I travelled to York not only physically but also through the timeline of its history from 71AD named by the Romans as EBORACUM to the 700s when it was known as EOFORWIC named by the Saxons and in 866 the Vikings captured the city and renamed it JORVICK.
Infamous character Dick Turpin was hanged here in 1739.
Most importantly for me:
York:
Home of the Quaker villages built by Joseph Rowntree of which there are four.
In 1901, Joseph's son Seebohm Rowntree published a study of the living conditions of the working classes in York. This report entitled Poverty: was a study of town life. It revealed appalling statistics of dark, overcrowded and insanitary housing.
Joseph Rowntree's conviction that it must be possible to provide better housing for people on low incomes led him to acquire 150 acres of land near the village of Earswick, two and a half miles to the north of the centre of York. The planner Raymond Unwin and the architect Barry Parker were commissioned to produce an overall plan for a new 'garden' village and the detailed designs for its first houses. They were to go on to design the garden cities of Letchworth and Welwyn. New Earswick was one of their first opportunities to put their ideas into practice.
The building of New Earswick was an attempt to create a balanced village community where, although rents were to be kept low, they should still represent a modest commercial return on the capital invested. Houses there were to be open to any working people, not just Rowntree employees. The village was to be a demonstration of good practice: if New Earswick was successful, Joseph hoped that similar communities would be built elsewhere in the country.
At Joseph Rowntree's insistence, houses had gardens with fruit trees and enough ground to grow vegetables. The Trust Deed of the Joseph Rowntree Village Trust (which was set up in 1904 to build and manage New Earswick) safeguarded generous open green space. All the grass verges were planted with trees and almost all the roads are named after trees. The village was built from the very ground it stands on: the bricks were made in the brickworks on the outskirts of New Earswick. From 1950 the brickyard, which closed down in the 1930s, was developed into a nature reserve.
New Earswick continues to be a thriving community with a range of facilities, projects and programmes for involving residents of all ages. Accommodation in New Earswick includes housing for families and single people sheltered, housing and care for older people, bungalows and studio flats.
York Minster in comparison to the poverty shown in the above text.
As a visitor to York Minster, a vision of the long history of northern Europe's greatest Gothic cathedral. Every age from the Roman occupation of York onwards to the future of this working and worshipping church. The experience of the Minster shows the wealth of beauty through outstanding architecture, the Quire, Chapter House, Undercroft, treasury and Crypt.
The Minster has outstanding collections of artefact's, records and books, dating from Roman times to the present day. The collections are maintained and developed as a witness to the Christian faith, these are used by the Minster to support its education programme and in other important aspects of its work.
The Usher Gallery York:
I viewed a piece of work of Laurence Stephen Lowry who was born in 1887, in Manchester. An only child he began to draw at the age of eight and began private painting classes at the age of fifteen, the year before he left school. In 1904, he joined a firm of chartered accountants as a rent-collector and clerk and he remained in full-time employment throughout his life until he retired at the age of 65. So concerned was he to be seen as a serious artist that it was not until after his death that it was revealed that he had actually made his living away from the easel.
By the early 1930s he was exhibiting at the Royal Academy in London. He was awarded an honorary MA at Manchester University in 1945, and Doctor of Letters in 1961, elected to the Royal Academy in 1962, and given freedom of the City of Salford in 1965.
He lived in Mottram until he died in 1976 - a death marked by unprecedented homage by the 'ordinary people' of Manchester.
L.S. Lowry is unquestionably one of the most celebrated British artists and his unique contribution to recording the period, culture and landscape of industrial Salford and Manchester is without parallel. His work is a most distinctive and comprehensive record of the pre and post World War Two northern industrial town.
Many people associate Lowry with “matchstick men”, but he is known to have produced over 10,000 works, ranging from finished oil paintings to hastily drawn sketches. The local industrial scene was his most frequent subject but he also painted seascapes and portraits. He was a great humorist and had intense insight into human nature, characterising it without sentiment.
At the gallery I saw a 1952 commission part of a topographical collection- The Clifford Tower which was unusual as the Tower was being viewed by only a few of his "matchstick men". He was one of twelve artists to paint Clifford Tower.
The stunning panoramic views from the top of Clifford’s Tower, out over the historic city of York, makes it one of the most popular attractions in Yorkshire.
Set on a tall mound in the heart of Old York, this imposing tower is almost all that remains of York Castle, which was originally built by William the Conqueror.
The tower has served as a prison and a royal mint, as well as the place where Henry VIII had the bodies of his enemies put on public display.
Lincoln
A beautiful city which is steeped in history, and brimming with life. The city looks back over 2,000 years of history and discover the city's Roman, Norman, Medieval, Tudor and Georgian heritage.
In the first century the city was called Lindum Colonna and inhabited by demobbed Roman legionnaires and their families. One of the most visible remains of this period is Newport Arch built by the Romans over Ermine Street and still in use by traffic today.
I climbed The Steep Hill to the awe inspiring as Lincoln Cathedral - started in 1072; the original building was damaged by fire and earthquake. Apart from the Norman West Front, the existing Cathedral is largely 12Th and 13Th century. William the Conqueror's castle dates from 1068, the medieval ramparts give magnificent views over Lincoln. Unique Victorian Prison Chapel and King John's 1215 Magna Carta (one of only four in existence).
The Guildhall an ancient Council Chamber contains Lincoln's civic Insignia, considered the finest collection of civic regalia outside
The Collection Art and Archaeology:
These collections contain both artefact's and objects from archaeological and art collections.
The art collection is the finest in the county. It includes superb contemporary art and craft, paintings, sculpture, porcelain, clocks and watches. Treasures include paintings by Turner, Stubbs and Lowry, major porcelain collections and clocks with wooden movements by Robert Sutton.
The archaeological collection covers 300,000 years of history from the earliest inhabitants of Lincolnshire to the Eighteenth Century. Some highlights of the collections are prehistoric finds from the River Witham, treasures from Anglo-Saxon burials and finds from Lincoln’s rich Roman, Viking and Medieval heritage.
For me the trail through the archaeological remains revealed the dawn of the humanities through evidence of humankind alongside the cutting edge of contemporary art.
If I had a favourite the dug out boats from the river bed and the bronze age masks took me back to my school days where we completed pencil drawings of such artefact's.
Hull
Known as Kingston upon Hull. History travels through the majestic mammoths to Saxon invaders, as a visitor to the Hull I lived through the experience of a unique, educational experience, involving fun. The Iron Age village and Iron Age weaponry, Roman bath house with stunning mosaics. And a horde of Viking treasure!
Hull’s unique Museums Quarter - consists of Wilberforce House, the Hull and East Riding Museum, Streetlife and the Arctic Corsair trawler - fun exploring and discovering historic Hull. The Ferens Art Gallery and the Maritime Museum in the city centre, and Hands On History in Trinity Square right in the heart of the City Centre.
Ferens Museum:
I viewed Bigger Tree Near Warter.
David Hockney: Bigger Trees Near Warter
David Hockney's painting Bigger Trees Near Warter, on loan from Tate, is the largest painting the artist has ever produced and measures 40 x 15 feet (12 x 4 metres).
It features two copses, a huge sycamore tree, buildings and early flowering daffodils, the painting comprises of 50 individual canvas panels and takes inspiration from a site at Warter in the Yorkshire Wolds. A beautiful experience.
Watching a video of Hockney, painting en plein air (outside) in six weeks. It explained how the artist used digital technology to help him complete the painting, creating a computer mosaic of the picture which enabled him to 'step back' and see it as a whole.
The painting depicts a landscape prior to the arrival of Spring and before the trees have come into leaf
