YORK MINSTER, NORMAN PILLAR IN CRYPT.

York is England's second city: in government and finance it is second to London, in religion second to Canterbury. York Minster is the architectural rival to Canterbury. It was built 800 years ago in the latest "French" style ..... later called "Gothic". But there were two earlier Churches built on this site.

The first 'York Minster' was a small temporary wooden structure built for the baptism of Edwin, King of Northumbria, in 627.

The second was a Norman cathedral started by the Archbishop of York Thomas of Bayeux in 1070.

A Norman choir was added towards the end of the following century by Archbishop Roger of Pont L'Eveque.

In each case fire destroyed the buildings.

The people of York then restored the burnt areas each time, sometimes after long delays.

The only remains of the Norman Cathedral at York are below ground level in the minster crypt. Here we see a PC of some excavated stonework from the earlier Norman cathedral.

Strangely it was fire that revealed these earlier areas of the Minster. In 1829, Jonathan Martin set fire to the choir stalls and the choir was completely burned out. The fire of 1829 gave Professor Willis and Mr Browne the opportunity to study the earlier structure of York Minster before the rebuilding began. Their excavations uncovered hidden treasures in the Norman Crypt below: the York Virgin (12th century madonna), the Doomstone (purgatory relief, late 12th century) and decorated late Norman pillars and vaulting.

This underground area is entered from the north aisle of the choir as it was in ancient days. These days it is being re-modernised in a soon to be completed restoration project of the Crypt, Treasury and Undercroft.

F.FRITH & Co. Ltd. Reigate/ No. 18428
Britain United Kingdom - York Minster, Norman Pillar in Crypt - old unused Postcard
13.8cm x 8.9cm
Back side: divided
Circulated: no
Condition: very good
Publisher: F. Frith.