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This is a beautiful little park on the North side of York Minster. It's surprising how many people never notice it's there. (The park, not York Minster. Although you'd be surprised...) I've been told that it covers an enormous tank of water to be used in case the Minster ever catches fire again. I've never found out for sure - it does sound like an urban legend, but it seems plausible from the manhole covers in the lawn.

The centre of this picture is the North side of York Minster (properly known as the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St. Peter in York). Since Roman times this spot has been the centre of York, with various different buildings occupying it over the last 1900ish years. This particular version of the Minster took 252 years to build! To the right of the main tower can be seen one of the twin towers at the West end - this one contains the mechanism that chimes to mark the time of day. Moving around to the right is the Duncombe Place entrance to the park, and the red brick wall of the Dean Court Hotel can just be seen. Next to this is the Purey Cust Nuffield Hospital, and further round is a wall that was part of the mediaeval palace of the archbishops. It was restored as a war memorial to the second Portugal division (raised in 1809) and unveiled by the Queen Mother in 1987. Its largest plaque simply reads "Kohima 1944." The memorial continues at the left-hand edge of the picture.

Next to this, and still on the site of the former palace, are the York Minster Library and Archives. Beyond that is Minster Court, the small close containing the Deanery, maybe the greatest house in York. Continuing to the right is Minster Court (the street leading to the Deanery) and, behind the trees, the Treasurer's House (purported site of the legendary "Martindale hoax"), then the North Transept of York Minster.

This picture can also be seen in the York Minster Shop, The Braithwaite Gallery (Low Petergate, York), Image (High Petergate, York), and Look Gallery (Castlegate, Helmsley).

Photographed on: mostly Saturday 14th May 2005, around 12:30pm (although the tip of the Minster main tower was photographed around thirteen months later!)

Photographed from: 53.96292 degrees North; 1.08255 degrees West.