York walks: 2004

When writing about the views from the city walls in this area I've kept mentioning "the Minster precincts". I thought it was about time I stopped being so vague about this part of town and got myself down here with my camera. The walls between Bootham Bar and Monk Bar are visible in the centre of the photo above left. And here we are at The Deanery (above), an impressive house in the Minster precincts beneath the walls. This smart front garden even has one of those things on a plinth, that sounds a bit like armadillo, and which I can't recall the name of right now, so armadillo will do. (It's not a word you get chance to use often, after all.)

Behind us is Dean's Park, below left, and I've just noticed that frighteningly officious sign on its gates, below right.

'The Dean and Chapter hereby give notice that this road and pathway are not dedicated to the public'. NO BALL GAMES, DOGS OR CYCLING'. But I'm sure I just saw a unicyling labrador with a ball balanced on its nose.

Seriously, I'm glad that there wasn't a game of football going on, and also that I found no dog poo. It was bliss here, in the early morning.

I was shocked to see one of these so familiar yellow planning notices on the gates of the Deanery. I wondered if the Deanery had qualified as a 'brownfield site' and was going to be demolished for executive housing, like the rest of York . . .

(Don't worry though, it was something about chopping down some sycamores that are growing where they shouldn't be. I guess in buildings as important as these, you need planning permission to change your duvet cover.)

Enough of my flippancy and waffle. This is a very beautiful corner of York.

'The Treasurer's House and adjoining buildings hem in the Minster closely, before the breakout into the Dean's Park. This alternation between spaces and buildings is one of the special characteristics of the setting of York Minster.'

David Lloyd, in the Esher Report (1968)

I can't find the words. How beautiful is that building? Treasurer's House, in the morning light, March 2004.

Related pages:

Nearby – just around the corner – are Chapter House Street and Ogleforth. For views of the famous York Minster, see One cathedral, ten times. For views of Dean's Park, later in the year, see York Walks /4: Precentor's Court, Dean's Park and the Minster.