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York Minster
Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St Peter in York
York Minster Location in North Yorkshire
Location	York, North Yorkshire
Denomination	Church of England
History
Status	Cathedral
Founded	627 (627)
Dedication	Saint Peter
Consecrated	3 July 1472
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	14 June 1954
Previous cathedrals	3
Years built	1220–1474
Groundbreaking	673
Specifications
Length	524.5 feet (159.9 m)
Nave length	262 feet (80 m)
Width	222 feet (68 m)
Nave width	98 feet (30 m)
Nave height	99 feet (30 m)
Choir height	102 feet (31 m)
Number of towers	3
Tower height	Central Tower: 198 feet (60 m) Western Towers: 196 feet (60 m)
Bells	14 (change ringing), 7 (clock chimes), 35 (carillon)
Tenor bell weight	59 long cwt 1 qtr 23 lb (6,659  lb or 3,020  kg)
Administration
Province	York
Diocese	York (since 314)
Clergy
Archbishop	Stephen Cottrell
Dean	Dominic Barrington
Precentor	Victoria Johnson
Chancellor	Chris Collingwood
Laity
Director of music	Robert Sharpe

The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, widely known as York Minster, is the cathedral for the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the third highest office in the Church of England (after Charles III as Supreme Governor, and the Archbishop of Canterbury), and is the mother church for the ancient Diocese of York and Province of York. It is run by a dean and chapter, under the Dean of York.

The minster in its present form is the fourth cathedral on the site, constructed principally from 1220 to 1472, mainly in the Decorated and Perpendicular Gothic styles. With an internal floor area of 63,800 square feet (5,930 m²), the minster is the largest medieval cathedral in the United Kingdom, surpassed only by the more recent Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, and St Paul's Cathedral in London. The cathedral is also one of the largest of its kind in Europe; it is the second largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, after only Cologne Cathedral.

The building has many notable features and treasures, including more surviving medieval stained glass in the country housed in its windows than any other cathedral in Britain. The largest windows of the four cardinal facades are some of the most significant of their respective ages, including the 'Heart of Yorkshire' on the west front, the 'Five Sisters' in the north transept, a large medieval rose window in the south transept, and the vast Great East Window in the east facade, the largest single expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. Other notable features include its octagonal chapter house, elaborate choir screen, and the widest Gothic nave in the country.

Considered an outstanding example of English Gothic architecture, the building is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the country, with 2019 seeing a record 700,000 visitors. The cathedral has the honorific title 'Minster', first attributed in Anglo-Saxon times for missionary teaching churches. Numerous minster churches remain in England, but York Minster is one of only two to hold cathedral status, the other being Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire.

History

Previous cathedrals

It is unknown when Christianity first arrived in York, or Eboracum as it was then known. However a bishop from York was in attendance at the Council of Arles in 314 to represent Christians in the province, confirming it had arrived by the beginning of the 4th century. Archaeological evidence of Christianity in Roman York is nonetheless, limited. The first confirmed church to be built on or near the site of the present minster was a hastily constructed wooden church, erected in 627. The wooden church was built in order that Edwin, King of Northumbria could be baptised by Paulinus, Bishop of York. Paulinus was under instruction from Pope Gregory I to make York England's second metropolitan see, after Canterbury, so this wooden church became the first cathedral in York.

This wooden cathedral was replaced by a larger, stone, cathedral, which was built by Oswald from 632 to 637 around the wooden church, enclosing it. The wooden church was then demolished. Edwin was slain in the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 632 or 633, and was buried in the new cathedral. Completed in 637, it was dedicated to Saint Peter. However, it soon fell into disrepair, and by the time of Wilfrid's ascension to the see of York, it was dialpidated. The roof was without its lead, the windows needed reglazing and the walls required whitewashing. The structure was renewed and repaired under Wilfrid's auspices in 670. The cathedral was further embellished by Wilfrid II, the last Bishop of York, during the early 8th century. A school and library attached to the cathedral were founded during this period, becoming one of the most substantial institutions in Europe.

The cathedral was severely damaged by fire in 741, but reconstruction soon began by Æthelbert, assisted by his predecessor Ecgbert's librarian, Alcuin, who was also one of the most famous students of the school. The reconstruction took some time, but had been finished when Alcuin, who had been sent to Europe in 781, returned in 790, who noted it contained thirty altars. The history of the building itself is obscure in the 9th and 10th centuries, the most notable event following its rebuilding in the late 8th century, is another fire. This fire took place in 1069 as part of William the Conquerer's Harrying of the North, and again, damaged the building to a significant degree. The first Norman Archbishop of York, Thomas of Bayeux, arrived in 1070 and organised repairs.

