Timeline of York facts for kids

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of York, North Yorkshire in northern England.

1st-4th centuries

• 71 – Quintus Petillius Cerialis and the Roman Legio VIIII Hispana establish a fort (castra) above the River Ouse near its junction with the Foss. City walls probably begun; enlarged until 3rd century.
• 95–104 – Period of first recorded reference to the city as Eboracum.
• 107-108 – Last dateable reference to the presence of Legio VIIII Hispana at Eboracum.
• 119 – Legio VI Victrix arrive in Eboracum.
• 122 – Emperor Hadrian may have visited the city during his visit to the province.
• 190–212 – Period during which Claudius Hieronymianus is legatus of Legio VI Victrix based in Eboracum and establishes a temple to Serapis here.
• 208–211 – Septimius Severus and the Imperial family at Eboracum. Severus campaigns in the Roman invasion of Caledonia, but the city is used to overwinter.
• 211 – 4 February: Roman emperor Septimius Severus dies at Eboracum.
• c. 214 – Eboracum becomes the administrative centre of Britannia Inferior.
• 306 – 25 July: Constantine the Great is acclaimed as Roman emperor by the troops in Eboracum on the death here of his father Constantius Chlorus.
• 383 – Last substantial Roman presence in the north of England.

5th-10th centuries

• 625 – 21 July?: Paulinus is consecrated as first Bishop of York.
• 627 – Paulinus establishes the first (temporary wooden) York Minster for the baptism of King Edwin of Northumbria; and also St Peter's School.
• 637 – Stone-built predecessor of York Minster dedicated to St Peter completed.
• 735 – Bishop Ecgbert is elevated to become first Archbishop of York. He establishes a library and school.
• 741 – Minster destroyed by fire; subsequently rebuilt on a larger scale.
• 866 – November: The "Great Heathen Army" of Vikings led by Ivar the Boneless capture York.
• 867 – 21 March: Danes defeat a Northumbrian counterattack against York, killing their kings Osberht and Ælla and installing a puppet ruler, Ecgberht.
• 876 – Danes capture southern Northumbria and found the Kingdom of York perhaps under Halfdan Ragnarsson.
• c. 897 – Mint re-established in the city.
• c. 919 – The Norse–Gael leader Ragnall ua Ímair captures York.
• 927 – Æthelstan, King of the Anglo-Saxons, expels Gofraid ua Ímair from York.
• 939 – The Norse-Gael King of Dublin Olaf III Guthfrithsson captures York.
• 944 – King Edmund I of England takes York from the Vikings.
• 947 – Eric Bloodaxe becomes king of Northumbria for the first time at the invitation of Wulfstan I, Archbishop of York.
• 954 – Eric Bloodaxe is deposed and subsequently killed.

