History of York

Anyone interested in York's history should take a look at this window.  The Guildhall has a long tradition of high quality painted glass.  As long ago as 1682 a window was painted by Henry Gyles showing the Arms and various other emblems of the city. 

After the severe bomb-damage of WWII, the hall was reopened in 1960 with a new window, designed and painted by the renowned H.W. Harvey of York, who was also responsible for work in Sheffield Cathedral.

The subject matter is York itself.  Each main panel (or 'light') deals with a different aspect:

• First Light: Architecture - York Minster, Merchant Adventurer's Hall, and four Bars: Micklegate, Bootham, Monkgate and Walmgate
• Second Light: Military - Roman, Viking, The Siege of 1644, and the Blitz in 1942
• Third Light: Civic Affairs -  The City Arms, A Civic Procession and one of the Mystery Plays - the Flood
• Fourth Light: Commerce - A medieval fair, a trading ship, the Victorian railway, the Old Ouse Bridge
• Fifth Light: Religious Education - the baptism of King Edwin, Alcuin and (for some reason) the Assembly Rooms

The figures at the top of the window are individuals associated with York:

• Top Row: John Thornton, of Coventry (who glazed the Great East window of the Medieval Minster), Constantine the Great, Athelstan and William Etty
• Lower Row: Archbishop Walter de Gray, Lord Fairfax, Queen Philippa, King Edward III, Robinson Crusoe (who, in the book by Daniel Defoe, was a York man) and, finally, Lord Burlington