Almost as soon as it was repaired, it was destroyed by the Danes in 1075. Rather than patch up the Saxon cathedral a second time, Thomas drew up plans to rebuild it in the 'new' Norman style that had been developed in France. Construction begun in 1080 and lasted until circa 1100. Excavations of the foundations have revealed this building to be 364 feet (111 m) long, with an aisle-less nave, central tower and rounded apse. Another fire in 1137 required the rebuilding of the eastern end, which lost its apse and became square-ended.

Further alterations took place from 1154 by Roger de Pont L'Évêque, who was appointed as Archbishop of York in that year. The quire and east end was rebuilt, lengthened and widened with aisles in a very early Gothic style. He also added a crypt underneath it and added a new frontispiece to the west of the nave. The basic dimensions of Roger's new quire can be determined by the surviving crypt, being eight bays in length, far longer than that of Archbishop Thomas of Bayeux's quire. It is unknown when this reconstruction work was finished, but this must have been by 1181, as Roger was buried in the centre of his new quire on his death.

Present cathedral

Gothic rebuilding

Transepts

Walter de Gray was made Archbishop of York in 1215 and ordered the building of cathedral to rival Canterbury. Construction began five years later, in 1220, with the rebuilding of the south transept in the Early English Gothic style. There is no record of the laying of a foundation stone, but both structurally and documentary evidence suggests the south transept was begun before the north. The south transept appears to have been intended to be vaulted in stone; as incomplete stone springers from the upper parts of the wall were discovered following a fire in 1984. The north transept does not possess these, showing that when the south transept was under construction, a stone vault had been considered.

By the time the north transept, which was under construction until approximately 1255, reached this point, a wooden vault was conceived instead. During the rebuilding of the transepts, the 11th century central tower piers were encased in new stone and heightened between 1220 and 1253 with a wooden spire. The transepts are similar in design, but were constructed with noticeably different elevations on their facades.

The next part of the building to be constructed was the chapter house and the vestibule connecting it to the north transept. The exact year in which the chapter house was begun has been debated by architectural historians for over a century, but is now generally accepted to be in the late 13th century, from approximately 1275-1280. The chapter house must have been completed by 22 April 1295, when the Archbishop of York mentions a ceremony in the new wing, in a document: "in novo capitulo Ebor". The public use of the chapter house would therefore imply its completion. Further evidence is a recent dendrochronological analysis of the timber roof of the chapter house, which shows the timbers that make up the roof had been felled in 1288.

Nave

Following a short pause in construction works, the foundation stone for the new nave was laid on 6 April 1291 in the southeast corner by the then Archbishop of York, John le Romeyn. Though the central aisle of the new nave would follow the footings its Romanesque predecessor, the new aisles both required new foundations, as the Saxon nave was constructed without them. The early progress of the new nave is not well documented, which makes it difficult to ascertain the phases of construction.

It is likely, however, that following the demolition of the eastern parts of the old nave, that the central tower would require buttressing, so the eastern bays of the new nave were likely completed to full height first. At the time of its construction, the nave would have been the tallest in the country, with the walls reaching a then-unprecedented height of 100 feet (30 m). The appearance of the arms of the then king, Edward I, and his brother Edmund Crouchback, the latter of whom died in 1296, in the first bay of the nave, indicates its progress at that time.

Significant progress was made over the next three decades, so that by February 1339, the Great West Window was ready to be glazed, as recorded in surviving documents. Glazing was contracted with Robert Ketelbarn for the main western window, and Thomas Bouesdun for the western windows of the aisles. For these three windows to be glazed in 1339 implies the structural completion of the nave and aisles, though, as attested to by later documents, not vaulted. An inquisition into the state of the fabric was held in January 1345 and makes note of the poor condition of the new nave. It was reported that the unfinished roof was leaking water, so much so that during a storm, a young boy nearly drowned on the floor of the nave, and that the wooden wheels positioned in the roof for lifting masonry were rotted.

A new master carpenter, Philip of Lincoln, was appointed on 1 August 1346, but further delays were caused by the outbreak of the Black Death in 1349 in York. The plague substantially reduced the city's population and killed many, including Thomas Pacenham, master mason. This reduced workforce, combined with the extreme height and width of the nave, likely decided its vaulting in wood, rather than stone. The vault does not appear to have been under construction until the middle of the 1350's, for in 1356, a letter was sent to the Archbishop of York, John of Thoresby, in 1356, asking him to donate timbers for the new vault. The letter does not specify that the vault under construction was that of the nave, but it is the only part of the building known to have required one at the time.

