John Edward Cooper’s Notes

Reservations

The wheat-fields had been harvested, leaving just stubble, though some were already re-ploughed or tilled. There were quite a lot of fields of maize to be seen, so when that is due to mature and be harvested I don’t know. I saw several pairs and families of swans as we passed the Keadby Canal, swimming or at ease on the bank. At Doncaster, because of the heavy suitcase, we used the lift down to “subway” level and a second one up to Platform 8, from where the connecting train was scheduled to depart at 10:00. I bought an americano “to go” from the Starbuck’s café, and with the change used a vending machine on the platform to obtain a 7up Free for Janet. We drank these in the waiting room. At 9.55am a train drew up, so I went out to investigate, and beckoned to Janet when it proved to be our train. It was an East Midlands Railway (EMR) train. I was surprised to hear on the guard’s announcement that it had come from London St. Pancras, because the East Coast Main Line, which includes Doncaster and York, starts at London King’s Cross.[i] There were no seat-reservation cards in the seat-backs on this train; but there were seats free, so we didn’t need to claim ours from those who were occupying them.

[i] “EMR operates intercity services from London St. Pancras along the Midland Main Line to Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield with limited extensions to Lincoln, Leeds, York and Scarborough” (Wikipedia). According to an EMR timetable, on Saturdays, this particular train departs London St. Pancras International at 06:33, calling at Luton (d.06:56), Kettering (a.07:22, d.07:23), Market Harborough (d.07:33), Leicester (a.07:45, d.07:48), Loughborough (d.07:58), East Midlands Parkway (a.08:04), Derby (a.08:18, d.08:24), Chesterfield (a.08:41), Sheffield (a.08:56, d.09:29), Doncaster (a.09:58), and York (a.10:23).

After the train arrived in York, we went by lifts and “subway” to the exit. We used the toilets. The ladies’ in the concourse had a long queue, and I went to the gents’ round the corner on the platform and still had several minutes to wait after I came back. We hired the taxi at the front of the line of them in the forecourt — there was no-one else waiting — and it took us to just outside the Minster; the remaining 50 yards or so to the Lion and Lamb Inn, we had to walk. We’d been informed that check-in was from 3pm, so asked in the bar if we could leave our luggage with them till then; but the young lady told us that our room hadn’t been occupied last night, so it was ready and we could go to it. She gave us a key-card in a little cardboard wallet, and led us through and up.



The room was on the second floor, requiring lugging the suitcase up four flights of narrow (and very creaky!) stairs. “A lovely room and bathroom,” Janet commented in her holiday journal, “and a walk-in shower, thank goodness.” She dislikes shower units mounted over bathtubs. She unpacked the suitcase. All I had to do was get the Samsung computer and power supply out of my rucksack and connect them up.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 11:31:28
Our room at the Lamb & Lion Inn


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 11:32:08
View from our room at the Lamb & Lion Inn: (below:) beer garden; (left:) city wall and Tower 22

“Then we set off to walk around the walls,” Janet wrote. “It was breezy, sunny and quite warm. Very lucky. I didn’t imagine we’d have such good weather.”


DEFENCES OF YORK "Map of the Defences." An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 2, the Defences. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1972. 56. British History Online. Web. 28 September 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/york/vol2/plate-56a.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 11:39:48
(Left:) Bootham Bar, south-east side, seen from High Petergate; (right:) the Lamb & Lion Inn

We asked in a nearby souvenir shop in High Petergate, but they didn’t sell maps of York. (Why do York souvenir shops have mostly, or so many, London-themed items for sale?) Anyway, we found a little “pop-out map” in a nearby bookshop; within its 5¼" x 3¾" stiff-card covers was an intricately folded paper map, and when you parted them it opened out to ca.10" x 8½".


“Pop-out map” of Central York


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 11:45:58
Bootham Bar, south-east side, seen from High Petergate


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 11:47:40
Bootham Bar, north-west side


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 11:48:08
Bootham Bar, north-west side, and steps up to the City Wall


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 11:48:54
Up the steps to the City Wall at Bootham Bar


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 11:49:52
Portcullis in Bootham Bar


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 11:58:14
Robin Hood Tower (Tower 27) at the north corner of the City Walls, site of the northern corner tower of the Roman fortress


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 11:59:02
Looking back south-westwards from Robin Hood Tower


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 11:59:30
Looking ahead south-eastwards from Robin Hood Tower


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:00:26
Proceeding south-eastwards; (ahead:) Tower 28


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:04:08
Looking south: the Deanery, hidden by a great tree


