York city walls (York)

United Kingdom / England / York
 castle, draw only border, city wall
The English city of York has, since Roman times, been defended with walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_city_walls
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   53°57'31"N   1°4'53"W

Comments

  • It also seems to have more streets named after former gates. It is a very historic city, and a popular tourist destination. You are right: it has the longest amount of remaining walls, but they are not as complete as the walls of Chester.
  • Actually many of the 'gate' streets may be named after the professionals who worked there as 'gate' may come from 'gata' which is Dutch for 'street'. Thus many copper workers and traders lived on Coppergate, stonemasons lived on Stonegate and presumably Huns lived in Hungate. I don't know what sort of people lived on Lowe Ousegate (Low Ousers?), although this could mean 'Ouse Street'. Walmgate is probably named after its equivalent gate in the city walls.
  • A gate means a street (from Old Norse I think). The gateways in York are called Bars (Micklegate Bar, Monk Bar etc...). Also they are more complete than the walls of Chester which, on the west side in particular, have been largely removed. The only substantial gap in the York walls is an area which was formerly open water, the King's Pool, where walls were not needed.
This article was last modified 9 years ago