The final tasks following completion of the vaults were the lower parts of the western towers, and the breaching of the western walls of the transepts to allow access into the nave aisles; for when the transepts were under construction in the early to mid 13th century, the nave at that time was aisle-less. The new nave was finally completed in 1361, with the western towers completed up to triforium level, to be completed at a later date. The previous nave, including the facade, were demolished as the project progressed, for the western bays of the new nave were constructed beyond the facade of the previous.

Quire and Lady Chapel

When the Saxon quire of Thomas Bayeux's cathedral was rebuilt by Archbishop Roger in the late 12th century, the Minster had one of the country's earliest and most important Gothic structures, rivalling the new eastern end of Canterbury Cathedral. However, by the middle of the 14th century, this structure lacked both height and width compared to the recently completed nave, as well as being unharmonious in design, so almost as soon as the nave was completed, construction began on a new eastern end. This would be the first of two phases of construction on the eastern end, this first stage focusing on a new Lady Chapel to the east of Archbishop Roger's quire.

The foundation stone for the new lady chapel was laid on 30 July 1361, and thanks to John of Thoresby's regular donations of £200 per annum, construction progressed quickly on a bed of solid finances. By 1371, attention had turned to the completion of the vault, as evidenced by fabric rolls of the time. It was also at this time that in order to complete the western bay of the new Lady Chapel, partial demolition of the old quire was needed, requiring the repainting of the original vault above the high altar due to the demolition work. A temporary wall was placed behind the high altar to separate the unfinished Lady Chapel from the quire. Timber was purchased in 1371 for the vaulting of the new Lady Chapel, implying it was nearing structural completion. This vault no longer exists, as it was destroyed by fire in 1829.

The new Lady Chapel, comprising some four bays to the east of Archbishop Roger's quire, was completed in 1373, for on his death that same year, he is recorded as being buried within it. The only incomplete parts of this first phase was the glazing of the Great East Window, which would not be carried out until 1405-1408, and the vaulting of the aisles, which would not be undertaken until 1420. The Lady Chapel was constructed in a similar style, and on a similarly massive scale, to that of the nave, clearly intended to be its eastern counterpart. It would be over forty years before the quire would be completed, despite some construction of the new quire taking place from 1373.

This delay can mostly be attributed to the events of winter 1407, when serious structural failure caused part of the central tower to collapse. To what extent the tower collapsed is unknown, however core samples taken in the 1970s reveal the present tower piers still contain 11th and 13th century material, so the collapse was not total. It did however, damage the western parts of the South Transept arcade, which needed repairs. From 1409, an enlarged minster workforce, comprising some thirty-two masons, was split into task forces, a smaller team of twelve working on the rebuilding of the central tower, and the larger group of twenty continuing on the quire.

The quire appeared to be sufficiently completed structurally by 1415 to make arrangements for bringing it into use. During the year, 400 wainscot boards and several large trees were purchased, either for the construction of choir screens or for the vault, and Flemish tiles were bought for paving. The final task in the project to complete the quire was the vaulting of the aisles together with those of the Lady Chapel, from 1420-1421.

Central Tower

When the workforce was divided into two in 1409, the minster had no singularly complete tower. The central tower lay in partial ruins, and the western towers were low in height, having only been completed up to the height of the triforium during the building of the nave. The immediate priority was the central tower, as it was no longer either weatherproofed or structurally sound. The first task appears to have been the construction of a 'fourth column', most likely one of the great crossing piers that support the tower. The master mason was Hugh Grantham, who himself bequeathed £4 to the work in 1410.

As part of the early work, all four tower piers, which contained 11th century and 13th century work from the previous two towers, would be encased in new stone and their footprint expanded. This expansion meant the southwest and northwest crossing piers now encroached on the easternmost bay of the nave, which required some rebuilding of the vaulting and it supporting springers. After this date, gaps in the surviving fabric rolls make tracking the progress of the tower difficult.

