York Minster

York Minster is one of England's greatest Gothic buildings and the repository for the largest single collection of medieval stained glass in Britain, most of which remains in situ. This cathedral of the northern province, which every year attracts thousands of pilgrims and visitors, was built over a period of more than 300 years. This book charts the buildings construction and development, which was by no means smooth and uninterrupted. Progress was checked by financial constraint, Scottish wars, the effects of plague, political upheaval, structural crisis, local rebellion and sometimes the indifference of the archbishop and Minster clergy. For many years at a time the liturgy of the Minster was performed against a backdrop of scaffolding and half-built masonry. This analysis of the Minster is based on the architectural recording of the building begun in the early 1970s by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England.