St Marys Abbey Remains Precinct Walls St Marys Tower

St Mary's Abbey Remains: Precinct Walls and Towers, York

The precinct walls and towers of St Mary's Abbey form an important section of York's medieval defensive circuit. The complex comprises approximately 550 metres of fortified walls with five towers, located within Museum Gardens and along Marygate. The walls and most towers are constructed of magnesian limestone, except the Postern Tower, which is faced with ashlar over red brick.

The defensive walls were first built in 1266, then raised, crenellated and extended in 1318. The walls vary from approximately 2 to 5 metres in height and are protected by irregularly spaced dwarf buttresses with offsets and steeply sloped copings. Several merlons are pierced with cruciform arrow slits; others retain grooves to house wooden shutters protecting embrasures, three of which are fitted with replicas.

Queen Margaret's Arch, originally recorded as dating to 1497, consists of a segmental arch that is chamfered and features a defaced coved hoodmould on its outer face. The inner face is rebated for gates and flanked by buttresses with offsets. An inserted pedestrian arch with a shouldered head stands adjacent, added around 1836.

The Postern Tower (also known as Bootham Tower) is a two-storey structure with an attic, built in 1497 and later raised and altered in the 17th century. It stands on a moulded plinth and has a red brick construction faced with ashlar and a tiled hipped roof. The principal doorway features a vertical panelled door in a 4-centred arch with a moulded surround and flat hoodmould. A similar doorway on the left side is now blocked by a 2-light window. Upper floor windows are inserted in splayed openings except for a single segment-headed light over the door. A 19th-century ground floor window of three diamond latticed lights with board shutters on ornate C-hinges is fitted to the right side. Internally, a brick newel staircase rises in the wall thickness, with openings featuring 4-centred chamfered brick arches.

St Mary's Tower was built in 1324 and was repaired in 1644 following damage in the Civil War. The tower is irregularly circular on plan with a conical tiled roof. It originally had a chamfered plinth. The doorway facing Bootham contains a board door set within a moulded surround with a restored 4-centred arch and keyblock. To the right is a 2-light window with trefoiled heads in a chamfered square-headed surround. The upper stage contains three re-used 2-light windows with ovolo-moulded mullions and transoms and moulded sills, along with one cruciform arrow slit with oillets. The inner face has a wide chamfered doorway with a 2-centred head and a 20th-century board door. Two upper stage doorways with chamfered surrounds provided access to the wallwalk on each side, one with a corbelled head and one with a flat lintel.

The Water Tower, also known as Marygate Landing Tower, dates to 1324. Originally two stages, it now sits sunk in sloping ground to wallwalk level. The exterior is circular on plan whilst the interior is hexagonal, with a single opening to each inner face. A chamfered doorway with a shouldered head provides access to the wallwalk, while four cruciform slits with oillets to the arms pierce the structure, and one vertical slit at wallhead features a chamfered opening. Internally, openings are splayed with shouldered lintels. An adjacent pedestrian gateway featuring a 4-centred double chamfered arch was inserted around 1836.

The site is designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.