7 fascinating facts about York & North Yorkshire
Learn something new and surprising about the place we call home…
With a history that dates back thousands of years, it's not surprising our part of the world has some stories to tell...
A 250 year-long building job, horse racing on ice, short streets with long names, a record-breaking prison and a spectacular stately home dismantled brick-by-brick. Read on for some of the stranger history, interesting facts and funnier claims to fame of York & North Yorkshire...
How long did it take to build York Minster?
The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York – known to you and me as York Minster - is the largest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, so it’s not surprising to discover it took quite a while to build, but it may be a surprise to learn it’s as much as 250 years! Started in 1220, consecrated in 1472.
York’s short street with a long name
Shambles is surely the city’s most famous street, photographed by many a tourist, so how about a mention for its tiny neighbour Whip-ma-Whop-ma-Gate? It’s thought to be one of the shortest streets in the country. The name could mean "Nothing at all Street", "Neither one thing or the other Street” or "What a Street!".
Hundreds of years of horse racing in York
York Races is still a huge draw, but did you know horse racing in the city dates back to Roman times? In 1607, they raced on the frozen River Ouse! The course at Knavesmire was first used in 1730.
York: City of Chocolate
York has a long and delicious history of chocolate making with names like Terry, Craven, Rowntree and Nestle. The smell drifts down Haxby Road! It’s said a staggering 17.6 billion KitKat fingers are produced worldwide every year – and around 5 million Kit Kats bars are made in York every day.
Malton’s stunning stately home dismantled brick-by-brick
The Old Lodge Hotel in Malton is pretty grand, but is in fact only a small part of an even more spectacular building that once stood there. The Eure family built the home in 1602. By 1674 two sisters Mary and Margaret were in line to inherit the estate but argued over who should get the house. To solve it once and for all, the local Sherriff ordered the house to be pulled down brick-by-brick and the bricks shared between the two of them. The Old Lodge is what is left of that original house.
Where did the name “Northallerton” come from?
Well, actually, no-one knows for sure. It might be it all started with a man called Aelfere. Aelfere-ton translates as “the farm belonging to Aelfere”. Alternatively, the roots may be in the Alder trees which grew nearby. By the 12th century the place was called “Allerton”, but to avoid confusion with Allerton Mauleverer 25 miles to the south it became “Northallerton”.
Northallerton Prison had the largest treadmill in the world!
Northallerton had a prison from 1788 to 2013. Over the years it’s housed male and female adult prisoners, youth offenders, and military prisoners. It was also briefly home to an unlikely world record. When treadmills were installed in the 1820s, Northallerton Prison was said to have the largest treadmill in the world.
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