Home [ Intro | Images | Simulator | Synopses | Links | Books | Glossary ]
[ ContextStaging | Bibliography ]

Staging the York Plays: Varying the Stations


StagingScholarly Debate [ Length | RulesAnalysis [ Stations | Plays | ObservationsResults  |  Conclusion

2-1: Varying Numbers of Stations

Meg Twycross's 1978 study of the location and number of stations attempted to place as many stations as possible. She noted that, while we cannot locate every station with certainty, our knowledge of the pageant route allows us to place unlocatable stations between the stations that we can pin down. I ran PSim several times with data representing the 10 stations recorded in 1462, the 12 regular stations for 1438, the 14 stations listed for 1521, and the 16 stations listed for 1554. Rogerson 's investigation of the travel distance between each of the stations resulted in an overall distance that required an estimated 38 minutes of travel time (Dorrell, table, 97). A greater number of stops along the route would require the wagons to slow down and start up again more frequently, marginally reducing their average speed, and therefore increasing the estimated travel time; however, I have retained the 38 minute figure for all variations of the pageant route.
 
Table 2: Extrapolating distance between varying numbers 
of stations, based on Rogerson's estimates for distance 
between the twelve standard stations. 
10 Stations 12 Stations 14 Stations 16 Stations
Trinity Priory 1 1 1 1
Mickelgate W 2 (3:00) 2 (3:00) 2 (3:00) 2 (3:00)
Mickelgate E 3 (2:00) 3 (2:00) 3 (2:00) 3 (2:00)
Ousegate W 4 (2:00) 4 (2:00) 4 (2:00) 4 (2:00)
Lower Ousegate 5 (2:30) 5 (2:30)
St. Michael 5 (5:00) 6 (2:30) 6 (2:30)
Jubbergate 5 (7:00) 6 (2:00) 7 (2:00) 7 (2:00)
Coney Street 6 (3:00) 7 (3:00) 8 (3:00) 8 (3:00)
Common Hall 7 (5:00) 8 (5:00) 9 (5:00) 9 (5:00)
Stonegate 8 (3:00) 9 (3:00) 10 (3:00) 10 (3:00)
Minster 10 (4:00) 11 (4:00) 11 (4:00)
Petergate 12 (2:00) 12 (2:00)
Goodram Gate 9 (8:00) 11 (4:00) 13 (2:00) 13 (2:00)
Colliergate N 14 (1:40)
Colliergate S 15 (1:40)
Pavement 10 (5:00) 12 (5:00) 14 (5:00) 16 (1:40)
Totals    (38:00)    (38:00)    (38:00)    (38:00)
Times, in the format (minutes:seconds), are based on Rogerson's estimates. When there is no performance at a given station (as is the case with "St. Michael" in the "10 Stations" column), the travel time required to reach the missing station is added to the travel time required to reach the next station. When an extra station is added (as in the case of Petergate, which does not appear in the "12 Station" column, but does appear in the next two columns), the travel time is estimated based on the known figures. The total travel time for each column remains the same (38 minutes).
 
Table 3: 
PSim Results
No. of 
Stations
Estimated
Run Time
8 17:47
10 18:53
12 19:59
14 21:05
16 22:41


[ First | Prev | Next ]