The next mention of the tower comes in 1419-1420 when the height of the tower required the building of a wheel, as at Beverley Minster, for the lifting of stone. This wheel is described as magna rota ultra magnum campanile, 'the great wheel beyond the great bell tower'. The construction of this wheel implied the upper stages of the tower were now under construction. The accounts of 1420-1421 show the purchase of a significant number of large trees to be used as scaffolding on the central tower. No fabric rolls survive for the next ten years but when they resume in 1432, work appears to have shifted to the western towers. To what extent the central tower was completed at this point is uncertain, but the stylistic change between the lower and upper portions of the tower imply work was likely paused once the tower emerged above the roofs of the crossing, capped by a temporary roof.

Western Towers

When the fabric rolls resume in 1432, it is clear work on the central tower had paused and begun on the completion of the western towers, as it describes the setting of the first stones for the new bell tower. As with all of the building projects since 1220, the south side progressed before the north. The southwest tower was completed quickly thanks to a workforce of between ten and seventeen masons, so that by 1445, Christopher Plumber was employed for twelve weeks work to cover the roof with lead. The following year, a 'great bell' was installed in the tower. The southwest tower was now structurally complete, although without its pinnacles, which wouldn't be added until the later part of the century.

The northwest tower was begun at this time, surviving accounts show expenditure for the axle of a great wheel, which was to lift stones to the upper portions of the north tower. The northwest tower was constructed more slowly than its southern counterpart, partially thanks to the reduced workforce, which was brought down from thirteen to nine in 1446. Poor preservation of the surviving fabric rolls from this period make tracking its progress difficult, but John Hoton was paid for the first of four bells in a minor scale for the north west tower in 1472, which means it must have been structurally complete by then.

Final stages and dedication

The date at which work resumed on the incomplete central tower is unknown with any certainty. However, the similarity of the second stage of the tower with that at Durham Cathedral, begun in 1465, indicates that work most likely resumed in the mid 1460s. The construction of the central tower was a massive project, with master mason Robert Spillesby responsible for twenty-three masons. The number of masons dropped to nine between 1470 and 1471, but the number of carpenters increased to fifteen, most likely to finish the roof and vault of the tower. There are indications that when the second (lantern) stage of the tower was completed in the early 1470s that a further stage was intended but abandoned, as the corner buttresses extend beyond the uppermost string course and then are abruptly terminated.

The dedication and reconsecration of the minster took place on 3 July 1472. The minster was then mostly, as it appears today, except for the painting of the vault in the central tower and the addition of pinnacles on the western towers. The vault in the central tower was completed in 1473 at the cost of £23, and the pinnacles on the western towers completed the following year, in 1474.

Civil War and Reformation

The English Reformation brought much turmoil to the fittings of the cathedral. In 1541, the new protestant direction of the Church of England resulted in the defacing and destruction of St William's Shrine. Further changes took place after the appointment of Robert Holgate to the archbishopric. Under his direction, all sixty chantries of the minster, which were used to say prayers for the sick and deceased, were broken up. The number of daily services were reduced to three; Matins, Communion, and Evening Prayer. During this time, the minster lost much of its silver, vestments, and altar frontals.

Although Mary I's brief reign caused few problems, the people of York being sympathetic to the Roman Catholic rite, the ascension of her younger sister Elizabeth I to the throne in 1558, was more destructive with regard to the fittings of the minster. In 1559, Elizabeth's commissioners arrived at York Minster demanding the Dean and Chapter swear allegiance to her. Half of the chapter refused, as did the Archbishop, Nicholas Heath. They were ousted, and Heath replaced by Thomas Young as Archbishop in 1561. During Elizabeth's reign, there was a concerted effort to remove all traces of Roman Catholicism from the cathedral. Substantial destruction was inflicted on tombs, altars, and windows. The silver, vestments, and altar frontals again disappeared.

During the First English Civil War, York was a heavily contested city. The Siege of York took place from 22 April to 16 July 1644, and during this time, the city and the minster, being loyal to the king, suffered attacks by Parliamentarian forces. Canon balls are recorded on several occasions breaching the windows of the minster during services. The city was eventually taken by Parliamentarian forces, but Commander Ferdinado Fairfax prevented his forces from carrying out any further destruction of the cathedral, for which he was made Governor of York. A memorial was placed in the minster following his death to thank him for saving it.

18th and 19th century restorations

When religious stability had resumed, the 18th century saw various instances of repairs, restoration, and rebuilding. The first of these was the repaving of the entire cathedral floor from 1731-1738. Designed by George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington, and his associate William Kent, its appearance is based on the Greek key pattern. Despite the donation of stone from Sir Edward Gascoigne and the destruction of every tomb in the nave to provide extra marble, the repaving was extremely expensive, costing some £2,500 (equivalent to almost £500,000 in 2023). As a result of this repaving, the floor of the minster was raised by 1 foot (30 cm).

