AN EXHIBITION in York Minster is commemorating a pivotal moment within the Minster’s recent history: the hearth on 9 July 1984, 40 years ago, which gutted the south transept.
The exhibition, “Out of the Ashes”, tells the story of the firefighting effort, the rescuing of artefacts, and the £2.25-million restoration after the blaze, believed to have been sparked by lightning within the early hours (News, 21 September 2007).
One third of the roof had been obliterated by the point the hearth crews arrived. The fire was prevented from spreading into the central tower by forcing water jets to bring down the burnt timbers. The divisional fire commander, Alan Stow, remembered them falling like dominoes: “I wouldn’t have believed a stone floor could shake, but my word, it did,” he told reporters.
As fire crews got here from across North Yorkshire to help, Minster staff and clergy raced to remove as many precious objects as they might. In interviews, the Master Mason, John David, described the night as each traumatic and surreal, but said: “As craftsmen, the primary thought was, ‘Let’s put it back, let’s rebuild it.’ There was little doubt that we could do it.”
The restoration took 4 years. The famous rose window — designed to rejoice the wedding of King Henry VII to Elizabeth of York, and referred to as the “Heart of Yorkshire” — didn’t dislodge, largely because of work done in 1969, but cracked in 40,000 places. The exhibition carries pictures of the roof completely off and the cathedral open to the weather.
Chapter of York. Reproduced by kind permissionA carved roof boss depicting the raising of the Mary Rose, designed by Joanna Biggs, aged 16, in a Blue Peter competition in 1986
The exhibition includes interviews with glaziers and other craftsmen. The masonry team spent a 12 months re-carving the six roof bosses, which were designed by Blue Peter competition winners and proceed to interact children. They include a spaceman landing on the moon.
The curator, Kirsty Mitchell, is thankful for the extent of the photographic archive and other material referring to the hearth. “Fortunately, most of the individuals who were working here on the time took the time to put in writing down their accounts; so now we have eyewitness accounts of what happened, and reports from subsequent years,” she said.
“There were a number of scrapbooks, too, and that very much dictated the direction of the exhibition — not least within the undeniable fact that there was nothing I could say that will be more powerful than the words of people that were there on the night. We’ve directly pulled quotes from those eyewitness reports, and used the words of people that experienced it first-hand.”
Anecdotes from visitors to the exhibition who remember the hearth, or were a part of the rescue operation or the clean-up, are adding to the archive of memories.
Going through the fabric was very emotional, Ms Mitchell says. “I feel a part of that’s because we’re very used to coping with things which might be a whole lot of years old, and suddenly we’re coping with this thing that resides memory and collective memory — not just for the Minster, but for the for the broader city,” she said.
Water affected your complete constructing, and was pumped out by a Roman drain within the undercroft which had been dormant for hundreds of years. “At one point, a load of terry towels and nappies appeared — so absorbent for mopping up the pools of water. It’s those sort of details that convey that improbable sense of individuals coming together, the community spirit and outpouring of support that ensued,” she said. “So most of the eyewitness accounts mention cups of tea.”
Chapter of York. Reproduced by kind permissionThe rose window within the south transept, which survived the hearth, although not undamaged
Minster staff and clergy had raced in to retrieve objects reminiscent of candlesticks and textiles: one memory recorded within the exhibition is a cat curled up on top of a pile of rescued vestments and “taking a nap in the midst of all of the chaos”, she said.
The present Dean, the Very Revd Dominic Barrington, reflects that today’s health-and-safety protocols would likely have stopped staff from braving the hearth to rescue the artefacts. “It’s some of the breathtaking buildings on this planet: an unlimited constructing in what’s otherwise a medium sized-town,” he reflected. “You can’t wander off in York, because you possibly can see the Minster from almost anywhere you might be. For people of any faith, it’s the important icon of their home town.”
The Victorians had replaced like for like after a fireplace in 1840. “One of the loveliest things about this exhibition is that it highlights a recent way of considering,” he said in relation to the alternative bosses. “Phoenixes are born out of the ashes, and the exhibition is sensible.”
“Out of the Ashes” runs until until summer 2025.
