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York
Historical and geographical information
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Dates
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Contextual
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This webpage about the York has the following section headings:
The Farndales of York
The
York 1 Line were the descendants
of Johannis de Farndale (FAR00030), a saddler,
made Freeman of York in 1363. His son was Johannis de Farendale
(FAR0035),
freeman of York. John Fernedill (FAR0048A)
The
York Southcliffe Line
were the descendants of Alice Farndale (FAR00058).
Others
were Wylson, wyff of Farndayll
(FAR00065);
William Farndale (FAR00220A),
York (Bishop Wilton); Elias Farndale (FAR00224), York
(Bishop Wilton); William Farndale (FAR00281), York
(Bishop Wilton); Joseph Farndale (FAR00285);
Thomas Farndale (FAR00317);
John Farndale (FAR00324),
York (Bishop Wilton); John Farndale (FAR00365); Jane
Ann Farndale (FAR00371);
William Brown Farndale (FAR00384);
Mary Farndale (FAR00393);
Joseph Farndale (FAR00401);
Hannah Farndale (FAR00407);
Jane Farndale (FAR00422);
William Farndale (FAR00425);
William Farndale (FAR00435);
George Farndale (FAR00437);
Henry Farndale (FAR00446);
Mary Farndale (FAR00461);
Joseph Farndale (FAR00463);
Elizabeth Farndale (FAR00470);
Sarah Farndale (FAR00513);
Louisa Farndale (FAR00518);
Mary Emily Farndale (FAR00529);
William Edward Farndale (FAR00576);
Joseph Farndale (FAR00593);
Ellen Farndale (FAR00612);
Lily Farndale (FAR00635);
William Henry Farndale (FAR00655);
John William Farndale (FAR00663);
Florence Farndale (FAR00671);
Arthur Farndale (FAR00694);
Arthur E Farndale (FAR00706);
Ella Farndale (FAR00727);
Lily D Farndale (FAR00768);
John Farndale (FAR00805);
Lorna Farndale (FAR00927);
Denise A Farndale (FAR00949);
Lillian P Farndale (FAR00956);
John Leslie Farndale (FAR00979);
Lydia A Farndale (FAR00991);
John Anthony Farndale (FAR01021).
Joseph Farndale CBE KPM (FAR00463) became
Chief Constable of Margate, York and later of Bradford. He was Chief Constable
of York Police from 1897 to 1900.
York
York is a city in North Yorkshire,
located at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss. It is
the county town of the historic county of Yorkshire.
The city is known for its famous historical landmarks such as York
Minster and the city walls, as well as a variety of cultural and
sporting activities. The local authority is the City of York
Council, a single tier governing body responsible for providing all local services
and facilities throughout the city. The City of York local government
district includes rural areas beyond the old city boundaries. It is about 20
miles north-east of Leeds.
York Timeline
71 CE
The city was founded by
the Romans as Eboracum in 71 CE.
The Emperors Hadrian, Septimius Severus, and
Constantius I all held court in York during their various campaigns.
Roman troops were garrisoned at York for more than 300
years but little is known of the history of the city
during that period, partly because systematic and extensive excavation is
impossible and partly because the city is so infrequently mentioned in early
writings. Two events, however, were of sufficient importance in the history of
the empire to earn a mention by Roman writers. Between 208 and 211 the Emperor Severus was at York while he was conducting
campaigns against the Caledonians and in the latter year he died there.
Accounts of his death make some obscure references to York's topography and
mention a temple of Bellona and a domus palatina. It
was from York, moreover, that Severus dated a rescript of 5 May 210 headed Eboraci. Almost a century later, in 305, Constantius
Chlorus died in the city and Constantine was acclaimed there as his successor.
Both Severus and Constantius Chlorus were using York as a base for military expeditions and it was as the strategic centre of Roman
Britain that the fortress was most important. (A History of the County of York: the
City of York. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1961).
207 CE
During his stay 207–211 CE, the Emperor Severus
proclaimed York capital of the province of Britannia Inferior, and it is likely
that it was he who granted York the privileges of a 'colonia' or city.
306 CE
Constantius
I died in 306 CE during his stay in York, and his son Constantine the Great was
proclaimed Emperor by the troops based in the fortress.
314 CE
In 314 CE a bishop from York attended the Council at
Arles to represent Christians from the province.
400 CE
While the Roman colonia and fortress were on high
ground, by 400 CE the town was victim to occasional flooding from the Rivers
Ouse and Foss, and the population reduced.
Fifth century
York declined in the post-Roman era,
and was taken and settled by the Angles in the 5th century.
