Early Influence of Science and Technology
Did you know there are more dead people inside York’s city walls than living? Perhaps not surprising as York is 2000 years old. Amongst those buried are the many, many people who helped design and build the beautiful City of York. So many of the ancient features of the City remain thanks, in part, to the original careful application of science and technology. The use of science in the building of York dates back to the arrival of the Roman VI legion in 71AD. The ‘Groma’ was a wooden cross on a pole on which lead weights hung. This was used with carefully applied mathematical theories to accurately measure angles to make sure their first Fortress had straight walls and was built on mainly level ground. They used mortar with lime in it, making it so hard that there are still some Roman walls standing above ground. The Column outside the Minster shows how big these buildings were. Northern Britain had seen nothing like them before.

400 years after the Roman period, the metalworking and boatbuilding skills of our Viking ancestors made York a major trading centre again. Many examples of these crafts can be seen in the Viking Centre in Coppergate.

Medieval Science in York
During the Danish period, a huge boom in church building took place. Most of the remaining Roman buildings were pulled down to provide the stone, and a major glass-staining industry grew. The glass came from Germany along the old Viking trade routes. It was melted down, coloured using iron oxides, and skilfully made into pictures that told stories to people, most of whom could not read.

The presence of this industry enabled the construction of the Great Eastern window in the Minster – the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in England. The Minster itself took 250 years to build, finally being completed in 1472. Perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of the construction of the Minster was that it was set out and designed using only three simple geometric tools; a compass, a straight edge and a square!

During this time Freemen’s Guilds were born. To trade in York in the 13th century you had to be a Freeman. Work was still done on a small scale in houses rather than factories and the dyeing of woollen cloths remained a key science-based cottage industry in what was still an agricultural world. Printing was also an important industry in York for the next 200 years.

The Impact of ‘The Enlightenment’
After the Civil War, came a period known as ‘The Enlightenment’ under King Charles II. It is so called because of the explosion of interest in the natural and human sciences and many associations and societies were set up, such as the Royal Society (the UK science academy), several of which still exist today. York was no exception, and groups such as the ‘Virtuosi’ set up by Henry Gyles, a glass painter in the late 1680s, included zoologists, historians and philosophers, all interested in the role of man in the natural world. These groups discussed matters of science and laid the foundations for much of what we now know as medicine, physics and biology. The famous York Astronomer and Scientist John Goodricke and Optical Engineer Thomas Cooke, were both inspired to overcome hardships and disability through the influence of ‘The Enlightenment’.

The Industrial Revolution
By the 1770s the industrial revolution had begun in Britain, using water-based power. This threatened York’s role as an economic centre until York resident George Hudson saw the benefits of railway travel. With great determination he influenced the routing of new railways through York rather than the West Riding and secured York’s prosperity as a major transport centre for the next 150 years. Despite his career ending in controversy he deserves the gratitude of all York people.

York Today
The wheel now comes full circle. York has some of the best transport and communication links in the UK. With thousands of people working in science and technology, York is a leading scientific city for the third millennium.