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:05:38
Looking south: Minster Court


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:09:02
Looking south: Grays Court and (behind it) Treasurer’s House


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:11:52
Approaching Monk Bar

We weren’t allowed to pass through Monk Bar, because it was occupied by a museum called the “Richard III Experience”, for which one would have to pay for enter; we had to descend the narrow, steep stairway to the right, just behind the entrance door, cross the road (Goodramgate), and go up the stairway on the other side.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:13:38
Entrance to Monk Bar


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:13:48
Steps down in Monk Bar to Goodramgate


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:15:32
Monk Bar, inner side seen from Goodramgate


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:16:02
Steps back up to the City Walls from Goodramgate


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:16:20
Steps back up to the City Walls from Goodramgate


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:20:20
Foundations of the eastern corner tower of the Roman fortress


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:24:06
Merchant Taylors’ Hall


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:24:50
Harlot Hill Tower (Tower 31)


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:27:14
New Tower (Tower 32)


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:28:30
New Tower, and the view ahead eastwards


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:29:46
New Tower, and the view back north-westwards as far as Harlot Hill Tower

At the eastern end of this section of the walls, we descended by steps to street level, and walked on to the next section of the City walls. There never was a city wall between this first section and the next, though the point where we descended just now fell slightly short of the original extent of the wall there.[ii]

[ii] “After William the Conqueror created a dam in the River Foss in 1069 to create a moat around York Castle, the river flooded in the Layerthorpe area, forming a large lake that would become known as the ‘King’s Pool’ (or ‘King’s Fishpool’). The King’s Pool became an integral part of the city’s defences during the Middle Ages — this explains the absence of defensive wall in the area today — and was well known for its abundance of fish.
 “The fourteenth-century Layerthorpe Bridge, a crossing of the Foss, adjacent to the King’s Pool, was once attached to a postern in the city wall, known as Layerthorpe Postern. In 1829, the bridge was rebuilt, and the Postern and a short section of wall were demolished. In 1926, the bridge was widened again, and in the 1990s it was completely rebuilt on a different alignment.” —from the Wikipedia article “Layerthorpe”

Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:31:44
Descending from the northern section of the City Walls at its eastern end by steps from Laythorpe Tower (Tower 34); (background:) chimney of the Foss Islands refuse destructor


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:34:04
Map displayed on the wall

Having descended from the first section of the walls, we proceeded in a south-easterly direction with the River Foss to our right. The river had extensive areas of bright green on its surface: some sort of floating vegetation, not an algal bloom.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:41:08
Proceeding south-eastwards along the River Foss

We took a wrong turn, for we followed the Foss when it turned right, and continued to walk along it.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:42:56
Continuing in error westwards along the River Foss


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:44:48
Continuing in error westwards along the River Foss

Suspecting that we’d made a mistake, we turned back; and at the bend of the river, seeing a “City Walls” sign pointing to the right, we followed it. The road there, Foss Islands Road, is flanked by ugly commercial and some residential properties, and doesn’t lend itself to any notion of this being part of, or leading to part of, the historical centre of York.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:47:17
Returning eastwards along the River Foss; (background:) chimney of the Foss Islands refuse destructor

To our right, not far along Foss Islands Road, we spotted the Red Tower, at the north end of the south-eastern section of the city walls. Unlike on the northern section, there were (with one or two exceptions) no metal safety-fences on the inner side of the walkway in this section.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:50:44
Red Tower


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:51:40
About to ascend to the south-eastern section of the City Walls beyond the Red Tower


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:54:04
Proceeding southwards

We had to descend to street level to pass the rather incongruous-looking Walmgate Bar.[iii]

[iii] Because we were within these structures, I failed to spot that Walmgate Bar still had its barbican without — “which is the only one surviving on a town gate in England” (Wikipedia article “York city walls”).

Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:57:14
Descending at Walmgate Bar


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:58:12
Walmgate Bar, near the south-east corner of the City Walls


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 12:59:16
Walmgate Bar, near the south-east corner of the City Walls


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:00:22
About to ascend the City Walls beyond Walmgate Bar


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:02:00
Proceeding south-south-westwards


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:03:42
Proceeding west-south-westwards

In need of refreshments, when we had to descend to street level to pass Fishergate Bar, we went to the adjacent pub The Phoenix Inn, where I had a pint of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord pale ale, 4.3% a.b.v.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:07:04
Descending at Fishergate Bar


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:09:18
The Phoenix Inn, 75 George Street, York, just within Fishergate Bar


