York Minster

English Heritage summaries. 2007/2008

York Minster is the premier church of the north of England and a monument of international significance.  The present cathedral was constructed between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries over and around an eleventh and twelfth-century building of exceptional scale and architectural design. The aim of the present project is to reconstruct the lost phases of York Minster.  This will fill a major gap in the architectural history of the Minster and demonstrate the significance of the building in the development of European architecture of the period.

The project will bring together evidence from archaeological investigations from 1829 onwards, and in particular from the restoration campaign of 1966-73.  It will include a systematic analysis of the huge collection of ex situ architectural fragments.  And it will integrate all this material with the surviving in situ fragments, including newly identified masonry.  A specially commissioned digital survey and modern computer packages have been particularly important for the research.  Three main phases of work are being examined:  the post-conquest cathedral of Archbishop Thomas of Bayeux; early twelfth-century alterations attributed to Archbishop Thurstan; and the late twelfth-century rebuilding by Archbishop Roger of Pont l’Evêque.  All of these phases, in different ways, were remarkably innovative and unusual.  The project is due to be completed in the summer of 2009, and the results will be published as a Society of Antiquaries monograph funded by English Heritage. 

This page was published on 15/05/2008