York: A Walk Around The City Walls

The Romans settled in York in AD71, and stayed untill AD410. It was during this time that they built the city walls, or Bar Walls as they are called, because of the four 'Bars', or gates, into the city. The name York comes from the Viking name Jorvic, but while the Romans were there they changed it to the Roman name Eboracum.

The walls actually surround about three quarters of the city, as in those days part of the city was protected by marshland, which needed no other fortification.

It only takes about 50 minutes to walk around the walls, but here is an even shorter tour!                                      

Parts of the wall are said to be haunted, and many sightings of Roman soldiers have been reported!

Looking over the wall you can see an old ice house. there is a deep cavern below the building that you see. It kept very cold down there, and ice was brought here and stored until it was needed.

From the walls you can see views of the Minster , from different angles. Here are some of them.

The first picture below is a picture of Micklegate Bar. It is the most important Bar, because it is on the south side of the city, travellers from London would have used this gateway into the city.

Another, smaller Bar seen here is Monk Bar.

This view is taken from Boothem Bar, looking out from the old city.

 Walmgate Bar is different from the other bars, because it is the only one with a Barbican, a longer entrance, with a portcullis at each end, all the better for stopping enemy invaders!

Now we are back to where we started, on the wall at Lendal, looking in the other direction. This is probably the most famous view of York, looking over Lendal bridge to the Minster, in the background.