Much of the minster’s stained glass was removed during the two World Wars in case of bombing
ALAMY X3, COURTESY OF THE CHAPTER OF YORK X2, PRESS ASSOCIATION X1
MINSTER MYSTERY What exactly is a minster? This title was given to missionary teaching churches during the Anglo-Saxon period. These days, it’s purely an honorific.
The landscape of York is dominated by a Gothic masterpiece: the grand cathedral that is Y ork Minster, seat of the Archbishop of York – the third most senior position in the Church of England after the Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury The foundations were laid around 1220, but the first church on this site appeared in the early seventh century and York has been the heart of Christianity in the north of England ever since.