ENGLAND - Gunpowder, Chocolate and Highway Robbery

York is a city that will always be associated with some of Britains big names:

Firstly in 1570 the city gave us Guy Fawkes - born in a house in High Petergate which is now a very atmospheric pub, he is well known as one of the terrorists who tried to blow up the Westminster Parliament in 1605. He wasn't actually the ringleader but as the man caught in the cellar full of gunpowder by the King's soldiers, Fawkes has entered English folklore.

Guy Fawkes's birthplace now the Guy Fawkes Inn

St Michael le Belfrey church where Fawkes was baptised

Note he was baptised a Protestant even though he was involved in a Catholic plot

Richard "Dick" Turpin, however, wasn't a Yorkshireman but was actually an Essex Boy born in 1705 near Saffron Walden and interestingly his birthplace is also a pub. Like Fawkes, he fell in with the wrong crowd, this time a gang of deer poachers and evenutally ended up as Britain's most infamous highwayman. He was captured, tried and executed here in York and the city - never one to miss a tourist opportunity - has adopted him as their own.

Dick Turpin's grave - now very firmly on the York sightseeing list

Our next famous York resident is Joseph Terry who was born in Pocklington near York in 1793 and found fame and fortune in the manufacture of sweets and chocolate. The company's most important and game changing product was the Terry's Chocolate APPLE. Yes thats right a chocolate apple! First produced in 1926 it was very popular and in an attempt to maximise the brand, a chocolate orange was added to the range in 1932. Needless to say sales of the orange far exceeded that of the apple and it is the orange that survives today. There was also a chocolate lemon as well, but apparently the sour taste of the lemon coupled with bitter dark chocolate didn't satisfy Britain's sweet craving!

The Rowntree family's sweet business in the 1860's, cemented York as one of the country's confectionery capitals giving us Kit Kat, Aero and Fruit Pastilles.  Today there are a couple of chocolate attractions in the city. I went to the York Chocolate Story where after a short guided tour through the history of chocolate and the Terry and Rowntree busineses, the group, (all adults) made chocolate lollies, rolled truffles and watched a chocolatier make filled chocolates with plenty of samples to take away!

Here are some other pictures from my ramblings around York:

The Merchant Adventurers Hall

The Merchant Adventurers were a Guild of Traders and Merchants that still exist today

Holy Trinity, Goodramgate

Now disused and looked after by the Churches Conservation Trust, Holy Trinity dates from the 15th century

Low light levels, sloping uneven floors, box pews - a very atmospheric health & safety nightmare!

Petergate