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View of York Minster from 2nd floor of Marks & Spencer building by MatzeTrier –

10 Remarquable Facts about York Minster

The Cathedral and Metro political Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the third-highest office of the Church of England (after the monarch as Supreme Governor and the Archbishop of Canterbury), and is the mother church for the Diocese of York and the Province of York.

It is run by a dean and chapter, under the Dean of York. The title “minster” is attributed to churches established in the Anglo-Saxon period as missionary teaching churches, and serves now as an honorific title;the word Metro political in the formal name refers to the Archbishop of York’s role as the Metropolitan bishop of the Province of York. Services in the minister are sometimes regarded as on the High Church or Anglo-Catholic end of the Anglican continuum. 

The minster was completed in 1472 after several centuries of building. It is devoted to Saint Peter, and has a very wide Decorated Gothic nave and chapter house, a Perpendicular Gothic quire and east end and Early English North and South transepts. The nave contains the West Window, constructed in 1338, and over the Lady Chapel in the east end is the Great East Window (finished in 1408), the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. In the north transept is the Five Sisters window, each lancet being over 53 feet (16.3 m) high. The south transept contains a rose window, while the West Window contains a heart-shaped design colloquially known as The Heart of Yorkshire. 

Here are the 10 remarquable Facts about York Minster.

1. York Minster was the site of an important Roman basilica

​​Outside the front entrance of the Minster is a statue of Emperor Constantine who, on 25 July 306 AD, was proclaimed Emperor of the Western Roman Empire by his troops in York (then Eboracum).

 Eboracum had been an important Roman stronghold in Britain from about 70 AD. Indeed between 208 and 211, Septimus Severus had ruled the Roman Empire from York. He also died there, on 4 February 2011.

2. York Minster was first built as a temporary structure

Works being done on York Minster, 2021 by BeÅ»et –

 A church first stood here in 627. It was quickly erected to provide a place for Edwin, king of Northumbria, to be baptized. It was finally completed 252 years later.

 Since its establishment in the 7th century, there have been 96 archbishops and bishops. Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor, Thomas Wolsey, was cardinal here for 16 years but never once stepped foot in the Minster.

3. The name of Minster comes from Anglo-Saxon times

York Minster is officially the ‘Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St Peter in York’. Although it is by definition a cathedral, as it is the site of a bishop’s throne, the word ‘cathedral’ did not come into use until the Norman Conquest. The word ‘minster’ was what Anglo-Saxons named their important churches.

4. There was a York Minster’s police force

YorkMinster by IanDWheatley –

On 2 February 1829, a religious fanatic named Jonathan Martin set the cathedral alight with arson. The heart of the cathedral was gutted, and after this disaster a cathedral police force was employed.

York Minster’s police force became such a presence that it’s likely Robert Peel worked with them to research the ‘Peelers’ – the first Metropolitan police force in Britain.

5. Once a lightning bolt struck York Minster

On 9 July 1984, on a hot summer’s night, a lightning bolt struck York Minster. Fire engulfed the roof, until it collapsed at 4am. Bob Littlewood, the Superintendent of Works, described the scene.

The convectional heat from the fire cracked the 7,000 pieces of glass in the Rose Window in the South Transept into about 40,000 places – but remarkably, the window stayed in one piece. This was mainly due to the restoration and re-leading work from twelve years before.

6. There are about 128 stained glass windows in York Minster

York Minster Cathedral by Gary Todd –

The Rose Window was produced in the year 1515 by the workshop of Master Glazier Robert Petty. The outer panels contain two red Lancastrian roses, alternating with panels containing two red and white Tudor roses.

This alluded to the union of the Houses of Lancaster and York through the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in 1486, and may have been designed to enforce the legitimacy of the new ruling house of Tudor.

7. York Minster is the largest medieval Gothic cathedral north of the Alps

 Because the structure was built across two and a half centuries, it embodies all the major stages of Gothic architectural development.

The north and south transepts were built in the Early English style, the octagonal Chapter House and nave were built in the Decorated style, and the quire and central tower were built in Perpendicular style.

8. York Minster weighs the same as 40 jumbo jets

Photograph of York Minster taken in September 2013 by acediscovery –

The Minster was built to challenge the architectural supremacy of Canterbury, as it dates from the period when York was the main economic, political and religious centre in the North. It was built out of cream-coloured magnesian limestone, quarried from nearby Tadcaster.

The structure is surmounted by the central tower, which has a height of 21 storeys and weighs about the same as 40 jumbo jets. On a very clear day Lincoln Cathedral can be seen 60 miles away.

9. Some parts of the York Minster cathedral roof were designed by children

During the restoration following the 1984 fire, Blue Peter held a children’s competition to design the new bosses for the cathedral roof. The winning designs depicted Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon, and the 1982 raising of the Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s warship.

10. York Minster is the only UK cathedral to put mistletoe on the high altar

This ancient use of mistletoe is connected to Britain’s druid past, which was particularly strong in the north of England. The mistletoe, which grows on lime, poplar, apple and hawthorn trees, was held in high regard by the Druids, who believed it warded off evil spirits and represented friendship.

Most early churches didn’t display mistletoe because of its association with the Druids. However, York Minster held a winter Mistletoe Service, where the city’s evil doers were invited to seek forgiveness.