Palmer, otherwise known as Dick Turpin. Probably the most famous of all highwaymen was eventually caught and sentenced to death. He was hung at the Tyburn (now known as the Knavesmire, near York Racecourse). Other stories say that he was further hung over the opening to Foss Gate at the bottom of Whip Ma Whop Ma Gate as a warning to others. After the hanging, he was then quartered just to make sure. Maybe they didn’t think a hanging would kill him enough. |
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Day Light Robbery – Ever wondered why, when wandering round the old buildings of York, there are some buildings with bricked up windows? Well in ancient times, the government decided to implement a window tax based on the amount of windows in your house. People who couldn’t afford to pay the tax or didn’t want to pay, bricked up windows so that the tax wasn’t applicable. This is where the term Day Light Robbery came from. |
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Grave Hotel – Recently it was found that the Victorians build the well known Royal York Hotel over a Roman burial ground. Artifacts have been dug and found in the gardens in front of the hotel. Sounds like the settings of a new horror movie to me. |
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Striking – One of the most famous disasters to happen to York, is the bolt of lightening that hit York Minster in 1984. This caused devastating damage to the Minster, which took many years to fix. Most people believe that the fire was caused by the natural elements of weather, where as some people believe that it was more spiritual as two days before, David Jenkins was set as the new Bishop of Durham causing problems with in, with his interpretation of the miracles of Jesus being simply conjuring tricks and the resurrection being more trickery. Which ever way you look at it, the lightening was still an act of God. |
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