DIG: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL ADVENTURE

City Walls Experience at Micklegate Bar is the perfect introduction to the city’s historic walls – the most complete walls of any city in the country. Discover the history of the fortifications and how they’ve adapted to the city’s changing needs. Visitors will also hear from three characters whose stories were intertwined with the Bar itself – including a soldier, princess and policeman.

Discover
York city walls have stood since Roman times, with the original ramparts and timber palisades replaced by stone walls in the third century AD. Visit Micklegate Bar – one of the historic gateways into the city – to discover their 2,000 year stories involving battles, imprisonment and near destruction.

Explore
Micklegate Bar was historically the main entrance to the city for anyone arriving from the south, and particularly, the gate through which visiting Royals would pass (with the permission of the Lord Mayor). Meet some of the characters whose stories are intertwined with Micklegate Bar: a princess, a Royalist in the English Civil War and an early 20th-century policeman who made the gatehouse his home, with video presentations bring their stories to life.
Explore a central map with displays highlighting the features from different periods in history that are still visible today, as well as those that have been lost to time.

Experience
Planning on walking the historic city walls? Experience the perfect place to start your walk around the most intact walls of any English city. Combine your visit to the City Walls Experience at Micklegate Bar with a guided tour of a section of the walls, available from 11th February to late October 2023, to complete your visit.