Six Houses

 

It was a hot, dry (for England) summer in 1984. July 9, forks of lightning lit the night sky, but there was no rain. In the wee hours of the morning, York’s divisional fire commander awoke to the sound of his phone ringing. York Minster, one of the world’s most magnificent cathedrals, was burning. 114 firefighters from across North Yorkshire rushed to rescue the edifice which had been standing since the 7th century. Unable to save the roof, they decided to bring it down to preserve the walls. Repairs to the Minster were completed four years later at a cost of £2.25 million. Some locals feared the fire was God’s retribution for the consecration there three days earlier of the Bishop of Durham, who claimed not to believe in the resurrection of Christ. But the official report cited lightning as the cause. Which begs the question: what else would the wrath of God look like?