11th–14th centuries

• 1055 - Siward, Earl of Northumbria dies and is buried in St Olave's Church.
• 1065 – 3 October: Northumbrian rebels capture York, outlaw Harold Godwinson's brother Tostig and choose Morcar of Northumbria as their new earl.
• 1068 – Morcar leads a revolt in Northumbria, but William the Conqueror defeats the rebels at York and builds a wooden motte-and-bailey castle probably on the later site of York Castle.
• 1069 – c. 28 January: Northumbrian rebels attack York.
• Winter of 1069–1070 – Harrying of the North: William quells rebellions in the North of England brutally and builds a second motte-and-bailey castle, probably that on Baile Hill.
• 1070 – 23 May: The first Norman Archbishop, Thomas of Bayeux, is appointed and begins rebuilding of York Minster.
• 1088 – January/February: St Mary's Abbey re-established.
• 1126 – Archbishoprics of Canterbury and of York declared equal.
• 1137 – 4 June: York Minster and city are severely damaged by a fire, but the Minster is soon rebuilt; St Peter's Hospital is replaced by St Leonard's.
• 1154 – Ouse Bridge collapses under the weight of a crowd gathered to greet Archbishop William of York on his return from exile. On 8 June William dies, apparently poisoned at Mass.
• 1182 – Charter granted to citizens.
• 1190 – 16 March: A mob besieges 150 Jews (including their leader Josce) in Clifford's Tower of York Castle.
• 1212 – 9 July: Royal charter granted allowing citizens to collect their own taxes and appoint a mayor (first known 1217).
• 1220 – Re-building of York Minster in Gothic style begins under Archbishop Walter de Gray (dies 1255), starting with the south transept (completed about 1240).
• 1228 – Christmas: During a visit by King Henry III, a gale destroys the wooden keep at York Castle.
• 1237 – 25 September: Treaty of York signed between Henry III of England and his brother-in-law Alexander II of Scotland.
• 1244 – Henry III orders rebuilding of the castle in stone, work which is completed about 1272.
• c. 1260 – In York Minster
  • Construction of the north transept is completed and the Five Sisters window (in grisaille) installed.
  • Construction of the octagonal chapter house in the Decorated style (completed by 1296) begins.
• 1291 – Construction of the nave of York Minster begins.
• 1295 - The city returns two members to parliament.
• 1298–1304 – King Edward houses the national Exchequer (at the castle) and Chancery (at the abbey) in York.
• 1316 – Lady Row built in Goodramgate.
• 1319 – 20 September: First War of Scottish Independence: Scottish victory at the Battle of Myton over defenders from York. Many priests and the mayor of York are killed.
• 1322 - Great Raid of 1322 plagued the north of England with a Scottish victory at the Battle of Old Byland nearby. Suburbs of York was raided.
• 1328 – King Edward marries Philippa of Hainault in the Minster. A tournament is held in their honour.
• 1335 – Parliament meets in York; subsequently it will normally meet at Westminster (London).
• 1337 – c. 8 July: Death of William of Hatfield, second son of Edward III and Queen Philippa, at only a few months old; he is buried in the Minster.
• 1344 – Mint established at the castle.
• 1349 – May: Black Death reaches York. 50% of the population die.
• 1350s – Construction of the nave of York Minster completed. The great west window becomes known as the "Heart of Yorkshire".
• 1357 – Merchant Adventurers' Hall construction begins.
• 1361 – Construction of the lady chapel, presbytery and choir of York Minster in Perpendicular style begun, by Archbishop John of Thoresby.
• 1376 – Corpus Christi (feast): Earliest record of York Mystery Plays, although they probably originate from the 1340s.
• 1381 – Summer: Peasants’ Revolt. Unrest in York lasts for a year.
• 1389 – Office of mayor raised to Lord Mayor of York, second in precedence only to the Lord Mayor of London.
• 1396 – King Richard II grants a charter to the city making it a county corporate.

15th–16th centuries

• c. 1400 – Lantern tower of All Saints’ Church, Pavement, built.
• 1405 – 8 June: Following the collapse of a revolt in the north begun in April by the House of Percy in which they participated and trial by a special commission, Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York, and others are executed at York.
• 1407 – York Minster’s central tower collapses due to poor foundations; it is rebuilt from 1420 in Perpendicular style.
• 1408 – York Minster east window, the world's largest expanse of medieval glass (begun c. 1405), is completed by glass painter John Thornton of Coventry.
• 1434 – Mulberry Hall built.
• c. 1450 – Choir of York Minster completed.
• 1453 – York Guildhall opens.
• 1460 – St William's College founded.
• 1464 – 1 June: Treaty of York signed between England and Scotland.
• 1471 – 14 March: Wars of the Roses: The deposed Edward IV of England lands with a small force at Ravenspur, moving on speedily to secure York.
• 1472 – York Minster consecrated following completion of its west towers.
• 1476 – 13 March: Richard of Gloucester addresses civic officials within Bootham Bar proclaiming he is present to keep his brother the king's peace.
• 1483 – 8 September: Edward of Middleham is invested as Prince of Wales by his father the new king Richard III of England at the Archbishop's Palace.
• 1486 & 1487 – King Henry VII visits.
• c. 1500 – Rose window installed in York Minster commemorating the end of the Wars of the Roses in 1487.
• 1525–36 – New church of St Michael le Belfrey built (John Forman, master mason).
• 1536 – c. October: Pilgrimage of Grace occupies York.
• 1538 – Dissolution of the Monasteries: York Franciscan Friary dissolved.
• 1539 – Dissolution of the Monasteries: St Mary's Abbey and the adjacent St Leonard's Hospital are dissolved. King's Manor becomes the headquarter of the Council of the North.
• 1541 – King Henry VIII visits.
• 1569 – York Mystery Plays suppressed.
• 1586 – 25 March: Margaret Clitherow martyred by peine forte et dure for refusing to plead to a charge of harbouring Catholic priests.
• 1596 – 29 November: George Errington, William Gibson and William Knight martyred for professing their Catholic faith.

