The Quire Screen

This is just a section of the screen separating the Nave from the Quire at York Minster. There are statues of fifteen kings of England, from William the Conqueror to Henry VI, on either side of the arch separating the two parts of the church. The statues were carved in the late 1400's by William Hyndeley, except for the statue of Henry VI, which was seen as Lancastrian propaganda during the Wars of the Roses, and was defaced, removed, and untimately replaced in the 19th century.

The statues in this picture depict Henry III, Edwards I, II, and III, Richard II, and Henry IV and V.

The spectrum of decorative art

A few more pictures from York Minster, then it's back where I began, in Haworth.

I like the style contrast between these two features I saw in the Minster. The stained glass window is called the Five Sisters; it was completed in the mid-1200's and is the largest example of medieval grisaille glass in the world. It's impossible to capture the detail in a window like this with a small camera, but rather than the brightly colored saints and religious figures you see in most medieval stained glass, grisaille glass is all grays and greens and features geometric and botanical patterns. It's quite beautiful.

The colorful patterns on the pipes on the right are nineteenth century. These case pipes were silent for more than a hundred years, and just kept for effect—and they are quite effective!—but since the last restoration in 2021, they're playing music again.

Bolton Castle

Here's a look at the castle itself. I keep getting the name wrong—it's Bolton Castle, but the nearby village is called Castle Bolton, which just sounds more impressive to me.

It's still owned by the descendants of the 1st Baron Scrope, who built the castle in the late 1300's. (Bolton comes from the name of the surrounding area; the village that is now called Castle Bolton was originally just Bolton.)

More green Yorkshire

Views from Bolton Castle, in the Yorkshire Dales.

A view in the Dales

I'd overlooked this picture—taken at the highest point in the Yorkshire Dales, looking over the landscape.

What shocks me now looking at it is how green Yorkshire was. So very different from the sere, drought-ridden south.

York streets

Two other street scenes near the Minster. Less touristed, but the medieval is always a presence.

The non-Potter Shambles

There are actually only a few Harry Potter-oriented businesses on the street, and it is authentically medieval, with some of the buildings dating from the 14th century. It was once known as the Great Flesh Shambles (shambles meaning stall or bench) because it was where all the butchers had their businesses. The jettied floors overhanging the street kept it cool and shady, better for keeping the meat fresh.

The Society of Alchemists

I avoided The Shop That Must Not Be Named and The Potions Cauldron, but did go into this shop, thinking I might find a suitably New Age-y gift for a friend of mine. It seemed more Halloween than New Age, with skull candles and jars of sweets with ghoulish names, but I did like the giant dragon guarding the door.

More Shambles reflections

Just because there isn't any real connection between the Shambles and Diagon Alley is no reason not to sell all the Harry Potter merchandise you can. There are at least two Harry Potter stores in Oxford and tourists can't even visit most of the locations where scenes were filmed.

Saturday reflections

A shop window in the Shambles, a medieval street in York that was reportedly the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter, although J.K. Rowling said she'd never been there.

Anyway, it looks like it could have been.

Stonehenge in black and white, plus clouds

Last year's sky with all those clouds works much better in black and white than this year's cloudless blue skies.

Stonehenge in black and white