York walks: 2004

Twenty years ago I lived close to these walls and took photos of the walls and their striking converging lines. Now, with a digital camera, it's easier to get a few half-decent photos. This photo, right, taken in January 2004, shows one of the sections of wall where you're enclosed on both sides. The city walls vary so much – some areas are open on one side, with railings (and some areas are just open, and can make you feel a bit nervous about falling off).

At York the only path along the walls, is a narrow stone trottoir, upon which two persons can scarcely walk abreast. This is very inconvenient, but it is picturesque and interesting. Sometimes this trottoir winds in between large masses of houses, sometimes it runs out into more open ground, and permits many a delightful glimpse of the open country beyond, and of the rich landscape round the city.

– J G Kohl, 1842

Since this was written, over 150 years ago, the city has of course extended outside the walls for a considerable distance, so these days there are no views of "open country" from the walls.

Above: section of wall near Bootham Bar, January 2004.

Above: the section of the walls looking back towards Bootham Bar, January 2004.

From the walls you see not only the gardens of the Minster precincts, but a lot of rooftops. Here we are looking at the rooftops of Gillygate. The taller building on the horizon, to the right, is the Salvation Army citadel.

After taking this photo, I saw Peter's bench.

Related pages –
For more on this section of the walls and photos from different seasons, see:

York Walks /2: Bootham Bar to Monk Bar (spring) | York Walks /3: Bootham Bar to Monk Bar (summer) | Gillygate gardens from the walls.