York - WikiHQ

York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, including the minster, castle and city walls, all of which are Grade I listed. It is the traditional county town of Yorkshire, and the administrative centre of the City of York district. It is located north-east of Leeds, south of Newcastle upon Tyne and north of London. York's built-up area had a recorded population of 141,685 at the 2021 census. In the 19th century, it became a major railway network hub and confectionery-manufacturing centre. During the Second World War, York was bombed in the Baedeker Blitz; athough it was targeted less during the war than other more industrialised northern cities, several historic buildings were gutted and restoration lasted until the 1960s.

Historic local governance of the city was as a county corporate, not included in the county's riding system. The city has since been governed locally as a municipal borough, county borough and since 1996, by the City of York non-metropolitan district which also includes surrounding villages, rural areas and the town of Haxby. The current district's local council, City of York Council, is responsible for providing all local services and facilities throughout this area.

Toponymy

York was known to the Romans as or , a Latinisation of the Brittonic . The latter may mean "place of yew trees", from and , a suffix meaning "associated with". is also recorded as a personal name, however, so an alternative etymology would be "property of Eburos". Indeed, the 12th‑century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth attributed the name to a legendary king named Ebraucus.

By the time of the Anglo-Saxon settlement, the Brittonic name had developed into something like (compare modern Welsh ). The Anglo-Saxons associated the first element with the word , meaning "boar", and referred to the city as (literally "boar town"). This was in turn adapted into Old Norse as , which later became or simply . The Norse name was then reborrowed into English as York, a form that first appears in the 13th century. The Old English name survived as or , becoming obsolete after the 15th century.

The city was founded in AD 71, when the Ninth Legion conquered the Brigantes and constructed a wooden military fortress on flat ground above the river Ouse, close to its confluence with the river Foss. The fortress, whose walls were rebuilt in stone by the VI legion based there subsequent to the IX legion, covered an area of and was inhabited by 6,000 legionary soldiers. The site of the principia (headquarters) of the fortress lies under the foundations of York Minster, and excavations in the undercroft have revealed part of the Roman structure and columns. In AD 314 a bishop from York attended the Council at Arles to represent Christians from the province.

While the Roman colonia and fortress were on high ground, by AD 400 the town was victim to occasional flooding from the rivers Ouse and Foss, and the population reduced. York declined in the post-Roman era, and was taken and settled by the Angles in the 5th century.

Reclamation of parts of the town was initiated in the 7th century under King Edwin of Northumbria, and York became his chief city. The first wooden minster church was built in York for the baptism of Edwin in 627, according to the Venerable Bede. Edwin ordered the small wooden church be rebuilt in stone; however, he was killed in 633, and the task of completing the stone minster fell to his successor Oswald.

In 866, Northumbria was in the midst of internecine struggles when the Vikings raided and captured York. As a prosperous economic centre, York was a target for the Vikings. Led by Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan, Scandinavian forces (referred to by the Anglo-Saxons as the "Great Heathen Army") attacked the town on All Saints' Day. Launching the assault on a holy day proved an effective tactical move – most of York's leaders were in the cathedral, leaving the town vulnerable to attack and unprepared for battle.

After it was conquered, the city was renamed from the Old English Eoforwic to Jorvik. It became the capital of Viking territory in Britain, and at its peak had more than 10,000 inhabitants. This was a population second only to London within Great Britain. Jorvik proved an important economic and trade centre for the Vikings. Norse coinage was created at the Jorvik mint, while archaeologists have found evidence of a variety of craft workshops around the town's central Coppergate area. These demonstrate that textile production, metalwork, carving, glasswork and jewellery-making were all practised in Jorvik. Materials from as far afield as the Persian Gulf have also been discovered, suggesting that the town was part of an international trading network. Under Viking rule the city became a major river port, part of the extensive Viking trading routes throughout northern Europe.

The last ruler of an independent Jórvík, Eric Bloodaxe, was driven from the city in AD 954 by King Eadred in his successful attempt to complete the unification of England.

After the conquest

thumb|A panorama of 15th-century York by [[E. Ridsdale Tate; York Castle is on the right hand side of the river, opposite the abandoned motte of Baile Hill.]]