17th century

• 1616 – June: First waterworks and piped water supply.
• 1617 – King James I visits.
• 1633 – King Charles I visits.
• 1642 – 19 March–3 July: Charles I holds court at York. The Great Seal of the Realm is sent to him here on 17 May.
• 1644
  • 16 July: First English Civil War: Parliamentary forces capture York; Thomas Fairfax prevents damage to the Minster and churches.
  • Ye Olde Starre Inne licensed.
• 1653 – 18 April: London–York stagecoach first recorded.
• 1673 – 18 April: Viscount Fairfax throws a party to mark his remodelling of Fairfax House.
• 1674 – Friends meeting house in Friargate first built.
• 1676 – Highwayman John Nevison rides from Kent to York in a day to establish an alibi.
• 1677 – York Waterworks re-established.
• 1679 – 7 August: Nicholas Postgate is executed on the Knavesmire for being a Roman Catholic priest.
• 1684 – 23 April: A gunpowder explosion guts Clifford's Tower at York Castle, leading to the city being abandoned as a military garrison.
• 1686 – 5 November: Bar Convent established, making it the oldest surviving active Catholic convent in England.
• 1694 – First corporation fire engine purchased.
• 1695 – Grays, solicitors, established.

18th century

• 1705
  • Debtor's Prison completed at York Castle.
  • Blue Coat School, York & The Grey Coat School founded.
• 1709 – Earliest record of horse racing on Clifton Ings.
• 1719 – 23 February: Publication of the city's first newspaper, the York Mercury, by Grace White.
• 1726 – Judges' Lodgings completed as a townhouse for physician Clifton Wintringham senior.
• 1730 – New Walk laid out.
• c. 1731 – First horse races at York Racecourse on the Knavesmire.
• 1732
  • August: York Assembly Rooms (designed in Palladian style by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington) opened.
  • Mansion House (begun 1725) completed as an official residence for the Lord Mayor.
• 1739 – 7 April: Essex highwayman Dick Turpin is executed at the "York Tyburn" on the Knavesmire for horse stealing following imprisonment in York Castle and trial at York Assizes there.
• 1740 – April: York County Hospital established.
• 1744 – New Theatre opened.
• 1759 – December: Laurence Sterne has the first two volumes of his comic metafictional novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman printed at York in the shop owned by Ann Ward.
• 1767 – Establishment of the confectionery business which would later become Terry's.
• 1769 – 8 April: The Theatre Royal reopens under this title having been granted a Royal Patent under its manager Tate Wilkinson.
• 1770 – Holgate Windmill built.
• 1774 – Acomb and Holgate Inclosure Act.
• 1777
  • In the courtyard of York Castle
    • Assize Courts (designed by John Carr) are completed.
    • The central circle is grassed in as the "Eye of the Ridings".
  • The County Lunatic Asylum (designed by John Carr), origin of Bootham Park Hospital, is completed.
• 1778 – Clock at church of St Martin Coney Street erected.
• 1780–1785 – New Female Prison (designed by John Carr) built at York Castle.
• 1783 – May: John Goodricke presents his conclusions that the variable star Algol is what comes to be known as an eclipsing binary to the Royal Society of London.
• 1784 – 19 October: John Goodricke begins his observations of the variable star Delta Cephei.
• 1788 – Public dispensary for the poor opened at Merchant Adventurers' Hall.
• 1794 – April: Foss Navigation Company begins improvement of the River Foss. Monk Bridge built (designed by Peter Atkinson).
• 1796 – The Retreat established by the Quaker William Tuke, pioneering the humane treatment of people with mental disorders.

