Ancient_and_modern_York_a_guide

44 ANCIENT AND
dinal points ; the present choir is not in a straight line
with the nave, but is inclined toward the south, having a
deviation northward of its centre, at the foot of the organ
screen of about 2 feet 4 inches from the centre of the
nave." The deviation in direction, he adds, was probably
caused by the choir having been erected at two different
periods ; the first portion of the eastern end having
been begun whilst the greater part of the old choir was
standing. "As a distant object," observes one who has
no local bias in favour of York Minster, and whose
critical dissertations on the Cathedrals of England are uni
versally respected, " this edifice assumes a lofty and
imposing aspect. Its three towers are seen pre-eminent
above the city houses and the parochial churches ; whilst
the numerous crocketed pinnacles, at the west-end and
gables, display at once intricacy, variety, and picturesque
beauty. Though this church has not the advantage of a
lofty, or scarcely an elevated site, yet it appears very
high, by comparison with its neighbouring buildings ; and
is seen like a noble forest-tree amidst a shrubbery from
every approach to the city."* It is the most conspicuous
object in the extensive vale of York. It can be discerned
from Harrogate hill, and in other directions from a dis
tance of thirty miles.
As we have already seen, by reference to the venerable
Bede's history and the Saxon Chronicle, York Minster
was founded by King Edwin, the first Christian king of
the Saxon kingdom of Northumberland, in the year a.d.
626. On the site of the little wooden oratory, hastily
erected for the occasion of his baptism, according to the
advice of Paulinus, the first archbishop, he ordered an
august temple of stone to be erected. Before this building
was roofed, Edwin was killed ; and it is said to have
been completed by King Oswald. In the beginning of
the eight century, however, it appears to have gone quite
* Britton's English Cathedrals.