Walks · York · English
9 narrated stops, 27 minutes of stories, 4.1 km on foot. Press play at each stop — no app needed — or open the walk in Avsha and let the stories keep coming as you move.
Stop 1 · 3 min
In short: For nearly five hundred years, Micklegate Bar displayed traitors' heads on iron spikes as a warning against insurrection. In 1460, Richard Duke of York’s severed head was famously placed there wearing a mocking paper crown after the Battle of Wakefield.
↓ 700 m · 10 min to the next stop
Stop 2 · 3 min
In short: Lendal Tower served as a medieval defensive fortification and toll booth, using a heavy iron chain to block ships. In 1677, it became York’s first waterworks, pumping river water to citizens using a waterwheel and later a steam engine.
↓ 250 m · 4 min to the next stop
Stop 3 · 3 min
In short: In 1132, thirteen monks left St Mary's Abbey because they felt the Benedictine life had become too wealthy and comfortable. Seeking absolute austerity and poverty, they departed following a riot and subsequently founded Fountains Abbey in the valley of Skeldale.
↓ 350 m · 5 min to the next stop
Stop 4 · 3 min
In short: Travelers hired armed guides at Bootham Bar to navigate the treacherous tracks of the Forest of Galtres. These bodyguards were employed to fend off highwaymen and wolves that inhabited the notorious woodland until the travelers reached safer ground.
↓ 250 m · 4 min to the next stop
Stop 5 · 3 min
In short: Guy Fawkes was born in April 1570 at a cottage on the site of the current Guy Fawkes Inn in York. He was baptised on April 16, 1570, at the nearby church of St Michael-le-Belfrey, adjacent to York Minster.
↓ 150 m · 2 min to the next stop
Stop 6 · 3 min
In short: In 1953, plumber Harry Martindale saw a column of Roman soldiers marching through the cellar walls. They appeared visible only from the knees up because they were walking on a buried Roman road, the Via Decumana, located fifteen inches below the floor.
↓ 300 m · 4 min to the next stop
Stop 7 · 3 min
In short: Monk Bar is York's tallest medieval gateway, standing nearly sixty-three feet high. It features a working portcullis and a top-floor chamber commissioned by Richard III, which served for centuries as a prison for individuals such as religious recusants.
↓ 1.2 km · 18 min to the next stop
Stop 8 · 3 min
In short: In March 1190, around 150 Jews died at Clifford's Tower during an anti-Semitic siege. Facing forced conversion or death by a mob, many took their own lives, while others died in the burning keep or were murdered after surrendering.
↓ 800 m · 11 min to the next stop
Stop 9 · 3 min
In short: Walmgate Bar is the only city gate in England that still retains its full barbican, portcullis, and inner doors. It is considered the most complete medieval gateway remaining in the country and includes a timber-framed Elizabethan house.