History of UK and York

We started the day with a wonderful overview of British history. Professor Edward Bujak teaches British history every semester here at Harlaxton and came in for an hour lecture. He is full time here at Harlaxton and recently won a teaching award at University at Evansville because the students that have studied here felt he is a wonderful professor and should be recognized as such. He had one hour to give everyone a brief overview of what makes York special. He started in 50AD with the conquest of the region by the Roman Empire and ended with the Industrial Revolution. Everyone loved the lecture and here is a picture of the white board after his lecture. He didn't erase anything from the board during his talk.

 Here is also a picture of our ornate classroom.

After the lecture we boarded the mini coach and headed to Grantham train station to take the hour train trip up to York.
Once in York we headed straight for the York Minster which is the largest medieval cathedral in all of Northern Europe, built between 1220 and 1480. It was built on the remains of a Roman Basilica.

This part of the cathedral is called the Nave, based on the same root word for Navy.

The stained glass windows were amazing. The main window was still going through renovation but the side rose windows were wonderful.

Under the cathedral is the undercroft and there we found parts of the Roman Basilica in the foundation. Here is one of the Roman columns unearthed during reconstruction of the foundation of the cathedral.

 The students also found some dress up cloths to look like the bishop of York.

Most of the students choose to climb the 275 steps up to the top of the tower.

 The views were amazing, especially given the blue skies.


































After the climb up to the top of the tower, most students went for tea at Little Betty's or shopping in the Shambles. These are narrow cobble lanes, lined with 15th century Tudor buildings that overhand the lanes.

 

A few students walked some of the City Wall, originally built by the Romans but reconstructed again and again over the next 10 centuries. We took the train back to Grantham and ended the day with a 'fire-side chat' about the macroeconomic conditions that exist today in the UK. I led this discussion and focused mostly on the comparison between the UK and the US.