Maya Bewley Ever heard the tale that someone tried to park their car on the frozen campus lake? Or that Alcuin Bar used to be decorated in the style of a 1950s American diner?
Over the course of 60 years, there’s been a multitude of mysterious campus rumours and iconic tales. We took a deep dive into some of the strangest campus myths and ranked them based on how believable we think they actually are.
1. A car was parked on the frozen lake
Over the years students have unfortunately gambled with fate when winter rolls around. Since the late 1960s, students have taken part in ice skating on the lake, along with other fun (but terrifyingly dangerous) activities.
Several alumni have told us that in the 1980s one daring student tried to park their car on the frozen lake. The car in question was apparently a mini. We sadly don’t have any photos or evidence to prove this, so this is coming in as our least believable campus rumour!
One iconic photo we do have was taken by alum Tristram Hicks of a student cycling across the frozen lake in the 1980s, as shown on the right.
So if you’re reading this and visiting campus soon, we absolutely don’t endorse standing on the frozen lake and possibly dying from hypothermia! Let’s leave this one to the ducks and geese instead.
2. In the 90s, Alcuin Bar used to be an American-style diner (complete with a pink Cadillac car sticking out of the wall)
Several alumni have commented on our social media channels to tell us that Alcuin’s Bar used to be decorated in the style of an American diner, complete with the piece-de-resistance, a pastel pink Cadillac made to look like it was ‘crashing’ out of the wall. Alcuin’s Wikipedia page even claims that there were portraits of Marilyn Monroe, and that staff used to wear uniforms of stars and stripes in the style of the American flag. Being before the era of digital photos, we couldn’t find any sources that this was actually the case. We can only dream that an alum somewhere has the evidence to prove it…
3. The Heslington Hall Yew trees used to be cut in the shape of Chess Pieces
The trees outside of Heslington Hall, aside from making a great backdrop for graduation photos, are particularly interesting. According to local historians, the trees are in fact over 300 years old, and their clippings have also been sold as an anti-cancer drug (with credit to Charles Patmore, who has wrote an extensive history of the garden).
But did you know, it’s rumoured that the trees used to be cut to resemble chess pieces? Early photos from the 20th century seem to support this theory, and there’s 32 trees in the garden – the same number of chess pieces in a set. But there’s no substantial evidence to support these claims, so chess pieces, or just decorative shaping? We’ll never know.
4. There was a Heslington Hall statue that supposedly ended up in pieces after a Christmas Do
It’s said that there used to be a statue called `Diana the Huntress’ standing on the lawn in front of the building. Unfortunately, this beautiful statue is rumoured to have met its end after a particularly raucous Christmas Do.
An old campus folklore website, ran by Hacksoc, claimed that: “After the first Physics Department Christmas Dinner, (12th Dec 1965) the members of the department and friends returned to campus, somewhat jolly, and began carol singing on the lawn in the Heslington Hall courtyard.
The self appointed conductor climbed up onto the plinth of the statue of Diana. Upon seeing the porter coming to send them away, he launched off of the plinth, sending the statue in the other direction, to break in pieces on the ground.”
We managed to track down a photo of the statue outside Heslington Hall in the 1960s. So the statue clearly existed, but we can’t confirm it actually disappeared in this way. The rest is history!
5. The Physics ‘stepping stones’ that formed a dodgy bar crawl
Our most believable campus rumour is that of the Physics Stepping Stones. In fact, they are less of a rumour and more of a fun tale. Back in the first decades of campus, the lake contained a series of rectangular concrete blocks underneath the arch of the Physics building. The stones were later removed after construction changes to campus – but if you look back on earlier photos of campus, you can still spot them.
It’s rumoured that these blocks formed part of many a bar crawl, with students challenging each other to walk across the ‘stepping stones’, often after a few drinks. A popular challenge was to walk three-legged, tied to someone else, across the stones (we can only imagine the health and safety nightmare that this was).
That’s not the only occasion where campus’ iconic architecture has been used as a parkour playground. One alum from the 1960s told us about a particular challenge in the early days of campus:
“I had a Langwith room on the ground floor so during the occasional ´jolly japes´ of students usually drunk attempting to get around the college without touching the ground using Clasp construction gaps for finger holds, a broom came in handy for pushing passing such students into the pond below.” – Ray Ward
Other campus challenges reportedly include students trying to cross the Goodricke-Wentworth bridge using only the girders below. Like walking the frozen lake, we don’t recommend this if you plan on making a trip back to campus!