In 1753, the first of a series of fires affected the minster. During repairs to the lead roof, a workman left his chafing dish filled with hot coals in one of the gutters, which caused the lead underneath to smolder and then ignite at 8:00 in the evening. Owing to being darker at this time, the fire was easily spotted and the combined efforts of the townspeople meant the fire was quickly extinguished without damaging either the vault underneath or igniting the rest of the roof. The South Transept roof was rebuilt from 1774-1776 by Leonard Terry, and the Chapter House vault renewed and rebuilt in 1798 to a design by John Carr, executed by carpenter William Halfpenny.

A large restoration of the minster's exterior took place from 1802 to 1828, most notably on the west front for the first fourteen years of that period. New sculpture was added on all three doorways, the west window masonry was renewed and the glass reset during 1807. The gable of the west front was replaced in 1813 and the pinnacles of the south side of the nave replaced from 1817-1820. Further work in the 1820s included the installation of gas lighting in 1824, and the re-leading of the Great East Window in 1825. Lastly, from 1827 to 1828, the area directly in front of the western facade was lowered, uncovering a flight of steps up to the main doors.

1829 fire

Barely a year following the completion of the restoration, the minster suffered its second fire, the first of three catastrophic conflagrations the cathedral would have to endure before the start of the 21st century. On 1 February 1829, Jonathan Martin was attending Evensong at the minster when owing to his poor mental state, he became upset by the buzzing of the organ. He hid behind a monument during the service, and only emerged when the cathedral was empty and dark. Martin had only recently been released from a lunatic asylum and was not of sound mind, having previously threatened to shoot the Bishop of Oxford. Martin climbed into the southwest tower and cut off the rope from the prayer bell, knotting it into a makeshift ladder.

Climbing back down, he returned to the quire, where he used the makeshift ladder to climb over the iron gate into the north quire aisle. Once in the quire, Martin stacked cushions and prayer books, placed them against the woodwork of the stalls, and ignited them with matches. Returning to the crossing by means of his ladder, he turned towards the North Transept where he found a cleaning platform. Standing on this platform, Martin used pincers to remove a section of glass in one window of the western aisle of the transept, where he used his rope to descend to the ground outside.

Owing to it being beyond midnight by this time, the fire was left to burn unchecked and unnoticed. It wasn't until the morning of 2 February that the fire was noticed, by which time the fire had grown to huge proportions and was now consuming the vault and roof. It was impossible with the primitive methods of firefighting to battle the blaze, which spanned some 230 feet (70 m) of the east end and was consuming parts of the building well over 100 feet (30 m) in height. The fire consumed the organ, choir stalls, vault, roof, archbishop's throne, and pulpit, and damaged the organ screen as well as blackened the windows. The entire eastern end of the minster was left a blackened shell. Martin was quickly identified as the culprit and was arrested on 6 February. Martin was found guilty by the jury on a capital charge, but not guilty by the judge on the grounds of insanity. He was detained in Bethlem Hospital, where he remained until he died nine years later.

The restoration of the eastern end, quire and chapels took three years and was directed by Robert Smirke. Costing £65,000 (equivalent to £6 million in 2023), it involved new choir stalls, archbishop's throne, pulpit, choir screens and organ case. The head mason of the minster, John Scott, carved new capitals and fourteen corbel heads on the piers of the choir. The stalls and the bosses of the vault were the work of John Wolstenholme. The restored east end reopened only three years later, on 6 May 1832, thanks to substantial public donations. As a result of the fire, the York Minster Constabulary were established to keep the building safe; they remain the oldest police force still operating in the United Kingdom.

1840 fire

During the restoration of the 1829 fire, it was realised that no accurate drawings of the minster existed, which meant the rebuilding of the quire could not be a fully accurate replica of what existed before. It was at this time the Dean and Chapter employed John Browne to make detailed architectural drawings of the minster, so as to keep an accurate record of the design in case of future disasters. Just eleven years later, on 20 May 1840, a second devastating blaze broke out. The fire was caused by the carelessness of William Groves, a clockmaker from Leeds, who had been employed to carry out work in the southwest tower. Groves accidentally left a candle burning in the clock room, which spread to the timber floors of the tower.

