Letters to the Editor
York Minster The Dean of York Speed Records Admiral Sir W. M. James Wolfenden Debate Michael Foot, Joyce A spland,
Derek Parker
France Against Europe The Earl of Plymouth Press Council Motives Sir Linton Andrews,
H. J. Bradley
Committal Proceedings ' Constantine Gallop News from Tyranny Norman Birnbaum Spanning the Great Divide F. W.J. Hemmings,
Martin Page
The Longest Word A. J. Michael Daws
The Church of England and Divorce
Rev. Dr. Paid A. IVel.s.by Blushful Epicene R. G. G. Price
YORK MINSTER Si ,--The Chapter of York may be sincerely grateful to your correspondent, Dr. Kitching, for his cham- pionship. He has lifted the risk to the Minster on to a national plane, where it rightly belongs. The facts are indeed not far from his description; here and there it is slightly over-coloured, but there is no doubt about the deep concern of those who care for the Cathedral at the unceasing, thunderous passage of vehicles, light and very heavy, within not a few yards, but a few feet of the South-West Tower and Nave.
This road was opened alongside the Minster not thirty, but fifty years ago, when all traffic was horse- drawn, in the face of the strongest protests of its Consulting Architect, Mr. G. F. Bodley; the danger which he foretold then is exactly what has now hap- pened. It is certain that the foundations of the Minster are not of a sufficiently modern type to withstand the shaking to which they are now continuously exposed. The deleterious, if slow, effect upon the ancient glass is beyond dispute.
Dr. Kitching's picture errs, however, in represent- ing the issue as a 'battle' between the Chapter and the City. There is no hostile feeling on either side; it may be more truly said that both sides are trying to co- operate in facing a problem of grave moment to both. For the traffic difficulties in York arc not exceeded anywhere in England, and the closure of this, the most direct through road from the West Riding to the East Coast, were critical to them. The City Coun- cil, and the Lord Mayor in particular, have shown nothing but sympathy toward the Minster, which they, too, love; even if they cannot all at once feel that to close the road or to reduce its traffic is inevitable.
The enemy is not the City Council, but modern road traffic. Its many dire results are all but out of the control of any authority, high or low; we are all its victims. May the new mind of 1959 rise up and save us.—Yours faithfully, E. MILNER-WHITE The Deanery, York
Previous page