Apart from … slight indications that the Germanic
invasions may not at first have been inimical to York, nothing is known of the
fate of the city in the 5th and 6th centuries. By the first decade of the 7th
century, and perhaps earlier, it lay within but not at the heart of the English
kingdom of Deira. (A
History of the County of York: the City of York.
Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1961).
Seventh century
Reclamation of parts of the town was initiated in the
7th century under King Edwin of Northumbria, and York became his chief city.
601 CE
When in 601 Gregory the Great sent the pallium to
Augustine he planned to divide Britain into two sees, one of which was to have
its centre at York. When the time was ripe the Bishop of York, like Augustine
in the southern province centred on London, was to ordain twelve bishops and
enjoy the rank of metropolitan. This apparently sudden reappearance of York in
the role of an internationally recognized metropolis has doubtless some
connexion with the facts of population and economics. The Roman roads alone would
have sufficed by this date to focus Northumbrian communications and commerce in
such a degree as to re-create at York the largest urban settlement in the
north. But these can scarcely have been the only reasons for the choice of
York. Gregory is unlikely to have been ignorant of the traditions of the city
deriving from its status in Roman times and, in particular,
he may have been reminded by his advisers that the city had been the
centre of a bishopric in the 4th century. Though many years were to elapse
before his plan took effect, we may regard the northern metropolitan see as the
most permanent legacy of Eboracum and so, like the papacy itself, a 'ghost of
empire'. (A History of the County of York: the City of York.
Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1961).
627 CE
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.
Eighth century
In the following century, Alcuin of York came to the
cathedral school of York. He had a long career as a teacher and scholar, first
at the school at York now known as St Peter's School, founded in 627 AD, and later as Charlemagne's leading advisor on
ecclesiastical and educational affairs.
866 CE
In 866, Northumbria was in the midst
of internecine struggles when the Vikings raided and captured York. As a
thriving Anglo-Saxon metropolis and prosperous economic hub, York was a clear
target for the Vikings. Led by Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan, Scandinavian
forces 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
Saxon Eoforwic to Jorvik.
It became the capital of Viking territory in Britain,
and at its peak boasted 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.
954 CE
The last ruler of an independent Jórvík,
Eric Bloodaxe, was driven from the city in 954 CE by
King Eadred in his successful attempt to complete the unification of England.
1068
In 1068, two years after the Norman conquest of
England, the people of York rebelled. Initially they were successful, but upon
the arrival of William the Conqueror the rebellion was put down.
William at once built a wooden fortress on a motte.
1069
In 1069, after another rebellion, the king built
another timbered castle across the River Ouse. The
original castles 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.
1080
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.
Twelfth century
In the 12th century York started to prosper. In
the Middle Ages, York grew as a major wool trading centre and became the
capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of
England.
1190
In 1190, York Castle was the site of an
infamous massacre of its Jewish inhabitants, in which at
least 150 Jews died.
1212
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.
1381
The city was the location of significant unrest during
the so-called Peasants' Revolt in 1381.
1396
The city acquired an increasing degree of autonomy
from central government including the privileges granted by a charter
of Richard II in 1396.
1536
The city underwent a period of economic decline
during Tudor times. 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.
1605
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.
1644
In 1644, during the 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
10 km 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, no fewer than 4,000 were killed and 1,500 captured. The
siege was renewed; the city could not hold out for much longer,
and surrendered to Sir Thomas Fairfax on 15 July.
1660
Following the restoration of the monarchy in
1660, and the removal of the garrison from York in 1688, the city was dominated
by the gentry and merchants, although the clergy were still important.
Competition from Leeds and Hull,
together with silting of the River Ouse, resulted in
York losing its pre-eminent position as a trading centre but the city's role as
the social and cultural centre for wealthy northerners was on the rise.
York's many elegant townhouses, such as
the Lord Mayor's Mansion House and Fairfax House date from
this period, as do the Assembly Rooms, the Theatre Royal, and
the racecourse.
During this general time period,
the American city of New York and the colony that contained
it were renamed after the Duke of York (later King James II).
1839
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.
1862
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. Another chocolate manufacturer, Terry's
of York, was a major employer.
1900
By 1900, the railways and confectionery had become the
city's two major industries.
1942
In the Second World War, York was bombed as part
of the Baedeker Blitz. Although less affected by bombing than other
northern cities, several historic buildings were gutted
and restoration efforts continued into the 1960s.
Links, texts and books
Victoria County History – Yorkshire, A History of the
County of York: the City of York, 1961.
Seebohm Rowntree, Poverty, A Study of Town Life, 1901
which studied poverty in York.