The fire was spotted at 9:00 in the evening by passing children, who alerted passers-by. Three fire engines were quickly on the scene, and a special train departed for Leeds to fetch more. By 10:00 p.m, the fire had spread to all four floors of the southwest tower which caused the bells to crash down, causing considerable damage themselves. The fire then spread to the nave roof and like the fire eleven years before it, soon consumed the wooden vault underneath it, blackening the windows in the process. Firefighters were able to save the new organ, the central tower and transepts, but after burning for nine hours, left the nave, southwest tower and part of the south aisle ruinous. Part of the nave floor and several piers were also damaged. The northwest tower was unaffected. In eleven years, the minster had lost all of the medieval vaults and roof except for the south transept and central tower, most of the fittings, and the organ.

A second appeal for restoration in only eleven years was thus launched, but unlike the appeal following the 1829 fire, the people of the city were much slower to respond. To fund the restoration, the Dean and Chapter sold one of their estates and mortgaged a second, and the public appeal raised £22,000. The restoration of the nave, aisles and southwest tower was directed and managed by Sydney Smirke, the younger brother of John Smirke, who led the restoration from the 1829 fire. Sydney designed the new nave and vault based on Browne's drawings of the original, and the design was executed by George Baker and Son. The bosses were replicas of the original medieval ones, carved by John Wolstenholme.

The restoration lasted until 1845, and other than the rebuilding of the nave vaults and roofs, also included the re-roofing of the north transept in 1842, the reinforcement of the central tower roof in 1843, and thanks to a bequest of £5,000 from Stephen Beckwith, the restoration of the tower, bells, and chapter house. The nave reopened on 15 June 1843.

Debt, revival, and further restorations

The total cost of restoring the building from two major fires was £105,560 in 1854, of which £71,590 were from public donations. The minster bore the remaining cost from loans and by the selling of assets. Following the restorations, the minster was not only in debt to the banks, but also to the Ecclesiastical Commission, to whom they had to pay £362 per annum to for fourty years from 1836. These two combined debts proved to much for the minster to handle, and it slumped deeply into debt, which resulted in the temporary suspension of all services. As a consequence of this debt, a survey which revealed defects in the piers of the central tower had to be ignored.

In 1858, Augustus Duncombe was installed as Dean of York. Duncombe worked to restore the fortunes of the minster, removing houses from outside the western facade to create a view of the minster from the west, now known as Duncombe Place, and making the interior more appealing to worshippers, with the introduction of heating and pews in the nave. Duncombe also installed protective glazing on the outside of some of the stained glass windows to protect them from the elements; the first of its kind in any British cathedral.

In the late 1860s, George Edmund Street was appointed to the position of architect of the minster by the Dean and Chapter. Street oversaw a major restoration of the South Transept for nine years from 1871. The clerestory was dismantled and rebuilt, buttresses were introduced under the aisle roofs, and the gable over the south door was rebuilt. Street also created a new vault for the south transept incorporating some of the medieval bosses, finished in 1874. Lastly, scissor ties were added under Leonard Terry's roof to support it.

Further restoration took place well into the 20th century, which involved extensive restoration of the exterior masonry on both east and west fronts, and the controversial addition of flying buttresses along both north and south sides of the nave in 1907. This work was undertaken by George Frederick Bodley, notable for his work on Washington National Cathedral. Another fire broke out in 1909, but this was only a minor blaze, confined to the western aisle of the north transept and caused little damage.

War years

During the First World War, Zeppelin raids on British cities were carried out by the Imperial German Air Force, causing damage to buildings from the air for the first time. York experienced its first raid on 2 May 1916 with eighteen bombs dropped, killing nine and injury fourty. The minster was unscathed by this attack, but the Dean and Chapter nevertheless took the decision to remove 109 of the stained glass windows, including the Great East, Great West, and Five Sisters windows as a precaution. These windows were divided and hidden in secret bomb shelters in the vicinity of the minster.

The cost of removing the majority of the stained glass led to large deficits in the budget, which combined with the poor state of some of the medieval glasswork, resulted in the launching of an appeal in 1920 for £50,000 after the war for their restoration and reinstallation. One of the first windows to be restored was the Five Sisters window, for which £3,000 was required. Much of the stained glass had holes in it, with the leadwork supporting the window also in poor condition. During the appeal, Helen Little, widow of Colonel Charles Little, worked with Almyra Gray, former president of the National Council for Women Workers, to set up a separate appeal for the Five Sisters window in memory of the women who died in the war. Within nine weeks of the launch of the appeal, 32,000 women had donated £3,500. The donors ranged from local women to Queen Mary herself, who donated £50; her whole week's pension.