Enjoyed reading these campus rumours? Got any more strange or humorous tales from your time as a student? Or think you can prove which tales are definitely fact, not fiction? Let us know in the comments and we’ll do a part two!
The stepping stones story is absolutely true… I did a three legged pub crawl of the campus bars in my freshers’ week, October 1987 and that included going across the stones…
Yep, absolutely, one year I even remember we had 5 of us tied together (6 legged!).
Also we played American football on the lake when it froze over.
The yew trees story is true, as was the one re stepping stones by Physics P/X. Rumour has it that Peter Lee fell in on one occasion. The narrow bridge from Biology across to the old Goodricke College had a gap half way across and would bounce like a spring board, but you couldn’t fall through
Peter Lee may not have fallen into the lake by Physics, but I certainly did at the other end of Physics in the early 80s. I was DJing a jazz programme for URY, then situated in a portacabin outside Physics. I hadn’t been drinking, but I was on my way to get a pint, having put on a long Miles Davis track (Miles Runs the Voodoo Down). It was in the week before term started, and there was no lighting outside Physics. I walked down the outside of the building, intending to turn left to Goodricke bar, but didn’t see the corner of the building in the dark and carried on into the lake. I climbed out, jumped on my bike and cycled to my home in Fulford, changed my clothes and peddled back — and the Miles Davis track was still playing.
I can certainly attest to doing a three-legged bar crawl across the Physics ‘stepping stones’ in the late 80s, so that one is true. I heard some other strange rumours during my time there too. The chemistry “mushroom” tower that was supposed to hold water but that the weight of the water would cause it to collapse. The library extension that didn’t account for the weight of books and would slide down the hill if filled with said books. The strange fort-like building with aerials next to the library that was some secret government building, and the army would turn up if you went anywhere near it. Plus the infamous Rolling Stones gig in Central Hall where attendees were told to stay sat down as too much dancing would cause the structure to crack. Would be interesting to get a follow-up piece to hear people’s views on these rumours.
Definitely not a myth was a pitched water battle that took place between Wentworth and Goodrike in the summer of 1978. The bridge between the two colleges was the main battleground and water was obtained from whatever source, including a fire hose that someone rolled out in Wentworth C block and stuck,out of a window. The highlight was when Andy Lovelady, at the time the president of the student’s union, was thrown off the bridge into the lake. He emerged triumphantly holding a bike that he had found there! I don’t think the authorities were amused, but given the number of participants I don’t think any action was taken
The Three-legged Bar Crawl was an annual event in the early 80s and all 7 bars on campus were included. The stepping stones under the Physics Lecture Theatre were a required part of the route. Yes nowadays a H&S nightmare but nobody was known to have drowned or be eaten by the gigantic mutant carp (and there lies another tale)!
I was a Langwith resident 1979 to 1982 and am aware of the Mini on the Lake myth. I didn’t see it, however, it was largely believed at the time. There were all sorts of items placed on the ice during a couple of very cold winters.
When I was at York (1972-5) there was a story that Langwith had a by law banning bows and arrows because a few years previously a third year student who was into archery was driven so nuts by the screeching of the peacocks on site that he shot one of them with it – and that was also why the peacocks were moved to Kings Manor.
The iced lake is certainly dangerous, I pulled a young girl out of the lake who had fallen through the thin ice back in 1986.
You can find an extensive list of York Uni folklore here – http://web.archive.org/web/20240220145852/https://klaxon.hacksoc.org/folklore/index.html
AFAIK, the biggest legend is about the infamous Boomtown Rats concert in the mid 80’s that resulted in Central Hall no longer hosting concerts etc. Oh, and don’t forget the Aaardvark society – York Uni’s very own silly/surreal/prank society from the 90’s (their old website is still preserved – http://aaardvark.wackonet.net/ ).
If I remember right some electrical engineering students built a sonar as their BEng project to try to locate the Mini in the lake. Circa 1995-1998. Maybe someone remembers the outcome?