19th century

• 1803–1842 – Manchester Academy is relocated to York in order to have the Unitarian Charles Wellbeloved as its head.
• 1811 – Quaker William Alexander opens a book and stationery shop in Castlegate, later taken over by the Sessions family of printers.
• 1812 – New stone Foss Bridge (designed by Peter Atkinson) completed.
• c. 1815 – George Hudson moves to York.
• 1821 – New Ouse Bridge (designed by Peter Atkinson) completed.
• 1822 – Joseph Rowntree opens a grocery shop, origin of the Rowntree's chocolate business.
• 1823
  • September: Music festival held in the Cathedral.
  • York Gas Light Company incorporated, opening its works at Layerthorpe by March 1824.
• 1824 – 1 September: Yorkshire Fire & Life Insurance Company opens for business.
• 1825 – Mary Tuke opens the Tuke family grocery shop, origin of the Rowntree's cocoa business.
• 1827 – Yorkshire Philosophical Society begins excavation of St Mary's Abbey, prior to construction of the Yorkshire Museum on part of the site.
• 1829 – 1–2 February: York Minster choir and nave roof are extensively damaged in a fire started by religious fanatic Jonathan Martin (who is subsequently acquitted of arson on the grounds of insanity).
• 1830 – February: Yorkshire Museum (designed in the Greek Revival style by William Wilkins) opened by Yorkshire Philosophical Society in the grounds of St Mary's Abbey.
• 1832 – 2 June: 1829–51 cholera pandemic spreads to York.
• 1833–36 – St Leonard's Place built.
• 1836
  • First unified police force established.
  • York Public Cemetery Company founded.
  • First large bathhouse in the city built at the bottom of Marygate.
• 1837 – Walker Iron Foundry established.
• 1839 – 29 May: York & North Midland Railway opens the city's first railway station.
• 1840
  • 11 May: Chartist leader Feargus O'Connor is sentenced to imprisonment in York Castle for seditious libel over speeches published in The Northern Star.
  • 20 May: York Minster's nave roof is destroyed in an accidental fire.
  • 17 July: Wesleyan Centenary Chapel is opened.
• 1842 – First railway works constructed.
• 1844 – York Gas Light Company and York Union Gas Light Company amalgamated.
• 1846 – York New Waterworks Company formed.
• 1851–52 – Walker Iron Foundry supply forecourt railings for the British Museum in London.
• 1853 – York Drainage and Sanitary Improvement Act provides for the city corporation to purchase the River Foss and improve drainage.
• 1862 – Quaker Henry Isaac Rowntree buys out the chocolate and cocoa departments of the Tuke family confectioners, origin of the Rowntree's business.
• 1863 – 8 January: Lendal Bridge (designed by Thomas Page) opened.
• 1868 – 31 October: New Corn Exchange opens for business.
• 1877 – 25 June: North Eastern Railway opens new (modern-day) York railway station.
• 1880
  • 27 October: York Tramways Company inaugurates its first horse-drawn tram service.
  • Burgins perfumiers established.
  • The Foss Islands branch line opens
• 1881 – 10 March: Skeldergate Bridge opened.
• 1882
  • York Art Gallery opened.
  • The Evening Press begins publication.
• 1884 – North Eastern Railway begins production at York Carriage Works. Holgate is incorporated into the city.
• 1888 - County borough was created.
• 1890 – Browns department store established.
• 1894 – August: Lendal Bridge freed of toll.
• 1895 – Major sewerage scheme opened.
• 1899 – Seebohm Rowntree undertakes his first York study of poverty.