In 1068, two years after the Norman invasion of England, the people of York rebelled. Initially they succeeded, but upon the arrival of William the Conqueror the rebellion was suppressed. William, at once, built a wooden fortress on a motte. In 1069, after another rebellion, the king built another timbered castle across the River Ouse. These were destroyed in 1069 and rebuilt by William about the time of his ravaging Northumbria in what is called the "Harrying of the North" where he destroyed everything from York to Durham. The remains of the rebuilt castles, now in stone, are visible on either side of the River Ouse.

The first stone minster church was badly damaged by fire in the uprising, and the Normans built a minster on a new site. Around the year 1080, Archbishop Thomas started building the cathedral that in time became the current Minster.

thumb|[[Clifford's Tower, part of York Castle]]

As York began to recover and rebuild following the Norman invasion, it slowly reemerged as an administrative and religious hub in the region.

In 1190, York Castle was the site of an infamous massacre of its Jewish inhabitants, in which at least 150 people were murdered, although some authorities put the figure as high as 500.

The city, through its location on the River Ouse and its proximity to the Great North Road, became a major trading centre. King John granted the city's first charter in 1212, confirming trading rights in England and Europe. During the later Middle Ages, York merchants imported wine from France, cloth, wax, canvas, and oats from the Low Countries, timber and furs from the Baltic and exported grain to Gascony and grain and wool to the Low Countries.

York became a major cloth-manufacturing and trading centre. Edward I further stimulated the city's economy by using the city as a base for his war in Scotland. The city was the location of significant unrest during the so-called Peasants' Revolt in 1381. The city acquired an increasing degree of autonomy from central government, including the privileges granted by a charter of Richard II in 1396.

16th to 18th centuries

thumb|[[St Mary's Abbey, York|St Mary's Abbey was founded in 1155 and destroyed during the Dissolution, .]]

The city underwent a period of economic decline during the Tudor period. Under King Henry VIII the Dissolution of the monasteries saw the end of York's many monastic houses, including several orders of friars, the hospitals of St Nicholas and of St Leonard, the largest such institution in the north of England. This led to the Pilgrimage of Grace, an uprising of northern Catholics in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire opposed to religious reform. Henry VIII restored his authority by establishing the Council of the North in York in the dissolved St Mary's Abbey. The city became a trading and service centre during this period. In 1541 Henry VIII and Catherine Howard visited the city of York on their royal tour. The royal party would have been met outside the walls by civic dignitaries before formally entering the city.

The civic dignitary would have been the Lord Mayor of York, who at the time of their arrival on 15 September 1541 He owned the residential property at 74 Low Petergate. Following a special service held in their honour at York minster, Henry and Catherine rode from the minster down to Petergate, one of the five gateways, and over to the closed Benedictine abbey of St. Mary which had been converted into a palace for the King to stay in while he visited York on his Royal Tour.

Anne of Denmark came to York with her children Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth on 11 June 1603. The Mayor gave her a tour and offered her spiced wine, but she preferred beer. Guy Fawkes, who was born and educated in York, was a member of a group of Roman Catholic restorationists that planned the Gunpowder Plot. Its aim was to displace Protestant rule by blowing up the Houses of Parliament while King James I, the entire Protestant, and even most of the Catholic aristocracy and nobility were inside.

thumb|A map of York, 1611

In 1644, during the English Civil War, the Parliamentarians besieged York, and many medieval houses outside the city walls were lost. The barbican at Walmgate Bar was undermined and explosives laid, but the plot was discovered. On the arrival of Prince Rupert, with an army of 15,000 men, the siege was lifted. The Parliamentarians retreated some from York with Rupert in pursuit, before turning on his army and soundly defeating it at the Battle of Marston Moor. Of Rupert's 15,000 troops, 4,000 were killed and 1,500 captured. The siege was renewed and the city surrendered to Sir Thomas Fairfax

Modern history

thumb|The Great Hall at the [[National Railway Museum]]

The railway promoter George Hudson was responsible for bringing the railway to York in 1839. Although Hudson's career as a railway entrepreneur ended in disgrace and bankruptcy, his promotion of York over Leeds, and of his own railway company (the York and North Midland Railway), helped establish York as a major railway centre by the late-19th century.

