A walk with Hob Moor, a Windmill, Harry Potter and a Roman Emperor

Not far from where we are living in York is an enormous grass acreage called Hob Moor. It is one of the "Strays of York"; common grazing land that was in use here since time immemorial. In fact in some places there are deep furrows  in the ground when it was plowed for food production during the Napoleonic wars. There are other furrows can be actually dated back to Medieval times.

To get to it you must pass through a tunnel that goes under the main train line to York. 

Here, walk through the tunnel along with me. I took this video on my way to see the Holgate windmill up a nearby hill. A train had just finished zipping by.

(Note the thoughtful bikers I had to wave on through at the beginning.

 I hadn't noticed that they were politely waiting for me to finish taking a photograph.)

For the last seventy years or so Hob Moor was used for sport; manicured playing fields and even a golf course was on site. However with the help of a national grants it has recently been transformed into a nature reserve.  Now it is back to it's wild state as a meadow.

Meadows are better for the environment and not to mention, cheaper to maintain.  Bike paths and trails wind through its long grass and wildflowers. Many people come here to take their dogs for a run and walkers and cyclists use the paths that link neighbourhoods together.





 There is even a herd of placid cattle that graze here in the evenings. Leif and Kendra saw some of them the other night.

 (This photo of them I shamelessly swiped from York's newspaper :The Press - Returning York's Strays to their Natural State.)







I kept walking through Hob Moor and then through another park and up a hill and finally found my windmill.

 It was hidden in the middle of a suburban street.

Beautiful! well worth the trip.

 Built in 1770 it was lovingly restored a few years ago by volunteers 

and is open a couple weekends a month. It even grinds wheat. 

I turned around and sonofagun, you can see the Minster from up here.

On my way home I tracked down another interesting thing (interesting to me, at least) a big beige water tower. It's one of those skyline features you keep noticing as you walk or bike around York. I had to get a closer look. It kept popping in and out of view behind houses as zig zagged along streets in its general direction Finally I got as close as I could to it and snapped this photo. Can you read the name of the hill that is named on the gate? For Harry Potter fans, don't strain your eyes, I'll tell you, its Severus Hill.

I thought to myself, Severus as in Severus Snape. How wonderful. I knew that tower was worth looking for.

The Severus Hill water tower was built to replace earlier reservoirs but is no longer used. It was disconnected from the water supply in 2007 but will remains as it is considered "a well regarded York landmark" (this from a York waterworks spokesman in the local press).

I know what you are thinking, I am in a city that has thousands of years of history and here I am chasing down old water towers. However it turned out my tower is located on a fascinating spot of land with history that goes back a very long way.

Severus Hill is named after the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus who lived in York AD 208-211. Gee that's only about 1800 years ago. When he died in February AD 211 his body was taken to a field well outside the city walls to be cremated. A huge wooden structure adorned with statues was built for his funeral pyre. It has always been believed that Severus Hill was the place of that cremation. It makes sense as it is the high point in the area.

Even when you aren't looking for history in York you stumble across it.

The original Severus