YORK. St. MARY'S ABBEY and St. OLAVE'S CHURCH.

A Valentine's Series card to finish off the 'tour of York'. I have kept this one to last for a bit of light relief. These cards have taken me away on a learning trail, looking for connections. It was they title of this card that took my attention: "YORK. St. MARY'S ABBEY and St. OLAVE'S CHURCH".

Who on earth was St. Olave?

I went looking and found out that St. Olave is pronounced 'St. Olive'.
St. Olave is the traditional form used in English churches for St Olaf!

That too me back to Betty White!
Rose Nylund!
The Golden Girls!
St. Olaf is a fictional town located in northern Minnesota, the often-referred to hometown of Rose Nylund from the 1985-1992 sitcom The Golden Girls.
"St Olaf .... Where every spring the ducks return, if you remember to throw out the corn"! The Scandinavian Diaspora!

So now I know I understand a bit more!

St Olaf was Olaf Haraldsson (995 - 1030).
King of Norway and a martyr.
Feastday: July 29
Patron saint of carvers; difficult marriages; kings, Norway and the Faroe Islands.

Olaf! Olav! Olavr! Olafur! Olavur! Oluf! Olof! & Olave!

The Church of St Olave is situated on Marygate just a short walk away from York Minster. This is as area of almost three-quarters of a mile of defensive walling that enclosed the Abbey which was was de-constructed during the 'Dissolution of the Monasteries' in 1530 . The Church of St Olave remains.

It is a tribute to the Norse origins of York.

An early church was built there before 1055 by Earl Siward of York. It was extensively rebuilt in the 15th century. That is what we see today with a few changes made in the 1720's. A new chancel was added in 1889 by George Fowler Jones, a York architect, and later extended in 1906. They have a very strong musical tradition. It is still in use today.