Due to the success of the appeal, the Five Sisters window was restored from 1923-1925, overseen by Walter Tappers who was employed as the minster's consulting architect. The window was rededicated in memory of the women of the British Empire who gave their lives in the First World War, at a special service on 24 June 1925. The window was unveiled at the service by Elizabeth, Duchess of York, in the presence of 800 relatives of those the window commemorates. An oak screen in the St Nicholas Chapel records all 1,513 women to whom the window is dedicated, including Edith Cavell.

Almost as soon as the windows were reinstalled, the Second World War broke out, and many of the windows were removed again. York was a target of the Luftwaffe during the war, being one of four cathedral cities (the others being Bath, Norwich and Exeter) bombed during the so-called Baedeker raids. Much of the city was struck on a particularly fierce raid on 29 April 1942, including the railway station and 9,000 other buildings, but the minster was undamaged. The windows were again reinstalled following the end of the war in 1945, in a nine-year project lasting from 1946-1955. As part of this project, the roof of the Chapter House was restored, under supervision of W. J. Green, and the Dean, Eric Milner-White.

Post-war

From 1965 to 1967, the cathedral's newly appointed architect, Bernard Feilden, conducted a survey of the entire building. His findings, published in 1967, revealed the building was in grave danger of collapse. The weak point was the massive central tower of the minster, weighing approximately 25,000 tonnes (55,000,000 lb), which was sinking under its own weight. Feilden gave the building fifteen years before it would become too delicate to save, at which time the tower would collapse. Furthermore, the western and eastern fronts were dangerously leaning out and cracking as the building was slowly torn apart by the forces of the tower moving. A national appeal was launched in May 1967 to raise £2 million to save the tower and the building was the largest ever undertaken for any ecclesiastical structure in Britain at the time.

The cause of the issue was sub-standard foundations, which had been reused over the various incarnations of the cathedral with progressively greater weight placed upon them as the cathedral building evolved. Work began in 1967 with the propping up of the east and west fronts with massive wooden and steel beams, in order to allow digging to begin under the foundations. The piers of the tower were strengthened with concrete, tied to the Norman foundations by 20,000 feet (6.1 km; 3.8 mi) of steel rods, whilst the upper parts of the tower were stiffened by steel girders and 9,000 imperial gallons (41,000 L) of liquid concrete.

Interior scaffolding was erected to allow the entire interior to be cleaned, repainted, and restored. The western towers were also stiffened by steel girders and with the pumping of thousands of gallons of liquid concrete where cracks had been discovered. New foundations were placed below both east and west facades. During the restoration programme, the engineers worked during the day and archaeologists at night, to avoid interfering with another. During the course of the archaeological work, the remains of the north corner of the Roman principa were found, the headquarters of the Roman city of Eboracum, dating back to 72 AD.

By 1972, the strength of the central tower and the foundations had been doubled, the western and eastern fronts brought back to vertical and the virtually all of the internal stonework, vaults, and windows were cleaned and restored. An undercroft had been created with the excavations under the central tower to store the minster's treasures and relics and the very structure of the building saved. This area, as well as remains of the Norman cathedral, re-opened to the public in spring 2013 as part of the new exhibition exploring the history of the building of York Minster. The building was reopened in time to mark the 500^th anniversary of the consecration on 3 July 1972.

The restoration of the south transept clerestory and roof took place in 1979, requiring the erection of a scaffolding tower inside. During this time, the bosses were cleaned and repainted, and an 11th century shaft and capital from Bayeux's cathedral were found embedded in the masonry. Only five years later, on 9 July 1984, the south transept roof was destroyed by fire.

1984 fire

Blaze

The preceding evening, 8 July, had been noted by members of the York Fire Brigade to be airless, hot, and with frequent lightning, though no thunder. Under the leadership of York Divisional Fire Commander Alan Stow, the crew spent much of the night watching the lightning storms. At 02:35 BST (UTC+1), the fire alarms of the minster automatically activated, sending a message to the control room at Northallerton that the cathedral was on fire.

Initially, the fire could not be fought, as it lay in the roof void between the vault and the roof timbers. It could be fought neither from below or from above. The fire took hold of the dry, old, timbers quickly, and by the time Stow arrived 35 minutes later at 03:10, a third of the transept roof had been destroyed, with flames and debris spewing from the roof from above and the vault from below. Firefighters were split into two teams, with half sent to climb the 105 steps to the roof void, located some 92 feet (28 m) above the minster floor, and the other half using aerial ladders to reach the roof from the outside. Both teams faced serious problems. The team inside the spiral staircase, though they were equipped with breathing apparatus, were hampered by intense heat and locked doors. The team outside applied water jets to the roof, but owing to its shape, it ran off the roof to the ground. A request for more engines was sent out.

