Medieval craftsmanship

Like many of our cathedrals, York Minster has a fine, octagonal, medieval Chapter House, built around 1280 in the Gothic Decorated style. It is a stunning space. Having no central supporting columns, the vaulted ceiling is held up by timbers in the roof, in those days a revolutionary engineering technique. It was where meetings were held - and in 1297 the Parliament of King Edward I took place here. The stained glass windows are amazing, and below them are carved stone stalls with wondrous carvings (which I unaccountably failed to photograph, so busy was I trying to capture the ceiling in all its glory, without actually lying down on the floor!)   

Said floor is a wonder too, with Minton slipware tiles, though these are not as old as the Chapter House itself and have been extensively restored. 

The entrance doors are fine examples too, covered in decorative scrolled ironwork.

Elsewhere in the Minster, the Grand Organ, installed in 1832, sits above the Choir screen. Whilst I was looking round, the organ was being tuned, with a resulting discordant series of notes emanating from above! 

The choir stalls are elaborately carved and bear details of the various canons or senior priests. These wooden stalls are not the medieval originals, which were burned in a fire in the 1830s set by a religious fanatic, Jonathan Martin, which destroyed the stalls and the roof of the Quire. That's one way to get your name down in history!