Vikings and Saxon churches

The day was warm and sunny. It was hard to believe! We walked into York from where we were staying. We had another look at the wall. It was a section near the confluence of the main river into York, the Ouse and the smaller river the Fosse which had been made into a canal. The river floods at times, apparently due to the fact that William the Conqueror made it more narrow and diverted it.

On either side of the river are the remains of a Norman castle. William got quite stroppy after the people of York kept rebelling so he fortified his castles more.

We wandered through the medieval streets until we found the Viking Museum. This would have to be one of the best museums I have seen. It was built after the excavations of Coppergate street which shed a lot of light on the Vikings in York. In 876 Vikings from Denmark, Norway and Sweden invaded York but instead of leaving again with the plunder this time they settled permanently in England. The Vikings and the Anglo Saxons seemed to co exist during this period.

The museum had lots of amazing finds and they had constructed an animated Viking village which you visited with a commentary while seated in a little automated car.

After the museum we wandered around the fresh food markets. These were held in the same area as they have been for many centuries. We found some lunch among the stalls.

Living sculpture

The place where Guy Fawkes was born.

After lunch Geoff went to the York Railway museum which he said was the best he had seen anywhere. There was one whole shed with trains that had carried royalty from queen Victoria to a bullet proof carriage for the royals during WW2. The collection in the main hall traced the development of rail from simple skips of preindustrial mines pushed by men to a Japenese bullet train. A very early steam train contempory with Stephensons rocket was fascinating as was an early replica cut away along with many huge monsters from the golden age of steam. There was a small shunter taking trips in the sidings, it would of been amazing to see one of those huge engines fired up.

The final treat of the day was Ledsham church. We thought it would be closed but the lady who was to close it up arrived as we did and gave us a detailed look through the church, pointing out the Saxon features and even some Roman bits.

The original Saxon entrance to the church in the 600's

The door makes even me look tall

Saxon tower with Victorian top

This is a 14th century farm which is still being used as a farm.

Once we had finished it was onto Rotherham where we were going to stay while I do some family history research at neighbouring Ecclesfield.