York Minster Cathedral

There is no better way of spending a day out in the city of York than visiting the York Minster Cathedral.

The full title of York Minster is the Cathedral and Metropolitan Church of St Peter in York.

The York Minster Cathedral is a Gothic style cathedral built in the middle of the twelfth century, although there have been various churches of differing description on the site from 627 AD. The very first built was a wooden church, erected in a hurry for the baptism of the King of Northumbria called Edwin.

All of the Churches that were built on the site that is today York Minster were of the Christian faith, as the religion of Christianity flourished in York from the fourth century.

Since the cathedral was first built in the style that we recognize, the Minster has seen many changes and undergone much work, both new additions and also restoration work.

Currently, York Minster carries the record as the largest gothic cathedral of its type in Northern Europe, as well as being the second highest office of the Church of England, and the seat of the title of Archbishop of York.

The cathedral stands at sixty metres in height at the tallest point, the Tower, and is one hundred and sixty metres in length; making this a formidable and imposing cathedral, but also one of beauty.

The York Minster has 43 bells in total with the largest being “Great Peter”, a huge bell weighing 10.8 tons. All other bells in the cathedral range between 1.2 to 3 tons in weight, giving the total number a combined weight of 97.2 tons.

What sets the York Minster apart from other cathedrals is its wonderful architecture and inspiring stain glass windows. Some of the windows date back as far as the fourteenth century, with the Great East Window and Five Sister Window drawing particular admiration from visitors.

Visiting York Minster

The cathedral is open daily for prayer service at 0700 in the morning for which there is no charge.
For people wishing to visit for sightseeing, the opening times are
9am – 6:30pm (last entry 5pm) Monday to Saturday
12noon – 3:45pm on Sundays.

Because of the size of the cathedral and different visitors wishing to see different areas of the cathedral the sightseeing prices are broken down into tiers.

The price guidelines for sightseeing:

Entry into the Minster
Adult: £6.00
Senior Citizens & students: £5.00
Child (16 and under): Free

Entry to the Undercroft, Treasury & Crypt
Adult: £4.00
Senior Citizens & students: £3.00
Child: £2.00

Entry to the Tower:
Adult: £4.00
Senior Citizens & students: £3.00
Child: £2.00

Entry to the Minster, Undercroft, Treasury and Crypt and Tower
Adult: £9.50
Senior Citizens & students: £8.00
Child: £3.00

By rail: the Minster is just a short walk from the railway station in York and can be clearly seen if you turn left out of the station.

By car: travel into the centre of York and park up at a convenient place, the cathedral is found in the heart of the city centre and is in walking distance from any car park in the centre.

Address:

York Minster
Church House
Ogleforth
York
YO1 7JN

08449 390011