Crafting a Legacy: 800 Years of York’s Patron Saint

York Minster will this year mark the 800th anniversary of its city’s patron saint with an exciting programme of events that include a visual re-imaging of his shrine and a new brew inspired by mystery of his death, Poisoned Chalice ale.

Minster Crafts a Legacy for 800th Anniversary of York’s Patron Saint.

Crafting a Legacy: 800 Years of York’s Patron Saint is a new programme to mark the anniversary of the declaration of Archbishop William fitzHerbert.

It features landmark exhibitions, major new partnerships, and an array of events in a year that also sees the Minster conserving iconic stained glass and making significant improvements to accessibility into the heart of the historic building.

The programme is designed to allow hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Minster to explore St William’s life and the incredible artistry he inspired in the centuries following his untimely death. This unresolved mystery – believed to have been caused by poison slipped into a chalice during Mass -has inspired a collaboration with local brewery Brew York, who will produce a limited edition ‘Poisoned Chalice’ ale.

A new partnership with Viridian FX, a leading York-based virtual effects studio, will return one of St William’s shrines to the Minster through a new cinematic experience.

Crafted in the early 14th century by York stonemasons, St William’s Nave shrine was one of the largest and finest in England. It was dismantled and buried during the 16th century under what is now Precentor’s Court during the English Reformation. Fragments uncovered in the centuries since are now in the care of York Museums Trust.

The surviving shrine fragments have been laser scanned by York Minster’s Digital Surveyor, placed into a 3D model based on research by Stuart Harrison, Cathedral Archaeologist, and brought to life in Unreal Engine, which is used in many high-end computer games. This collaboration explores the groundbreaking technology now in use in the heritage sector and celebrates York’s designation as a UNESCO City of Media Arts.

Viridian FX’s creative will be used in a new film, produced by York-based Hewitt and Walker, that will premiere alongside a major new exhibition in the Minster’s Undercroft Museum.

A new book celebrating the St William Window, co-written by Prof Sarah Brown, former director of the York Glaziers Trust, and Prof Christopher Norton of the University of York will launch during a lecture series planned to explore the life and legacy of the saint.

For those inspired by St William, the Minster will hold LEGO®, workshops to explore how the shrine would have been constructed, walking tours with Rob Andrews of Churchcrawling, and workshops with artist Ric Liptrot.

The programme will unfold against a backdrop of generational conservation work to the South Transept and South Quire Aisle, as well as the installation of a new stone ramp to ease access into the Quire, representing the largest change to the building in over 150 years.

The Very Reverend Dominic Barrington, Dean of York, said:

“Archbishop William fitzHerbert was canonised 800 years ago. Rather forgotten in our own time, he would have loomed large in medieval York – a fact one cannot ignore when the true size and scale of his magnificent medieval shrines are revealed. The artistry he inspired, seen in stained glass, the surviving shrine fragments, and artworks, has left a lasting impression on this very building, and cannot help but move one today. 

“Yet this artistry is not a thing of the past. Our commitment not just to conserving this building, but to continuing to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands who journey through our doors each year, means that today our craftspeople are using incredible technology and traditional skills to reveal lost shrines, and to create the first permanent stone ramp into the heart of the Minster – the Quire – where acts of worship take place 365 days a year. 

“It is very much my hope that visitors to the Minster learn something of our often-overlooked saint, and leave knowing that they are helping us to continue a legacy of craft stretching beyond St William’s time to our founding in 627AD.” 

The full Crafting a Legacy: 800 Years of York’s Patron Saint programme can be fond here.