20th century

• 1900 – Corporation opens electricity generating works at Layerthorpe resulting in the opening of Foss Island Power Station.
• 1901
  • Seebohm Rowntree publishes Poverty, A Study of Town Life based on a sociological survey of York.
  • Population: 77,914.
• 1902–1904 – Construction of the model village of New Earswick.
• 1906 – 24 November: North Eastern Railway opens new headquarters offices.
• 1908
  • 23 November: New Picture Palace, the former Wesleyan Methodist New Street Hall, opened as the city's first permanent cinema.
  • York City F.C. founded as an amateur Association football club.
• 1910 – 20 January: York Corporation Tramways inaugurates an electric service.
• 1911
  • 13 July: A strike by millers leads to rioting.
  • Electric Cinema, Fossgate, opened, the city's first purpose-built cinema.
• c.1912 – Piccadilly laid out.
• 1914 – 1 April: Skeldergate Bridge freed of toll.
• 1916 – 2 May: Zeppelin raid on York kills 9.
• 1922
  • 6 May: York City F.C. re-founded.
  • The London & North Eastern Railway begins to set up a private museum around the station area, origin of the National Railway Museum.
• 1926
  • Terry's open The Chocolate Works.
  • York sugar beet factory opens.
• 1935 – 16 November: York Corporation Tramways closed and replaced by motor bus services.
• 1937
  • September: Regal Cinema opens; Odeon, Blossom Street, also opens this year.
  • Acomb is incorporated into the city.
  • The sugar-coated chocolate sweets Smarties are first marketed under this name by Rowntree's.
• 1938 – 23 April: York Castle Museum opened.
• 1942
  • 28/29 April: Baedeker Blitz: Air raid kills 79, guts York Guildhall, the church of St Martin Coney Street and the railway locomotive shed.
  • October: RAF Elvington reopened as a hard-runway bomber airfield.
• 1948 – York: A Plan for Progress and Preservation published.
• 1951 – First York Festival, including a major revival of the York Mystery Plays.
• 1956 – Castle Mills Bridge opened.
• 1961 – 16 December: York Cold War Bunker opened.
• 1962 – 11 April: York Crematorium dedicated.
• 1963
  • University of York established with a new campus at Heslington.
  • 28 October – Clifton Bridge is opened.
• 1967–1972 – York Minster foundations strengthened.
• 1968 – Viscount Esher publishes York: a study in conservation.
• 1969 – Rowntree's merged with Mackintosh's.
• 1970 – 25 October: Margaret Clitherow canonised as St Margaret of York.
• 1971
  • Stonegate pedestrianised.
  • York becomes an Army Saluting Station.
• 1973 – First regular ghost walk.
• 1975 – 27 September: The National Railway Museum is opened, the first national museum outside London.
• 1976–79 – York Archaeological Trust begins an excavation at a former sweet factory on the site of Scandinavian York (Jórvík) prior to construction of Coppergate Shopping Centre here.
• 1976
  • New York Hospital opens.
  • A64 York bypass road opens.
  • 25 October: Foss Island Power Station closes.
• 1982 – 31 May: Pope John Paul II visits the city as part of his visit to the United Kingdom; 200,000 people gather at York Racecourse on the Knavesmire for a liturgy.
• 1983 – 4 July: BBC Radio York begins permanent broadcasting.
• 1984
  • April: Opening of Coppergate Shopping Centre and Jorvik Viking Centre.
  • 9 July: A fire in the south transept roof of York Minster, probably caused by an electrical storm, causes extensive damage.
• 1987 – 11 December: The York Outer Ring Road is completed.
• 1988
  • November: River Foss Barrier completed.
  • Rowntree Mackintosh Confectionery taken over by Nestlé.
• 1989 – The Foss Islands branch line closes.
• 1992 – 4 July: Minster FM begins broadcasting.
• 1993 – Terry's taken over by Kraft Foods Inc.
• 1996 – The City of York becomes a unitary authority area which includes rural areas beyond the old city boundaries.
• 1997 – Last commercial traffic on the River Foss (newsprint from Goole for the Yorkshire Evening Press) ceases.
• 1998 – Monks Cross and McArthur Glen shopping centres and University science park opened.

