2018-04 - Indulging in the Yorkshire Museum (York, UK)

Ruins of St. Leonard's Hospital

We were walking along, looking for the Yorkshire Museum, when we stumbled upon some ruins located just in front of York's Public Library. A placard listed these as St. Leonard's hospital, originally built in the 1200s AD and used until the 1500s. The arches and one facade still remain.

Multangular Tower

More ruins drew us further from the street to the Multangular Tower, constructed by the Romans in the 200s AD. On the green grass inside of the tower are some stone coffins, some of which are now in use as flower beds.

Ruins of a cathedral

Continuing along the path brings us to the entrance of the Yorkshire Museum. However, we are distracted by something more eye-catching: the remains of three walls of an old church. It's arches frame the sky as a glimpse of the magnificent building that once stood here. More on this church later, when we visit the exhibits in the museum. Just behind the ruins is a small cemetery. After many photos on this partly cloudy day, we finally entered the museum.

Fossils of sea dinosaurs from the Yorkshire coast

Currently at the museum, there is a very interactive exhibit of dinosaurs and their fossils. There's a hands on area where kids (or those young at heart) can search for the "fossils" in the dirt. Posters explain the different time periods that the dinosaurs lived. There are several fossilized remains on display from the coasts of Yorkshire. These are all ocean dinosaurs: pliosaur, ichthyosaur and plesiosaur. However, the very best part of the exhibit is the opportunity to don virtual reality goggles and feed virtual branches to a sauropod!

Roman floor mosaic

The museum is broken up into different immersive experiences. The next one was about the Romans in York, which the Romans called Eboracum. It began with a floor map of the Roman empire during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117-122 AD). It covered England, a strip along the entire north of Africa, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel and part of Syria.  There are two rooms of artifacts from the Roman time found in and around York, including skeletons of a wealthy young woman from North Africa and a man who was possibly a gladiator due to his stature and how he was brutally killed. In a third room, there is a Roman floor mosaic as well as Roman replica sandals and robes that you can try on.

Escrick Ring

York as a royal capital is the the theme of the next exhibition. It covers the time periods after the Romans, namely the Aglians from Germany (410-866 AD), the Vikings (866-1066 AD), the Normans from France (1066-1154) into medieval (1154-1485) and then Tudor (1485-1603) York. If I've learned anything on this trip, it is that Britain has been conquered and over-ruled by non-Britons since the Romans invaded. The highlight of this room are a few exquisite gold pieces. The Escrick Ring is from the Aglian time period, probably made in Merovingian France.

Star Carr pendant

The upstairs of the Yorkshire Museum is currently dedicated to artifacts from the Mesolithic Era. These have been recovered from the Star Carr site within Yorkshire. The most interesting pieces are deer skulls with antlers that have holes drilled into them that could possibly eye holes (to be worn as masks). There is also a minute shale pendant with engravings on it. My camera couldn't capture the details behind the museum glass.


NOTES:
- the ruins outside are free and open to the public
- the adult admission to the museum is 7.50 pounds