York
Roman fortress AD 71, Constantine crowned emperor AD 306, Viking capital, largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. Now 6.9M visitors annually worth £564M.
York exists because the Romans needed a fortress to subdue northern Britain. Legio IX Hispana built Eboracum in AD 71 at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss—a strategic chokepoint controlling routes north. Constantine the Great was proclaimed Roman Emperor here in AD 306, making York one of two cities on earth where a Roman emperor was crowned (the other is Rome itself).
Vikings seized York in 866, renaming it Jorvik and making it the capital of the Danelaw. Archaeological excavations at Coppergate in the 1970s revealed a remarkably preserved Viking settlement—now the Jorvik Viking Centre. The street called The Shambles, mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, survives as one of Europe's best-preserved medieval shopping streets.
York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, was built between the 13th and 15th centuries. The city became the ecclesiastical capital of northern England—a status it retains. Medieval York ranked second only to London in size and wealth, its prosperity built on the wool trade.
The railway transformed York again. George Hudson's railway mania of the 1840s made York a junction connecting London to Edinburgh. The National Railway Museum, opened in 1975, holds over 100 locomotives—including Mallard, the world's fastest steam engine. The railway still employs thousands; Network Rail and Northern Trains are among the city's largest employers.
By 2026, tourism will test new scales: the city receives 6.9 million visitors annually, contributing £564 million to the economy. A Vision 2025 masterplan expands the National Railway Museum with a new Central Hall.