Episcopal Press and News
Fire Damages York Minster
Episcopal News Service. July 9, 1984 [84143]
YORK, England (DPS, July 12) -- A fire, thought to have been started by lightning, gutted the 13th century south transept of historic York Minster here on the night of July 9. Damage is estimated to be in the neighborhood of $1.3 million.
The fire was discovered at 2:30 a.m., and fire crews rushed to the scene. Dean Ronald Jasper and others nearby attempted to carry out what valuables they could, but smoke, flames, and the collapsing roof forced them to retreat.
York Minster, the largest Gothic church in England, is unusual in that it has a roof of wood and plaster. This was done because its vaults were too wide for medieval architects to span with stone. Steps had been taken to protect the roof from lightning, but they seem to have proved unsuccessful in this case.
According to the Rev. Rex Davis, subdean of Lincoln Cathedral, the damage at York could have been much worse. "The firefighters did a brilliant job" he said. "It was a remarkable thing to have done. They're lucky the wind wasn't blowing toward one of the other nave roofs." He also said that firefighting teams in England usually have two or three drills a year to practice strategy for this type of building. He noted, however, that the open construction creates difficulties and added "Once a fire starts, the chances of stopping it are small; the most you can hope is to contain it."
Nearly half of all the medieval stained glass in England is contained in York Minster, whose windows rival Chartres for quantity and quality. The 130 windows also include some modern stained glass, and every century from the 12th to the 20th is represented. Particularly famous is the early 16th century rose window commemorating the marriage of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York which occurred in 1486, ending the Wars of the Roses. This window is located in the south transept and was damaged by the fire. It will have to be temporarily removed and repaired.
Plans for the restoration of fire damage are already underway. The Church of England's insurance company, the Ecclesiastical Insurance Office, will pay for much of the work, but a fund has been set up to receive contributions for the rest. Those who wish to join this effort may make checks out to the York Minster Fund and send them to: York Minster Fund Office, Four College Street, York YO1 2JJ, ENGLAND.
While its official title is "the Metropolitical and Cathedral Church of St. Peter," the building is more familiarly known as York Minster, "minster" having been the name for a missionary center in Anglo-Saxon England. It is the mother church of the Northern Province of the Church of England and the seat of the Archbishop of York, Primate of the Northern Province.
The first church built on the site was a small wooden structure erected for the baptism of King Edwin of Northumbria in 627. This was followed by Anglo-Saxon and Norman stone cathedrals. The present building was begun under the leadership of Walter de Grey, Archbishop from 1216 to 1255. The south transept, done in Early English style, was the first part of the new cathedral to be erected. Work on it began around 1220 and was finished in 1240; the building as a whole took 250 years to complete. De Gray, who died in 1255, is buried in the south transept.
The recent fire is the third to have struck the current York Minster. The first, which destroyed the choir area, occurred in February of 1829. A deranged man named Jonathan Martin, believing he had a mission to destroy the Minster, set fire to the organ. The fire burned all night and was only discovered the next morning when a cathedral chorister slipped on a patch of ice and, landing on his back, looked up to see smoke pouring out of the lantern tower. The second fire, in 1840, happened when a careless worker left a candle burning in the southwest tower. The tower itself was destroyed, and there was extensive damage to the nave.
Time, too, has given the cathedral problems. In 1967, the building was found to be structurally unsound and a multi-million dollar fund-raising drive was launched to save York Minster. The resulting restoration program was completed in 1972. A point of particular pride among the people involved was the quality of the work on the wooden roof.