The medieval walls of York are a favorite of mine. I walked them every chance I had, especially the north route from Bootham Bar to Monk Bar. On one trip, I traveled past Monk Bar and saw some of the more dramatic bits of the wall, including the toilet they used to use!
|
Walls beyond Monk Bar |
|
Toilet not available for visitors |
The walls angle back and forth in part to provide protection for the towers and also to force invaders into a crossfire position (as if attacking a wall wasn't bad enough).
|
Tower with walls coming out of it at a most inconvenient angle for attackers |
|
View from the other side |
|
Defenses in the tower |
The walls give interesting views into town. Back in the Victorian times (when the walls were rebuilt) people walked the walls as much to see as to be seen. For me, it's mostly to see the fascinating stuff of the city.
|
Odd architectural mixture inside the walls |
|
Looking into a garden |
|
Pretty flowers |
|
Okay, I can't resist throwing in a picture with the Minster in it! |
For a change of pace, on another day I walked the walls south of the River Ouse on my way to
Micklegate Bar. A few items of note are on the way.
First is a massive hotel, the
Cedar Court Grand Hotel and Spa. Sounds like a pretty nice place to stay.
|
Cedar Court Grand Hotel and Spa |
Further down the street from the hotel is the Railway War Memorial.
|
Railway War Memorial |
The walls after the memorial look over some uninteresting buildings and follow the general European pattern of being not entirely safe. A long stretch had no railing on the inside, with a grassy slope leading down to a drop into parking lots!
|
Wall walking without a safety rail |
Just outside the walls is the Railway Station, which I blogged about
here.
|
Railway station seen from the walls |
After turning a corner on the wall I found some new rails to keep me safe on my way to Micklegate Bar.
|
A safer stretch |
|
The path to the bar |
The view back into town was nice. The yellow bikes over the shop door were decorations for the
Tour de France.
|
Inside town seen from the bar |
I walked outside town one block to see
Bar Convent and had a nice view from there back to the medieval gate.
|
Just outside town looking at Micklegate Bar |
Just inside the medieval gate is
Holy Trinity, Micklegate. The church was part of a priory, so naturally a nearby pub is named The Priory. Around the corner from the church is a medieval building that they use as a parish hall, which wasn't open when I visited.
|
The Priory |
|
Parish hall |
No comments:
Post a Comment