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MICKLEGATE BAR

THE CITY

As each town has its characteristic features and peculiar advantages, we may ask what it is that constitutes the special attraction exerted by the city of York, not only upon those, who with more or less of appreciation dwell within its limits but upon its visitors. It would seem that if there is one thing which can be done at York better almost than anywhere else in the kingdom, that thing is the realisation of history. It is in this, above all, that the charm lies.

A walled-in city offers great attractions to the student of history, who is desirous of understanding mediaeval ways and methods, for although documents and quaint pictures may give a fair idea, it is the walls, gates, churches, and houses that lend the necessary vividness and reality. Other once-fortified cities have destroyed their walls as being useless, and those at York have from time to time barely escaped destruction.

The stranger, as he walks out of the railway station, is agreeably surprised to find these ancient fortifications immediately presented to his gaze. This surprise view enchants the lover of the picturesque, he is captivated by the beauty of the scene; and York adds another to her numerous admirers. The creamy-grey embattled walls, set on a grassy mound, command attention. The imagination is aroused, the spectator pictures the moat filled with water and mentally recalls the archers, clad in armour and leather jerkins, passing behind the parapet of the elevated walls.

Within the walls, and well seen from the rampart walk, are red-tiled roofs intermingled with more modern slated buildings. Amidst these rise prominently, here and there, the spires and towers of the churches, notably the broad pre-Conquest tower of St. Mary, Bishophill Junior; the tower of St. Michael’s, Ousegate, from which the Curfew is rung nightly, and the graceful octagonal tower of All Saints, Pavement, which, in the days when York was surrounded by forests, held a lamp to direct pilgrims through the pathways to the city.

York is a city of churches. In the mediaeval days there were forty-one parish churches, of which thirty were within the walls and eleven without. There were also seventeen chapels, sixteen hospitals, and nine monasteries. Twenty-two of the ancient churches exist.

We may well imagine that the Castle Keep, known as Clifford’s Tower, still keeps watch and ward over the city: opposite stands the mound of the other castle—the old Baile—which the Conqueror built in order to terrify the men of York. The triple-towered minster of St. Peter rises high above all else, and is best seen from the stretch of walls from Bootham to Monk Bar. The walk along the walls is one of the great attractions of York.

The old entrance to York from the south was Micklegate Bar. It has suffered much mutilation, for formerly it had a fore-court or barbican, which was removed in spite of protests. Sir Walter Scott, it is said, declared he would gladly walk from Edinburgh to York, if that would induce the Corporation to preserve the barbican. Under the Bar arch most of the English sovereigns and many a noble procession have passed. Formerly, the archbishops made their progresses barefooted through it from St. James’ Chapel, the Mount, on their way to be installed in the Minster. The clergy and religious bodies led the way, followed by mitred bishops, abbots, the nobility, and civic authorities; whilst torch-, censer-, banner-, and cross-bearers preceded the prelate, over whose head was held a canopy. The Bar was rebuilt during the reign of Edward III, the Norman arch being incorporated in the new structure. The side piers rise into circular turrets, and the whole is surmounted by an embattled parapet with a stone warrior over the centre of the Bar and over each turret. The Bar is adorned with shields which bear the arms of the King and of the City of York. Edward III, in the year 1338, claimed the crown of France and quartered the French lilies with the Plantagenet lions of England. The shield of York is covered with silver, and bears a red cross on which are displayed five golden lions alert and walking. The city was Edward’s base for conducting the war with Scotland. At this period the King and Queen were frequently in York, where from 1328-37 Parliament met seven times.

Whilst King Edward III and the Black Prince were engaged in the war with France, the Scots took advantage of their absence and invaded England. The martial Archbishop Zouche collected an army and marched northwards. He met and defeated the Scots at Neville’s Cross near Durham. The captured Scottish King was brought to York and passed through Micklegate Bar on his way southwards.

York became a royal duchy in 1385 when Richard II created his uncle, Edmund Langley, Duke of York. Shortly afterwards Henry of Lancaster (Henry IV) seized the throne, deposed Richard II, and imprisoned him in Pontefract Castle, where Richard was afterwards murdered. Plots were hatched against Henry, for example in 1403 the Percies rebelled but were defeated at Shrewsbury. Hotspur was slain, and his head sent to York and placed on Micklegate Bar. The Earl of Northumberland was summoned to meet Henry IV at York, and as