York Minster Library

The York Minster Library occupies the Old Palace, a stone building characterized by the long, narrow lancet windows of its thirteenth-century chapel. Archbishop Thomas of Bayeux began the library collection shortly after the Norman Conquest, but the books suffered through centuries of fires and neglect. In eighteen twenty-four, Reverend William Vernon Harcourt founded the Yorkshire Philosophical Society within these walls. He used the space to categorize thousands of ancient manuscripts, saving a massive record of northern history from rotting in damp basements.