England 1984

England
1984 - 2012

1984 - 1995
2012

2012

York

Yorkminster

Castle Howard

Mersea

Orford

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence. The city offers a wealth of historic attractions, of which York Minster is the most prominent, and a variety of cultural and sporting activities. The city was founded by the Romans in 71 AD, under the name of Eboracum. It became in turn the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, and of the kingdoms of Northumbria and Jorvik. In the Middle Ages, York grew as a major wool trading centre and became the capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of England, a role it has retained.[4] In the 19th century York became a hub of the railway network and a confectionery manufacturing centre. In recent decades, the economy of York has moved from being dominated by its confectionery and railway-related industries to one that provides services. The University of York and health services have become major employers, whilst tourism has become an important element of the local economy.

York City Hall

War Memorial

York City Art Gallery

St Williams College

View from Yorkminister Tower

View from Yorkminister Tower - the church library

View from Yorkminister Tower

Yorkminster

All Saints Church

St Michael le Belfrey Church

St Wilfrid's Roman Catholic Church

Roman wall and the west corner tower of the fort at York - the Eboracum

Wall

Wall and mideval fortifications

One of the gates - this is Bootham Bar

Bootham Bar

Merchant Adventurers' Hall

Merchant Adventurers' Hall Chapel

Merchant Adventurers' Hall

Merchant Adventurers' Hall Guild Flags

Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606) was a member of a group of provincial Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Fawkes was born and educated in York. Fawkes converted to Catholicism and left for the continent, where he fought in the Eighty Years' War on the side of Catholic Spain against Protestant Dutch reformers. He travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England but was unsuccessful. He was questioned and tortured, and eventually he broke. Immediately before his execution on 31 January, Fawkes jumped from the scaffold where he was to be hanged and broke his neck, thus avoiding the agony of the mutilation that followed.

Bettys Café Tea Rooms are traditional tea rooms serving traditional meals with influences both from Switzerland and Yorkshire

Bettys Café Tea Room

Bettys Café Tea Room with local friend Andrew Hawksworth

That is a date, not an address

Jet is a hard black semiprecious variety of lignite, capable of being carved and highly polished

The Shambles mideval shopping area

Named for the Bootham Bar gate down the street

Not sure that is the best name for a restaurant

Yorkminster

York Minster is one of the largest of its kind in northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York. The minster has a very wide decorated Gothic nave and chapter house, a perpendicular Gothic choir and east end and Eearly English north and south transepts. The nave contains the West Window, constructed in 1338, and over the Lady Chapel in the east end is the Great East Window, (finished in 1408), the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. In the north transept is the Five Sisters Window, each lancet being over 52 feet high. The south transept contains a famous rose window.

Flying buttresses

One of several decorated ceilings

Decorated ceiling

War memorial

Royal Air Force war memorial clock

Castle Howard

Castle Howard is a private home in North Yorkshire, 15 miles north of York. Most of it was built between 1699 and 1712 for the 3rd Earl of Carlisle. Castle Howard has been the home of part of the Howard family for more than 300 years. It is familiar to television and movie audiences as the fictional "Brideshead." Despite the rain, it was an impressive place to visit.

Flushable chamber pot

Chapel

Departing York for points south

Mersea

Oystercatcher

West Mersea

Our hosts - Jeremy and Lizzie Dumas
Jeremy was the Defense Attache at the British Embassy in Syria when Rick was the Air Attache at the US Embassy there - colleagues then and friends still

With the dinghy Whitey on our way to their sailing yacht Ivy Green

Sailing yacht Ivy Green

Emily aboard Ivy Green

Rick and Jeremy mounting the mainsail

Lizzie and Jeremy on Ivy Green

Emily and Rick on Ivy Green

Emily on Ivy Green - the ensign is that of the Royal Artillery, Jeremy's regiment

Lizzie and Emily below decks on Ivy Green

Fellow members of the West Mersea Yacht Club

West Mersea

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution - West Mersea

Unlike in the United States where the U.S. Coast Guard performs search and rescue, in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, a volunteer organization - the Royal National Lifeboat Institution - performs that duty. It is akin to our volunteer fire departments. The West Mersea Lifeboat station currently houses a B class Atlantic 75 rigid-hull inflatable lifeboat, named Dignity. Jeremy and Lizzie (as well as their daughter) volunteer at the station.

St Peter and St Paul Church, West Mersea

Bell ringing instructions - St Peter and St Paul Church, West Mersea

Bell ringing ropes - St Peter and St Paul Church, West Mersea

Belles - St Peter and St Paul Church, West Mersea

St Peter and St Paul Church, West Mersea

Orford

As many of you know, we live in Port Orford, Oregon, named for the Earl of Orford - since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped by

Orford Castle, built between 1165 and 1173 by King Henry II

Orford Ness lighthouse, built 1637 - the small island was used for long range navigation experiments in the 1930's and was the site of a US-UK early warning radar (Cobra Mist) during the Cold War