Myth No 4 – Statue of Diana, is not a myth. My late husband was present and I have a photocopy of the press cuttings, including from the Guardian (20/1/66), Daily Mail (20/1/66), The Times (11/12/65) and of course the Yorkshire Evening Post (17/12/65). In addition I have the letter Lord James sent to John on 15th December 1965 reprimanding him in no uncertain terms and stating that ‘a fine of £5 will be imposed upon you’.
Well Janet, £5 in 1965 must be well over £100 in today’s equivalence!
Hi Janet, it was a beautiful statue as I remember it from the very first day when we all assembled in Heslington Hall, but didn’t know John had been involved !! Love to see the press cuttings photocopy.
Did they ever piece it back together?
Jan (Ashdown) 1963 -1966
The mention of CLASP (in relation to the Physics stepping stones) reminds me of the rumour from my time in Derwent (1971–75 Language) that you could extract an entire bedroom from a residence block, presumably given the appropriate construction machinery. Naturally the stunt would have been perfect if the resident were in bed at the time.
Yes, the stepping stones used to add a little early morning stress while I was rushing late to a 9.15am electronics lecture in the physics block in 1983/1986!
The story I was told as a fresher was that a few years earlier there had been two incidents associated with a new intake of students. The narrative was that during fresher’s week, one student had become drunk and had injured a member of University staff with a knife, whilst a second student had decided that they would catch and cook a University duck for supper. The narrative continued that the ducks on the lake were held in such high regard that the student who injured the staff member only received a warning whereas the student who killed and ate the duck was summarily expelled.
not sure about the injury to a member of staff but as far as I remember, the eaten duck and student being expelled were true in the late 80s
Back in 1970 when I first went to York we had to go and register at the beginning of our first year. I trotted off to do this and was asked to sign a declaration that I had no firearms. This seemed strange to me so I asked why. I was told that a Derwent student – annoyed at being woken early in the morning by geese honking – had shot one.
Given that the university was then only 7 years old, it seems to me that this was either fact or deliberate folklore seeding.
Where should we send photos of Alcuin bar with the American flag curtains?!
We would love to see these! Please send them to alumni@york.ac.uk and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Exciting news!
That photo of the bar crawl across the stepping stones is mine, and it’s probably from my first year (1976-77). I don’t recall who they were, but I have a feeling that the guy at the back was on my course. Memories fade after that time, and my memory for names has never been good.
Also I can recall cycling around the lake near Wentworth/ Biology one winter. That’s the first time I ever found myself handling any vehicle that had so much power it caused wheelspin! I never went near Central Hall, nor down towards the sports centre – I didn’t trust the ice.
We’ll credit you Andy, thanks for letting us know!
I too cycled on the lake in 1981, but on getting off the ice with my bike I found that it was much thinner at the edge, and one foot went through, my boot filling with freezing water. I therefore doubt that a car made it very far.
I was at York from 1979 to 1982, the lake froze during the winter of 1981/82 and someone did in fact park a Reliant three wheeler on the lake. However, since this was classed as a motorbike and sidecar for taxation purposes it had to be much lighter than even a small car.
I remember people cycling over the Physics stepping stones! Apparently you had to get the speed/momentum just right to carry you over the gaps.
I also remember the story about the Chemistry mushroom falling down if actually filled with water as intended. I can say from personal experience, that if you stood at the bottom with your back against the pillar and looked straight up, it felt like the top was sliding down the pillar towards you! I believe I was even sober at the time!
I have a picture somewhere of the road that runs (or did anyway, haven’t been back to campus for many years) through campus (Alcuin & the Library on one side the rest on the other) with a pair of scissors painted on it, along the dashed line in the middle, the next day the road was resurfaced, so I think whoever painted them must have been “in the know”.
Pretty sure the three likely lads top right standing on the frozen lake are from the 1984 Chemistry intake (Alcuin residents??) Maybe one or more will make themselves known! I’ll wager that photo was taken in Spring Term 1985, of which my abiding memory is snow & ice more or less continuously between Christmas and Easter (a shock to the system for a southerner like me). Not so frequent nowadays, I suspect 🙁
Always glad to see a reference to the York Campus Folklore. I spent many happy hours creating that while failing to get a PhD. I often wonder if anyone has one of the little printed booklets that we made and distributed?