decorative trees, one for each wapentake of Yorkshire. Each tree is covered with the coats of arms of the great families of that time in the wapentake. The brilliant colours against the dark green of the trees form a most suitable relief to the uniform brown of the panelling. In addition to the charm of the room itself, the view from the windows into a deep hollow clothed with dense foliage, with a distant glimpse of country beyond, is unlike anything I have seen elsewhere.
Stonegrave church is notable for its pre-Norman crosses, and incorporated in the walls of Barton-le-Street’s modern church is a marvellously fine collection of Norman carved stones from the former building. The most notable are in the shelter of the north porch, and are thus preserved from the weather.
Before reaching Barton-le-Street on our way back to Malton, after completing this large circle of exploration, we pass through the pretty village of Slingsby, where the ruins of its castle show their ivy-clad outline. Although the site is probably ancient, the existing walls are not earlier than the seventeenth century. It is, in fact, stated that this house—for it is scarcely a castle—was building at the time of the Civil War, and was never completed or even occupied at any time.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY OF YORK
CHAPTER VI
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY OF YORK
To thoroughly master the story of the city of York is to know practically the whole of English history. Its importance from the earliest times has made York the centre of all the chief events that have taken place in the North of England; and right up to the time of the Civil War the great happenings of the country always affected York, and brought the northern capital into the vortex of affairs. And yet, despite the prominent part the city has played in ecclesiastical, military, and civil affairs through so many centuries of strife, it has contrived to retain a medieval character in many ways unequalled by any town in the kingdom. This is due, in a large measure, to the fortunate fact that York is well outside the area of coal and iron, and has never become a manufacturing centre, the few factories it now possesses being unable to rob the city of its romance and charm.
There could scarcely be a better approach to such a city than that furnished by the railway-station. Immediately outside the building, we are confronted with a sloping grassy bank, crowned with a battlemented wall, and we discover that only through its bars and posterns can we enter the city, and feast our eyes on the relics of the Middle Ages within. It is no dummy wall put up to please visitors, for right down to the siege of 1644, when the Parliamentary army battered Walmgate Bar with their artillery, it has withstood many assaults and investments. Repairs and restorations have been carried out at various times during the last century, and additional arches have been inserted by the bars and where openings have been made necessary, luckily without robbing the walls of their picturesqueness or interest. The bright, creamy colour of the stonework is a pleasant reminder of the purity of York’s atmosphere, for should the smoke of the city ever increase to the extent of even the smaller manufacturing towns, the beauty and glamour of every view would gradually disappear.