York City Walls (North)

The northern section of York's defensive City Wall runs from Bootham Bar to Lathorp Tower via Robin Hood's Tower, Monk Bar, Harlot Hill Tower and New Tower.

General views of the Walls

Image 1

Photo as per caption. Opens larger version. — A view along the external face of the City Wall and defensive bank near Tower 32 (aka New Tower), with Tower 31 (aka Harlot Hill Tower) and Micklegate Bar in the distance (right and extreme-right respectively).

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Key locations associated with this section of the City's defences

Show / hide tips

To view a larger version of an image, click / tap on the image.
To view all available information and images for a location, click / tap on its title (place name) or 'Read More' button. (If a 'Read more' button is provided, a brief article is available.)
The approximate geographic positions of these locations are plotted on the interactive map at the bottom of this page.

1	Bootham Bar Bootham Bar was built in the 12th century to protect the city's western entrance. It now forms a key access point for the northern section of York's City Walls.
2	Tower 27 (aka Robin Hood Tower) Tower 27 (a.k.a. Robin Hood Tower) is located at the northernmost corner of York's City Walls. It was built by the Victorians to provide a viewing platform. Read more
3	Tower 28 Tower 28 is an interval tower on the northern section of York's city wall. Its attractive 'pepperpot' turrets (added in 1887) are purely ornamental.
4	Ditch and Earth Bank Beside Northeast City Wall York's perimeter defences consisted of a wall (with towers) built on an earth bank beside a deep ditch. The ditch is now only visible to the north of the city.
5	Pavement Marker for Roman Fortress Northeast Gateway (Porta Decumana) A marker carved into a paving slab on the Wall Walk to indicate the approximate location of the Porta Decumana (the northeast gateway of the Roman fortress).
6	Monk Bar Monk Bar is the tallest and strongest of the York's four main gateways. It was built in the 14th - 15th centuries to protect the city's northeastern approaches. Read more
7	Historic Latrines Between tower 31 and the site of tower 30, a pair of historic latrines (toilets / urinals) have been set into the City Walls beside the wall-top walkway. Read more
8	Tower 31 (aka Harlot Hill Tower) Tower 31 may once have guarded a postern (small gateway) linking St. Andrewgate inside the walls with Love Lane outside.
9	Tower 32 (aka New Tower) Tower 32 on the northern section of York's City Wall has been known as the 'New Tower' since at least 1380, so it's not really 'new' at all. Read more
10	Tower 34 (aka Lathorp Tower or Layerthorpe Tower) Tower 34 (aka Lathorp or Layerthorpe Tower) was constructed in 1370 to strengthen an angle in York's City Wall. Its unique design incorporates re-used stonework. Read more

Map

The markers on the interactive map below show the approximate position of each of the locations listed above.

Show / hide tips

The maps and aerial imagery will only be displayed if Javascript is installed on your device and enabled for this domain.
The marker-positioning is approximate. (It can never be entirely accurate due to slight variations in the positioning of the map tiles across different map types and scales.)
To view brief details of a location in a small overlay window, click / tap on its marker.
To view all available information and images for a location, open its overlay window (as above), then click / tap on its title (place name) or 'Read More' button. (If a 'Read more' button is provided, a brief article is available.)
The layers button (top-right) can be used to switch between two street map layers and an aerial imagery layer. However, please note that interactive mapping makes heavy demands on the internet connection (to download and resize the maps). Page-loading times and data-usage can be kept to a minimum by using the street map layers (#1, esri-world_street_map layer and #2, esri-world_topo_map layer) rather than the aerial imagery layer (#3, esri-world_imagery layer).
For additional tips on using the maps and aerial imagery, see "Using the interactive maps".

York City Walls (North)

General views of the Walls

Key locations associated with this section of the City's defences

Map

Further reading