Minster East End Cloaked

The East End of the Minster is now almost completely cloaked, is it a case of performance art? No not really, this end of the Minster is undergoing renovation and maintenance hence the cloaking in scaffolding and wetherproofing for the masons working on it. We'll probably have to wait some years before the work is completed.

Early Morning Shadows on Dean Court Hotel

I couldn't resist these early morning shadows on the Dean Court Hotel in Duncombe Place. The shadows are cast by the trees around the Boer War memorial opposite.

White Swan Hotel - Piccadily

This has probably been one of the biggest blights on the city centre for many years. The White Swan Hotel has been empty for many years and we keep hearing rumours that something is about to happen to it. It was even occupied by squatters for a short while who left a "ban the bomb" logo on one of the windows. How the owners have not had an enforcement notice served on them to deal with the eyesore I can only speculate on but will not do so here!

Hungate Outdoor Art Update

The outdoor art from primary schools has been changed recently and these photos show the new pictures. Notice the slow progress on the buildings in the background, but progress no the less! I notice that my last blog on the outdoor art in Hungate was back in March this year so there may have been several changes in the intervening months, apologies for missing them if I did.

River Foss towards Fossgate Bridge

The large brick building in the right hand foreground is the "Shambles" car park. That is a very imaginative name as it is a few minutes walk from the car park to the Shambles. I am sure that a more suitable name could have been derived for it like Exchange Wharf as it stands next to the telephone exchange and would help people to find it after wandering around the city instead of coming out of the Shambles and wondering where it has gone or being directed to the Shambles when they ask where it is located!

View Along River Foss Towards Morrisons

Looking upsteram along the Foss towards Foss Islands Road and Morrisons, note the rubbish collecting boat on the right of the river. It is a pity more regular use is not made of it as there was quite a lot of debris in the water, fortunately not too visible in the photograph.

Food and Drink Festival - Yorkshire Honey Stall

The Food and Drink Festival continues and here are some of the stalls in Parliament Street.

Unusual View of Fountain in Parliament Street

This fountain in Parliament Street normally stands in the open but has been enclosed in a tent for the Food and Drink Festival running 19th to 28th September 2008. Tents have been erected along Parliament Street and St Sampson's Square. The Guildhall is also being used as a venue.

York Minster - South Side

Following Ruby's posting on York Daily Photo yesterday I looked through my own blogs on York Minster thinking that I had used this photo at some time and could not find ia blog with it. in So here it is, almost the whole of the west side of the Minster taken from beside the railings of the Minster School. Years ago, pupils at the Minster Schol used to wear red caps but I haven't seen a red cap in ages. Have they abandoned that part of the unform? This section of road used to be open to traffic and took a heavy load as part of the route between Leeds and Scarborough. During the summer and bank holidays the road would be nose to tail with traffic with several bottlenecks like the lights at Monk Bar, the junction by the Assembly Rooms and the junction by the Yorkshire Insurance (Norwich Union) building.

Holy Trinity Website

Some time ago I blogged on Holy Trinity in Goodramgate, one of York's finest churches within the walls.

Wednesday, 31 October 2007

Wednesday, 20 February 2008

There is now a website dedicated to this little gem and can be found at yorkholytrinity.org.uk

Just as a taster to keep you going until you reach the site, here is a photo of the interior showing the box pews.

Coming soon on my jollygreenp.co.uk site will be a circular walk that takes in Holy Trinity Goodramgate church.

The Changing Face of York

The plot of land next to Stonebow House has lain unused for a stretch of time, side by side you can see how the plot looked a year ago with wooden railings and getting overgrown. On the right is how it looks now that construction work has started.

Traditional Dance Festival 2008

No posting yesterday as I was involved with the York Traditional Dance Festival. This is Fiddlers Fancy a group from Stockport, processing along Daveygate past St. Helen's church. In the background are Minster Strays just emerging from St. Helen's Square into Daveygate. We started the day with fairly low expectations as the weather forecast was dreadful but the sun was shining most of the day whilst others all around us had sunshine. It must be the power of the Morris!

Petergate Busker

I heard this young lady busker as I came out of Stonegate playing some interesting music, jigs and reels. Although obviously a skilled musician working from the dots written down ,the music seemed to lack that spontaneity and enjoyment you get from a fiddler playing the Irish tune by ear or from memory. There is a great session in the Tap & Spile, Monkgate on Friday evenings and there is always at least a couple of fiddlers there. The room is small so make sure you get there early if you want a seat.

Foss Islands - Frankie and Bennies

It seems a sad fact of life that franchises are springing up eveywhere. Whilst it is undoubtably a good thing that franchises provide products of known and consistent quality it must be said that it does rather stamp a uniformity that destroys individuality. My own preference is not use frachise type establishments if at all possible. I must admit to having been in some without realising later that I was in a franchise establishment.

Foss Islands - Homebase

Standing more or less where the old council depot offices used to stand is a block which contains Homebase, probably just as desrted when you go in as when it was on Foss Bank. There are several units in the block which do not seem to have been let yet.

Foss Islands Retail Park - Morrisons

Foss Islands, where the walls are non existent for a a few hundred yards and the defenses were provided by the marshy ground used to be an interesting area. However, the old power station was knocked down many years ago and all that remains is the old power station chimney. The Morrisons supermarket has been built on the site of the old civic amenities site (rubish skips and recycling bins) which has now moved to Hazel Court. I think the chimney was given listed status and was incorporated into the design of the supermarket. So far they seem to have resisted from painting it yellow or putting garish advertising on it or tethering advertising balloons to it.

Hawthorn Grove - Leading to East Parade

As you leave the city centre behind this is a typical suburban street, strangely very quiet with no traffic, very unusual!