England-Scotland Day 2 (Part 4) – Walking the Old City Walls of York

4 April 2010

A visit to York is incomplete without walking on the old city wall of York. According to one of the brochures, a walk on the wall is “A walk through 1,900 years of history”.

“The Bar Walls of York are the finest and most complete of any town in England. There are five main “bars” (big gateways), one postern (a small gateway) one Victorian gateway, and 45 towers. At two miles (3.4 kilometres), they are also the longest town walls in the country. Allow two hours to walk around the entire circuit. In medieval times the defence of the city relied not just on the walls but on the rampart underneath and the ditch surrounding them. The ditch, which has been filled in almost everywhere, was once 60 feet (18.3m) wide and 10 feet (3m) deep! The Walls are generally 13 feet (4m) high and 6 feet (1.8m) wide. The rampart on which they stand is up to 30 feet high (9m) and 100 feet (30m) wide and conceals the earlier defences built by Romans, Vikings and Normans.” – according to a guidebook.

We did not have the intention, energy and time to walk the complete wall. So it was “Let’s see how much we can cover”.  We started our walk at Lendal Bridge, after visiting the shopping areas in the town centre and taken our lunch.

Crossing Lendal Bridge to start the City Wall walk.

Lendal Tower is very unusual in that from 1631 it was used as a water-tower, one of the earliest in the country. On the opposite bank of the river is the 14th century Barker Tower. In the old days, an iron chain could be stretched between the towers to close the river in times of trouble and to ensure that boatmen paid a toll.

View of Ouse River from Lendal Bridge.

Fancy lamp posts on the Lendal Bridge.

Fancy railings of Lendal Bridge.

Views of the city from the York City wall.

Views of the York Minster from the battlements York City wall.

Outside view of the wall – what an attacker may see.

On the battlements of the York city wall.

Turret and battlements – expecting to see Robin Hood appearing anytime.

Micklegate Bar (Gate).

Description from a brochure:

Micklegate Bar was the most important of York’s medieval gateways and the focus for grand civic events. The ruling monarch traditionally stops at Micklegate Bar to ask permission from the Lord Mayor to enter the city. For many hundreds of years Micklegate Bar was also home to the severed heads of rebels and traitors, which were skewered on pikes and displayed above the gate. There they were pecked by crows and magpies - a suitable indignity. The last of the severed heads was removed in 1754. The Bar is now a museum.

Source :

www.visityork.org/explore

We decided that Micklegate Bar was as far as we go for the City Wall walk. At this stage, we had only completed about a quarter of the wall walk.

We headed back towards town, via the Micklegate Bridge Road. We passed by a church with replica of wooden stocks used to imprison and punish people who commit minor crimes and nuisances in the old days. Holy Trinity Stocks!

Holy Trinity Stocks! Used to imprison and punish people who commit minor crimes and nuisances in the old days.

View of the Ouse river from Ouse Bridge. Several York Attractions are located near here -  Original Ghost Walk, York Dungeon, and river cruise boats.

Then we went back to the shopping area near the Shambles. We saw the York Minster again. This time, from the South view.

York Minster, England.

Bronze statue of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great,  near the spot where he was proclaimed Augustus in 306.

We had decided that we would have dinner at a Thai restaurant called The Siam House, located near the York Minster. As it was too early for dinner, we decided to see the inside of the York Minster.  The inside of York Minster, with the stained glass were beautiful and impressive. See the next post for details.

My original plan was to take the Ghost Walk of York after dinner. The ladies in the family were not too keen. So, it was back to the The Holme Lea Manor B&B for a good rest after dinner.