The Viking invaders of the ninth century have been rooted here for over a hundred years, and have turned their Danish settlement into the major trading and industrial centre of the northeast. York has split its seams, pushing out beyond the old first Century Roman garrison walls into the point of land between the Ouse and the Foss rivers. York Minster, the cathedral and abbey, are in the old town, but beyond the walls, there are about 1,800 households and twenty parish churches crowded into 260 acres of land. Jewellers import amber from the Baltic and combine it with jet to make rings, beads, pendants and chess pieces. Local wood workers make combs, spoons, bowls and platters.
Metal workers sweat over crucibles and moulds, working copper, silver, gold and alloys.
York has several mints, and the moneyers are kept busy making the dies for stamping coins. They produce about one tenth of all the coins in England. Houses and industrial buildings are packed together along the new streets of Mickelgate and Ousegate. The houses have their gable ends or side walls to the street and the long thin properties stretch back behind them. Workshops butt up against the living quarters and behind them are wells, latrines, rubbish pits and storage sheds.