Bootham Bar is York's oldest gateway, standing on the same spot where Roman soldiers once guarded the entrance to the fortress of Eboracum. The medieval stonework dates from around 1100, but the road passing beneath it has been in continuous use for nearly two thousand years.

York's street names are notoriously confusing: the streets are called Gates, and the Gates are called Bars. As the local joke has it, the Bars are called Pubs, and there are plenty of those around too.

Bootham Bar's grimmer history involves severed heads mounted above it on spikes, a warning to anyone tempted to misbehave. In 1405, Archbishop Richard Le Scrope was among those beheaded outside the city walls for rebelling against Henry IV, his head displayed here as a reminder of the cost.

VoiceMap's tours trace the Bar's layered history, from Roman fortress gateway through medieval power struggles to its role on York's ghost walks, where a nun in a brown habit was reportedly seen vanishing into the stonework in broad daylight.