The Battlements of History: A Tour of York’s City Walls

(137 reviews)

York audio tour: The Battlements of History: A Tour of York’s City Walls

This is a 2.9mi walking tour

It takes an average of 120 mins to complete.

York

The United Kingdom

$11.99

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About the Tour

You’ll find the country’s most complete city walls encircling York, and this walking tour takes you on a complete circuit of them. Along the way, you’ll hear the extraordinary history of this magical city, and find out about the Romans, Vikings, Normans and medieval citizens of York who built, defended, attacked and sometimes died here, on and around these ancient walls.

On this tour, you’ll see and hear about:

The magnificent cathedral of York Minster
The four impressive city gates, each with its own story
The dominating remains of York Castle
The last remains of the Roman occupation of York

Tour Producer

James Easton

3 tours

A York resident, passionate about the history and present of this extraordinary city.

Preview Location

Location 33

Prisons and executions

Stop for a moment and take a look at the attractive Georgian buildings with the large windows on your right.

The buildings now house the York Castle museum and look like they were originally a palace or stately home but in fact they were built as a prison!

Of course law... Read More

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Major Landmarks

York Minster
Clifford's Tower, York
The Bootham Tavern - York
Monk Bar
Walmgate Bar
Micklegate Bar
Multangular Tower
Museum Gardens
River Ouse
Treasurer's House

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Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
Museum St, York YO1 7FR, UK
Total distance

5km
Final location
Lendal Bridge, York YO1 7DP, UK
Distance back to start location

174.63m

Directions to Starting Point

Start: Yorkshire Museum, Museum Gardens, Museum Street, York YO1 7FR

At the main entrance to the Yorkshire Museum in the Museum Gardens, just off Museum Street in the centre of the city

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

If you want a coffee or a drink there are lots of cafes and pubs near each of the four main gates we pass through - so those are probably the easiest places to break your walk. There are public toilets at Bootham Bar early on in the walk, At St George's Field, off to the left across the road as you walk between FIshergate Postern and York castle just over half way around, and at the top of Nunnery Lane near Micklegate Bar about three quarters of the way around the walls.

Best time of day

The City Walls are only open in the daylight hours, so make sure you have got time to finish the walk before dusk.

Precautions

You cannot take dogs onto the walls. There are some places where there are drops without railings on one side of the walls - the drops are not too high and onto grass - but you might want to keep an eye on children. During COVID you can only walk clockwise around the walls but this is the route the walk takes so will not be a problem.

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“This app has become my go-to app for audio tours. I pretty much use it for every trip and it works wonderfully. I highly recommend VoiceMap for travelers to truly experience cities.”

App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”