UNLESS you’re a regular worshipper, it’s easy to take York’s churches for granted. But they have amazing stories to tell.

Did you know, for example, that St Olave’s was built by Siward, a Viking Earl in the time of King Cnut so worried about dying badly that he insisted in being dressed in full armour and holding his axe and shield as the end approached?

Or that the long-lost St John’s in Hungate was plagued by foul smells from the River Foss?

Read local author Paul Chrystal’s book York’s Churches and Places of Worship and you’ll never look at the city’s churches the same way again.

Which is just as it should be. They are remarkable.