City Walls Experience, York: New tourist attraction to open in city walls

And a new tourist attraction will be launched next month within the city’s walls to tell the story of the world-famous fortifications.

The new venue, called City Walls Experience, will open within the gatehouse of Micklegate Bar on Saturday, April 2, and will provide visitors with an insight into how York came to be a walled city, and how the structure has evolved and changed since the first embankments were built by the Romans.

The top floor will feature 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.

It will be the latest addition to the Jorvik Group of Attractions, which also runs the Jorvik Viking Centre, DIG: An Archaeological Adventure and Barley Hall.

The director of attractions, Sarah Maltby, said: “York’s walls are one of the top attractions in the city, with tens of thousands of people walking parts of them every day to see the city from a different angle.

“City Walls Experience at Micklegate Bar is the perfect drop-in point at the start, end or even midway around the walls to learn a little more about the history of the most complete set of city walls in the country.”

Alongside visits to the actual attraction, staff will be running guided tours around part of the walls and the streets that they enclose to provide more of an insight into the fortifications.

The City Walls Experience replaces the Henry VII Experience, which opened in 2014 and operated until Covid-19 restrictions prompted its closure in 2020.

Its sister attraction, the Richard III Experience at Monk Bar, currently acts as a virtual hub from where livestreamed sessions about York’s heritage are beamed across the world to schools and visitors joining online events. Monk Bar itself will be open for tours in the summer.