Planning a trip to York? Don't bring a pillow

York's normally sedate Museum Gardens played host to a seemingly spontaneous pillow fight on Sunday, June 7, involving 500 people according to the York Press. The fight had been organised through the Social Networking website, Facebook. The ostensibly spontaneous gathering of a large number of people is called 'flash mobbing'. Participants quickly gather, 'do their thing', and then melt away.

North Yorkshire Police quickly broke up the pillow fight. A recent 'flash mob' pillow fight in London had led to some participants sustaining serious injuries caused by snooker balls and other items concealed in pillow cases.

Superintendent Lisa Winward from North Yorkshire Police told the York Press that: "Having considered the violent nature of the event in London, we decided we were not prepared to allow a similar situation to develop in York which, potentially, could have resulted in serious disorder and injury to both the people involved and innocent members of the public."

A sick resident of the city would once have been able to rest their head at St Leonard’s Hospital, which was once the biggest hospital in the north of England. The remains of the Hospital, which was founded around 1100, can be seen in the Museum Gardens.

The ownership and uses of the land which now make up the Museum Gardens have changed down the years - as have the influences in the city of York itself.

The Museum Gardens, originally intended for botanical and scientific research were part of, the now ruined, St Mary Abbey’s estate. The eleventh century Benedictine monastery was the wealthiest in northern England. It was destroyed during Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries around 1540.

Go walk about in York with the Best of York walking tour and hear about the city's rich history on your own terms. The Best of York sightseeing tour can be completed in two hours, though listeners have the flexibility to stop, start and resume their audio tour guide as they please. To hear an audio sample from the Best of York audio tour guide please click here.