Blog
The Masham Swifts
Swifts are unique and amazing birds. Although similar in appearance to swallows and house martins, they are not related and evolved separately some 50 million years ago. Surprisingly perhaps, their closest bird relatives are hummingbirds! What makes swifts so unique is that they avoid landing on the ground and cannot perch on branches or wires like swallows and martins. Their short legs, made... Read more
Dick Turpin
Visitors to York can see his grave in St George’s churchyard, his place of hanging at York’s Tyburn and his condemned cell in the Museum that was formerly York Castle prison. He has had a romantic reputation as a highwayman who held up stagecoaches at gunpoint and then sped away on his magnificent horse ‘Black Bess.’ Black Bess has been glamorised herself as the only horse who ever rode to... Read more
Anne Lister and Anne Walker Rainbow Blue Plaque, Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York
There are over 70 historical blue plaques in York, but this one, with its distinctive rainbow border, is unique. It was the first ever permanent rainbow plaque in the UK and commemorates the day that Anne Lister and Ann Walker came here with the intent to take the sacrament together and solemnify their relationship in the eyes of God. The plaque celebrates the commitment they made to each... Read more
THE KIPLINGCOATES DERBY
What’s the oldest continually running horse race in the world? You may think something at Ascot or Aintree but you’d be wrong! Instead you have to head to the top of the Yorkshire Wolds in East Yorkshire to a tiny place called Kiplingcotes. Here a flat horse race has been run since 1519 when Henry VIII was King of England! Continually running – because as legend has it, should the race not run... Read more