All these Bars would have once had a Barbican. This was an extra level of fortification to help create a barrier before a primary gateway into the city. It comes from the French word “Barbacane” – which means fortified outpost. In Medieval city gateways they usually took the form of narrow walled passageway (known as a funnel), where if attackers breached the first outer gateway, the defenders could attack them from above on the surrounding outer walls. This passageway was so

We are talking about Clifford’s Tower, which has played a major part in the history of York for nearly a thousand years.

It turns out it was called Ingram Hospital and is one of York’s most important mid-seventeenth century buildings.

York Unlocked 2023 on the weekend of 7 and 8 October 2023 will see the doors thrown open to around 70 fabulous buildings FREE of charge....