21st century

• 2000 – October–November – Severe flooding, chiefly from River Ouse.
• 2001 – 10 April: Millennium Bridge opened.
• 2007 – York sugar beet factory closes.
• 2014
  • 6 July: York hosts the start of Tour de France, Stage 2.
  • Vangarde Shopping Park opened.
• 2015
  • Easter: York Army Museum opened.
  • December: Severe flooding, chiefly from River Foss.
• 2021 – 16 February: York City F.C. play the opening match at York Community Stadium at Monks Cross.
• 2023 – 3 August: Appointment of first rabbi to a Jewish congregation in York since 1190 is announced.

Births

• c. 735 – Alcuin, scholar (died 804 in Tours)
• Before 1190 – Aaron of York, financier and chief rabbi of England (died after 1253)
• 1556 – Margaret Clitherow, Catholic saint (martyred 1586)
• 1564 – 20 March: Thomas Morton, bishop of Durham (died 1659)
• 1570 – 13 April: Guy Fawkes, Catholic conspirator (executed 1606)
• 1586 – 5 April: Christopher Levett, sea captain and New England settler (died 1630 at sea)
• c. 1612 – John Hingston, organist and composer (died 1683)
• 1624 – Matthew Poole, Nonconformist theologian (died 1679 in Amsterdam)
• 1647 – Francis Place, gentleman draughtsman (died 1728)
• 1755 – 6 July: John Flaxman, sculptor (died 1826)
• 1784 – 31 July: Samuel Tuke, philanthropist and mental health reformer (died 1857)
• 1787 – 10 March: William Etty, painter (died 1849)
• 1799 – May: George Hennet, railway contractor (died 1857)
• 1800 – 17 June: William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, astronomer (died 1867 in Ireland)
• 1803 – 26 October: Joseph Hansom, architect and patentee of the Hansom cab (died 1882)
• 1809 – Mary Ellen Best, domestic watercolourist (died 1891 in Darmstadt)
• 1813 – 15 March: John Snow, physician, epidemiologist and pioneer of anaesthesia (died 1858 in London)
• 1836 – 24 May: Joseph Rowntree, chocolate manufacturer and philanthropist (died 1925)
• 1841 – 4 September: Albert Joseph Moore, figure painter (died 1893)
• 1851 – 19 June: Silvanus P. Thompson, physicist, pioneer of calculus and electricity (died 1916)
• 1871 – 7 July: Seebohm Rowntree, chocolate manufacturer and social reformer (died 1954)
• 1881 – 20 September: Will Ashton (Sir John Ashton), landscape painter and gallery director (died 1963 in Australia)
• 1907 – 21 February: W. H. Auden, poet (died 1973 in Austria)
• 1912 – 6 February: Christopher Hill, Marxist historian (died 2003)
• 1917 – 6 March: Frankie Howerd, comic actor (died 1992)
• 1933 – 3 November: John Barry, film composer (died 2011 in the United States)
• 1934 – 9 December: Judi Dench, actress
• 1942
  • 17 April: David Bradley, actor
  • 23 June: Martin Rees, astrophysicist
• 1943 – 9 May: Vince Cable, politician
• 1992 – 2 October: Lucy Staniforth, footballer