The introduction of the railways established engineering in the city. At the turn of the 20th century, the railway accommodated the headquarters and works of the North Eastern Railway, which employed more than 5,500 people. The railway was instrumental in the expansion of Rowntree's Cocoa Works. It was founded in 1862 by Henry Isaac Rowntree, who was joined in 1869 by his brother the philanthropist Joseph Rowntree. Another chocolate manufacturer, Terry's of York, was a major employer.

In 1942 the city was bombed during the Second World War (part of the Baedeker Blitz) by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany. 92 people were killed and hundreds were injured. Buildings damaged in the raid included the Railway Station, Rowntree's Factory, Poppleton Road Primary School, St Martin-le-Grand Church, the Bar Convent and the Guildhall which was left in total disrepair until 1960.

thumb|Bench with [[Kit Kat advertising in York, where the chocolate bar was created by the confectionery company Rowntree's, to mark National Chocolate Week in 2018]]

With the emergence of tourism, the historic core of York became one of the city's major assets, and in 1968 it was designated a conservation area. The existing tourist attractions were supplemented by the establishment of the National Railway Museum in York in 1975, the Jorvik Viking Centre in 1984 and the York Dungeon in 1986. The opening of the University of York in 1963 added to the prosperity of the city. In March 2012 York's Chocolate Story opened.

York was voted European Tourism City of the Year by European Cities Marketing in June 2007, beating 130 other European cities to gain first place, surpassing Gothenburg in Sweden (second) and Valencia in Spain (third). York was also voted safest place to visit in the 2010 Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Choice Awards. In 2018 The Sunday Times deemed York to be its overall 'Best Place to Live' in Britain, highlighting the city's "perfect mix of heritage and hi-tech" and as a "mini-metropolis with cool cafes, destination restaurants, innovative companies – plus the fastest internet in Britain". The result was confirmed in a YouGov survey, reported in August 2018, with 92 per cent of respondents saying that they liked the city, more than any of 56 other British cities.

Governance

Local

thumb|[[York Guildhall is the seat of local government.]]

The City of York is governed by the City of York Council. It is a unitary authority that operates on a leader and cabinet style of governance, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services including Council Tax billing, libraries, social services, processing planning applications, waste collection and disposal, and it is a local education authority. The city council consists of 47 councillors representing 21 wards, with one, two or three per ward serving four-year terms. Its headquarters are at the Guildhall and West Offices in the city centre.

York is divided into 21 administrative wards: Acomb, Bishopthorpe, Clifton, Copmanthorpe, Dringhouses and Woodthorpe, Fishergate, Fulford and Heslington, Guildhall, Haxby and Wigginton, Heworth, Heworth Without, Holgate, Hull Road, Huntington and New Earswick, Micklegate, Osbaldwick and Derwent, Rawcliffe and Clifton Without, Rural West York, Strensall, Westfield, and Wheldrake.

The members of the cabinet, led by the Council Leader, makes decisions on their portfolio areas individually. Following the Local Government Act 2000, the Council Leader commands the confidence of the city council; the leader of the largest political group and head of the City of York Council. The Leader of the council and the cabinet (consisting of all the executive councillors) are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the city council. The current Council Leader, Liberal Democrats' Cllr Keith Aspden, was appointed on 22 May 2019, following the 2019 City of York Council election.

thumb|The [[Mansion House, York|Mansion House is home to the Lord Mayor of York.]]

York's first citizen and civic head is the Lord Mayor, who is the chairman of the City of York Council. The appointment is made by the city council each year in May, at the same time appointing the Sheriff, the city's other civic head. The offices of Lord Mayor and Sheriff are purely ceremonial. The Lord Mayor carries out civic and ceremonial duties in addition to chairing full council meetings.

York Youth Council consists of several young people who negotiate with the councillors to get better facilities for York's young people, and who also elect York's Member of Youth Parliament.

The results of the 2023 City of York Council election saw the Conservative Party with three councillors, the Liberal Democrats with 19 councillors, the Labour Party had 24 councillors and one Independent. The council went from no overall control in the 2019 election, to being run by the Labour Party holding a majority.