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:16:22
Refreshments at The Phoenix Inn, 75 George Street, York


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:34:10
Fishergate Bar

The south-eastern section of the walls only continued a short distance eastwards, then northwards, beyond Fishergate Bar, terminating at Fishergate Postern and Tower.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:34:46
About to ascend the City Walls beyond Fishergate Bar


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:36:30
Proceeding westwards to the corner Tower 39


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:39:20
Proceeding northwards to Fishergate Postern and Tower


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:41:20
Fishergate Postern and Tower, viewed from the west

We descended at Fishergate Postern and Tower. Janet needed to wash her hair today, or to have her hair washed, so seeing a hairdressing salon across the road (Fishergate), she went to enquire; but they couldn’t do it, for some reason. We went along the road leading westwards, directly away from Fishergate Postern (Tower Street), crossing the River Foss and skirting to the south of the bailey wall of York Castle. There Tower Street bore right and passed Clifford’s Tower (after which, I assume, Tower Street was named).


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:45:56
Crossing the Foss; view north-westwards of York Castle’s bailey walls, with the former Debtors’ Prison behind, and Raindale Mill before


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:48:56
Clifford’s Tower, viewed from the south

We needed to find somewhere for lunch, and directly opposite Clifford’s Tower was The Olive Tree restaurant, “a taste of the Mediterranean”, according to the slogan under the name. The kitchen was about to close, so we got there with little time to spare. (Actually, some others came after we’d chosen and ordered, and still got admitted.) I had a pint of Angelo Poretti beer and a pepperoni pizza, the latter being perhaps a little too generous with the cheese and a bit “juicy”, but at least with a base that was self-supporting when cut into a wedge and held by the doubled-over border. Janet had what was listed as a Caesar salad, but asked for no dressing (“no ‘Caesar’”). Neither of the two friendly staff members — the black African waiter, and the epicanthic-eyed barman — looked “Mediterranean”!


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 13:54:58
Clifford’s Tower, viewed from the west (from within The Olive Tree restaurant)


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 14:11:02
Lunch at The Olive Tree, 10 Tower Street, York

Just to the right of the buildings which included The Olive Tree, was a small park, which we crossed diagonally to get to steps leading up to street level and to Skeldergate Bridge across the River Ouse.[iv]

[iv] If I’d looked to my right as we entered the park (Tower Gardens), I’d have seen a short westward extension of the city walls, terminating in a building (Davy Tower) with a stone base and brick superstructure. I only realised this when I was looking through today’s photos, and noticed this feature on the one of the map at the entrance/exit of Laythorpe Tower, taken 12:34:04.

Saturday 21 September 2019 — 14:52:06
Proceeding southwards, diagonally through Tower Gardens


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 14:52:38
Approaching Skeldergate Bridge and (left) steps up to the road level


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 14:53:38
The main span over the River Ouse of “neo-Gothic”-style Skeldergate Bridge


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 14:56:22
View north-westwards from Skeldergate Bridge

We resumed our tour of the city walls just west of the River Ouse, where a short flight of steps led up into a little tower, and a longer flight 90° to the left led out of it onto the wall. Again, for most of the way on this (more or less) final leg of the journey, there were no safety fences on the inner side of the walkway.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 14:58:44
Entrance to the south-western section of the City Walls (Tower 1) at Baile Hill, just west of Skeldergate Bridge


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:00:32
Ascending the City Walls at Tower 1


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:02:02
Proceeding south-westwards; (ahead:) Tower 2


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:05:30
Proceeding south-westwards; (ahead:) Bitchdaughter Tower (Tower 3) at the southern corner of the City Walls


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:06:40
Proceeding north-westwards


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:15:24
Approaching Micklegate Bar

As at Monk Bar, so at Micklegate Bar there was a museum, this one being “The Henry VII Experience”. Unlike at Monk Bar, though, there was a passage through Micklegate Bar bypassing the museum, along which I went and continued my way.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:16:52
Approaching Micklegate Bar

I’d got as far as the corner of the city walls farthest west, when I realised that Janet wasn’t with me, nor was she to be seen. I couldn’t see her anywhere ahead on the long stretch to the north-east, nor could I see her on the shorter way back to Micklegate Bar. So I waited there, thinking that this was my most visible location — and eventually she appeared. She’d not realised that there was a passage through the Bar, and had gone down to street level, hesitating there when I failed to appear, then going back up on the other side.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:22:44
At the western corner of the City Walls (Tofts Tower — Tower 13), looking back to Micklegate Bar