As more engines arrived, a water canon was placed on the transept floor and aimed at the vaulting to try and reach it from underneath. The firemen on the stairs then used force to break the door into the void open, but were met by a massive fire. Their attempts at aiming hoses around the network of beams was unsuccessful, the roof supports and shape of the vault deflected the water. Hoses were run down to the River Ouse for more water and a further five fire engines requested. Whilst the firefighters tried to combat the blaze, minster staff and clergy removed as many artefacts from the building as possible.

As the fire progressed, it ran northwards, nearing the great arch linking the transept with the central tower. The fear was if it reached the central tower with its wooden vault, it would collapse and bring down the whole cathedral. As the central tower has an internal height of over 180 feet (55 m), if it caught fire, there would be no way to reach it, thus creating the 'biggest chimney fire in the country'. The decision was taken to intentionally bring down the burning transept roof onto the floor to save the cathedral. The fire at this time was almost as tall as the central tower was, and could be seen from across the surrounding area.

As the fire began to reach the tower arch, jets were aimed at the roof supports, which were all still intact, although some were charred and weakened; these were targeted first. Slowly, these collapsed, bringing parts of the roof down onto the transept floor, where it could easily be extinguished. The jets were then aimed at the stronger supports close to the central tower. The supports resisted the jets but the burning mass of the roof eventually dragged the supports down with it at around 04:00. The entirety of the transept roof and vault was now on the floor, which meant it took only a further hour to bring the blaze under control. At 05:05, the 'fire surrounded' message was sent to control. The fire was extinguished shortly after, but leaving the south transept ruinous, and much of the building damaged by smoke and water. A total of 114 firefighters attended the blaze from across North Yorkshire.

Restoration

The first tasks for the restoration were to clear the mass of roof debris from the transept floor, erect a temporary roof to make the building watertight and erect scaffolding. Scaffolding on the surviving transept gable took three weeks to erect, and the temporary roof was in place during August. The inspection of the prized rose window at the top of the transept, revealed the 7,000 pieces of glass had cracked into 40,000 pieces as a result of the fire, but they remained intact. This was largely down to the fact that the window was only re-leaded twelve years previous; had the fire occurred before 1972 with the same catastrophic results, the window would not have survived. It is thought that the window reached temperatures of 450 °C (842 °F) during the inferno, melting the lead but resolidifying as it cooled. During this early work, dangerous stones at the top of the transept gable and the south tower arch were replaced.

The cathedral was reopened to tourists within two weeks of the fire, with the south transept cordoned off to the public. Behind the screen, the glass in the rose window was dismantled and sent to York Glaziers Trust for restoration. Before the vaulting could be restored, a new roof had to be constructed and installed. Following the approval of the Dean and Chapter that the roof should be rebuilt in traditional materials, the next task was finding timbers of sufficient size and quality for use in the minster. Bob Littlewood, Superintendent of Works at York Minster was offered 260 trees from members of the public in the days and weeks following the fire, including one from Queen Elizabeth II.

To make the roof trusses, which weigh 3.5 tonnes (3,500 kg; 7,700 lb) and are 40 feet (12 m) in length, trees over 60 feet (18 m) high were required. Thirteen roof trusses were constructed in a temporary workshop in Dean's Park on the north side of the minster, before being lifted into place by crane. To make the timber vault, unseasoned timber was sawn into planks 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) thick, then dried, firstly air-dried for nine months, and then kiln-dried for a further three months. The new roof was topped out on 28 November 1986, nearly two and half years after the fire, by the Dean, the Very Reverend John Southgate.

Major fire 1984 destroys vault and roof of south transept. Rebuilt 1984-1988 new bosses, new vault, new roof. Firefighters deliberately aimed jets at the weakened roof supports to collapse it, saving the rest of the cathedral. 114 fire fighters attended. 7,000 pieces of glass in the rose window broke into 40,000 pieces, but was held together on the account it had been restored in 1979. Restoration cost £2.25 million. P301

Stonework for west window replaced 1989-1990, originals too badly eroded to repair, so buried in Dean's Park

West doorway stonework replaced in 1998

21st century

Major restoration of eastern front 2007-2018, launched in 2005, to restore it and the glass in the east window.

Major restoration of south choir aisle 2016-2027.