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan="2" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;" | Party

! style="vertical-align:top" | Seats

! colspan="25" | City of York Council (2023 election)

| 3

| style="width: 4px" bgcolor= |

| colspan="25" style="width:4px; background:#fff;" |

| 1

| style="width: 4px" bgcolor= |

| colspan="25" style="width:4px; background:#fff;" |

| 24

| style="width: 4px" bgcolor= |

| colspan="25" style="width:4px; background:#fff;" |

| 19

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York is the traditional county town of Yorkshire, and therefore did not form part of any of its three historic ridings or divisions. Its Mayor has had the status of Lord Mayor since 1370, one of 23 in England. Only five of these have the title "The Right Honourable", the others being the Lord Mayors of London, Bristol, Cardiff and Belfast. York is an ancient borough, and was reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 to form a municipal borough. It gained the status of a county borough in 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888, and existed so until 1974, when, under the Local Government Act 1972, it became a non-metropolitan district in the county of North Yorkshire, whilst retaining its Lord Mayor and its Sheriff. As a result of 1990s United Kingdom local government reform, York regained unitary status and saw a substantial alteration in its borders, taking in parts of Selby and Harrogate districts, and about half the population of the Ryedale District. The new boundary was imposed after central government rejected the former city council's own proposal.

Parliament

From 1997 to 2010, the central part of the district was covered by the City of York constituency, while the remainder was split between the constituencies of Ryedale, Selby, and Vale of York. These constituencies were represented by Hugh Bayley, John Greenway, John Grogan, and Anne McIntosh respectively.

Following their review in 2003 of parliamentary representation in North Yorkshire, the Boundary Commission for England recommended the creation of two new seats for the City of York, in time for the general election in 2010. These are York Central, which covers the inner urban area, and is entirely surrounded by the York Outer constituency.

Ceremonial

York is within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire and, until 1974, was within the jurisdiction of the Lord Lieutenant of the County of York, West Riding and the County of The City of York. The city does retain the right to appoint its own Sheriff. The holder of the Royal dukedom of York has no responsibilities either ceremonially or administratively as regards the city.

Geography

Location

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"

! Place

! Distance

! Direction

! Relation

| London

| 280 km

| South-east

| Capital

| Lincoln

| 90 km

| South-east

| Next nearest historic county town

| Middlesbrough

| 70 km

| North

| Largest place in the county

| Ripon

| 35 km

| North-west

| Next nearest city

| Leeds

| 35 km

| South-west

| Next nearest city

York lies in the Vale of York, a flat area of fertile arable land bordered by the Pennines, the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Wolds. The city was built at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss on a terminal moraine left by the last ice age.

thumb|Tour boats on the river Ouse

thumb|The river Foss

During Roman times, the land surrounding the Ouse and Foss was marshy, making the site easy to defend. The city is prone to flooding from the River Ouse, and has an extensive network of flood defences with walls along the river, and a liftable barrier across the Foss where it joins the Ouse at the "Blue Bridge". In October and November 2000, York experienced the worst flooding in 375 years; more than 300 homes were flooded. In December 2015, the flooding was more extensive and caused major disruption. The extreme impact led to a personal visit by Prime Minister David Cameron. Much land in and around the city is on flood plains too flood-prone for development other than agriculture. The ings are flood meadows along the Ouse, while the strays are open common grassland in various locations around the city.

Climate

York has a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb) with four distinct seasons. As with the rest of the Vale of York, the city's climate is drier and warmer than the rest of the Yorkshire and the Humber region. Owing to its lowland location, York is prone to frosts, fog, and cold winds during winter, spring, and very early summer. Snow can fall in winter from December onwards to as late as April but quickly melts. As with much of the British Isles, the weather is changeable. York experiences most sunshine from May to July, an average of six hours per day. With its inland location, summers are often warmer than the Yorkshire coast with temperatures of 27 °C or more. Extremes recorded at Linton-on-Ouse between 1984 and 2021 include a highest temperature of on 25 July 2019 and 3 August 1990 and a lowest temperature of on 4 December 2010. The most rainfall in one day was .