York has been a very significant place for many centuries, while Leeds only really surged up the urban hierarchy from 250 years ago. Why this great contrast? And yet what do the two places have in common?
In 2024 I decided to spread my wings ... all the way to York (24 miles away), a city that I’ve known all my life. We lived there briefly in the 1960s and I've visited very often. In contrast, I’ve ‘only’ been getting to know Leeds for 30 years, since taking up a part-time lectureship in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds. I've been studying the long-term evolution of towns and cities in various ways since I was a geography pupil at Beverley High School and then through my degree and PhD research at the University of Cambridge. So I decided that I could devise an interesting, original tour of the ancient city on the Ouse.
York deservedly attracts many tourists, yet they tend to stick to the very well known 'picture-postcard' areas and miss some really important elements of the area within the walls. In August 2024 I launched a different kind of tour of York, focusing on links to Leeds and explaining similarities and differences in the way that economic, social, technological and organisational change have played out in the two places. I then did a linked tour of Leeds the following week.
Now I'm offering a colourful and compelling online presentation at 16:00GMT on Sunday 12 January. Do join me - from wherever you are in the world.
The photo: looking upstream from Skeldergate Bridge to Ouse Bridge, with the main historic staithes for cargo loading and unloading beside the River Ouse
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