Bootham Bar City Wall From Bootham Bar To Layerthorpe Monk Bar Robin Hoods Tower

The City Wall from Bootham Bar to Layerthorpe Monk Bar, including Robin Hood's Tower, York

A defensive wall, towers, gates and gatehouses dating from 1250–70, which runs between Bootham Bar and Layerthorpe. The section includes three main towers (Bootham Bar, Robin Hood's Tower, and Monk Bar) plus ten intermediate towers. The wall between Monk Bar and Layerthorpe was restored in 1877–78, and the wall between Bootham Bar and Monk Bar was restored in 1888–89.

Construction and Alterations

Bootham Bar was repaired in 1645 following Civil War damage. Its barbican was removed in 1831, and the inner side was remodelled with flanking arches created in 1834. Major restorations followed in 1889 and 1969, with figures carved in 1894 by George Milburn. Robin Hood's Tower was rebuilt in 1889. Monk Bar dates from the early 14th century but was raised in the late 15th century and refenestrated in the 16th century. Its barbican was removed in 1825, and flanking arches were added in 1845 and 1861. Further restorations were carried out in 1952–53 and 1966.

Materials and General Character

The walls are constructed of magnesian limestone ashlar. Bootham Bar incorporates reused Roman gritstone. Both Bootham and Monk Bars are roofed in lead. The walls are battered to full height in places, with chamfered plinth, and strengthened by buttresses with weathered offsets. Crenellations have sloped copings, and some merlons are pierced by musket loops or gunports. On the inner side, the stone-paved wallwalk is largely carried on a series of round arches and is protected by cast-iron railings.

The towers are half-hexagonal, semicircular, rectangular or irregular in shape. Most have cruciform arrow slits with oillets; one along Jewbury has musket loops. Most have embattled parapets with merlons pierced by arrow slits. One tower in the angle of the wall along Jewbury has a corbelled string course beneath reconstructed 19th-century merlons. Towers along Lord Mayor's Walk and Jewbury have 19th-century bartizans—the former embattled with a carved shield bearing a cross in relief, the latter with plain copings. The tower at the Layerthorpe end is supported on two buttress bases and reused corbels, and incorporates the head of a pointed arch of five orders. On the outer side, a water spout survives. The adjacent wall is stepped down to a chamfered gateway with a two-centred head, closed by an iron bar gate.

Bootham Bar

Bootham Bar is three storeys tall. A round arch of two orders is flanked by buttresses with offsets, which rise to circular bartizans at second floor level. On the first floor are two small pointed windows; on the second floor are two blocked rectangular windows beneath a plain parapet between the bartizans. Chamfered string courses on the first and second floors extend the full width of the front, across the buttresses and bartizans. Beneath the second floor string are two shields carved with the Arms of the City of York, both formerly painted. Above is a shield bearing the Stuart Royal Arms within a moulded round-headed panel. Figures topping the bartizans and parapet represent an Alderman, a mason and a knight. The inner side largely repeats the outer arrangement, with cruciform arrow slits on the first floor, narrow slit windows in chamfered openings on the second floor, and a shallow recessed panel beneath the parapet. Internally, a raised portcullis is fixed in position behind the outer arch.

Robin Hood's Tower

Robin Hood's Tower has a high chamfered plinth, two tiers of cruciform slits, and an embattled parapet above a string course. The merlons are pierced by slits and have gabled ends on both the inside and outside.

Monk Bar

Monk Bar is four storeys tall. A round carriage arch of two plain orders is recessed beneath a giant two-centred arch of two chamfered orders, springing from two-storey projecting pilaster buttresses with moulded and weathered bases. The first floor of the buttresses is pierced by shouldered doorways to the original barbican. Above the carriage arch are two tiers of cruciform arrow slits. The buttresses rise into corbelled-out three-stage embattled bartizans, which are joined at the second stage by a gallery with embattled parapet and at the third stage by a plain parapet. The bartizans have cruciform arrow slits to each stage; at the second stage, behind the gallery, there are also square gunports. The heraldry includes two painted and carved shields bearing the Arms of the City of York and a shield of the Royal Arms of England beneath a crowned helm with crest, all beneath canopies. Both bartizans are topped by three carved figures of wildmen holding boulders. The inner side has a giant segmental chamfered arch over a recessed carriage arch, with a pointed-arched staircase door on the left. Above the carriage arch is a corbelled gallery beneath a low round-headed doorway. In the centre is a window of two tiers of three round-headed lights, and a one-light window to the left, in chamfered surrounds. The second floor has a square-headed window of three trefoiled lights in the centre, with niches having cinquefoiled heads at each end. The third floor has square-headed windows of paired shouldered lights at each side of a shallow trefoil-headed niche in a round-headed moulded surround.

Interior

Staircases to all floors are contained within the wall thickness. All upper floors are stone-flagged. The roofs to the ground, first and second floors are vaulted with chamfered stone ribs. Garderobes and fireplaces survive on the first and second floors. On the first floor, a raised portcullis is visible. On the second floor, a wooden windlass for the portcullis survives.