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:23:12
At the western corner of the City Walls (Tofts Tower — Tower 13), looking ahead north-east


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:24:26
(Ahead:) Tower 16; (right:) Tower 17, after which the wall has been converted into a bridge over Station Road


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:29:00
York railway station, to the west of the City Walls


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:30:04
(Right:) North Eastern Railway War Memorial and Grand Hotel and Spa; (background, left:) tower of St. Wilfrid’s Catholic Church; (centre:) York Minster


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:38:16
Lendal Tower on the north bank of the River Ouse

We left the wall just short of its original terminus Barker Tower, where the path along it turned right and took us onto Station Road. From there we turned left, and crossed the River Ouse, turning left then into the Museum Gardens.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:39:10
Barker Tower on the south bank of the River Ouse


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:40:58
View westwards from Lendal Bridge along the River Ouse


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 15:41:36
View south-eastwards from Lendal Bridge along the River Ouse

In the Museum Gardens, we saw my favourite bit of the old defences of York, the Multangular Tower — favourite because as the western corner tower of the Roman fortress, much of the original Roman stone- and brickwork still survives.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 16:05:02
Multangular Tower, the surviving western corner tower of the Roman fortress


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 16:06:48
Description of the Multangular Tower

There was an enclosure with a number of different species of owl in it. One could pay an exorbitant sum to be photographed holding one. One was a huge and impressive specimen, but I didn’t take a photo because I didn’t like the way they were all tethered to their perches. We wanted to pee, but there were no toilets in the Museum Gardens — so Janet found when she enquired in the museum building — so we had a look around the ruins of the abbey there, and left.[v]

[v] Looking, after we returned home, at the Defences of York map, which I later found on-line, I see that to complete my survey of the walls and defences of York I would have to visit the Postern Tower, St. Mary’s Tower, and the Water Tower down by the Ouse, in a north-western extension of the walls around St. Mary’s Abbey.

Saturday 21 September 2019 — 16:09:08
Yorkshire Museum


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 16:09:36
Ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 16:11:14
Ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 16:11:32
Ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey

We left the Museum Gardens the same way as we’d entered, crossed the road in front of us (Museum Street), and continued straight ahead along Lendal, which bore right at St. Helen’s Square and became Coney Street. We needed cash, and the first ATM that we found was at a Yorkshire Bank branch about two-thirds of the way down Coney Street. “Not many around,” Janet commented in her journal: “not like Dubrovnik!” — where, seemingly, in the Old City, there was one on just about every corner. Janet also wanted a hairdresser’s; but not seeing one along there, we retraced our steps back to Museum Street. We turned right, going along Museum Street in the direction of our hotel; and on the next corner there was a tourist information office, so Janet went in. She was told that there was one just around the corner, in Blake Street; so the Tony & Guy hairdresser at 12 Blake Street was our next stop. They could see her straight away, but it would be £28. I sat in the waiting area while it was done. The loo question still hadn’t been answered, but because Janet said she was thirsty we stopped short of returning to the hotel and went into the quite crowded Three Legged Mare pub in High Petergate. Among other brands there they had two Black Sheep Brewery beers on draught, neither of which was the Best Bitter (3.8% a.b.v.) that I’ve usually seen in pubs.



I chose the less alcoholic of the two, the 4.0% a.b.v. Pale Ale rather than the 4.5% a.b.v. Special Ale.




Saturday 21 September 2019 — 17:22:10
The Three Legged Mare, 15 High Petergate, York

As we walked back to the hotel we noticed and liked the look of the menu posted at the Eagle and Child, next door but two from the Three Legged Mare. “Because it was heaving,” Janet wrote later, “I booked a table for 6.30pm.” We went back to our room at the Lamb and Lion. We had a cup of coffee, for there were a kettle, sachets of instant coffee, teabags, etc. in the room. We did this and that. I did some write-up on the Samsung computer. When I tried to log on to the Wi-Fi, I was asked for a password; but I didn’t get around to finding out what that was. Just before the booked time, we went back to the Eagle and Child.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 18:29:14
The Eagle and Child, 9 High Petergate, York


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 18:29:14 (detail)
The Eagle and Child, 9 High Petergate, York

I had a pint of Leeds Brewery Yorkshire Gold (4% a.b.v.).



Janet reported in her journal: “[John] had a very challenging burger with bacon, cheese, salad, onion rings and big, chunky chips, and I had a salade niçoise with rainbow trout (it was a fillet), potatoes, leaves, a boiled egg and green beans. It was an elegant sufficiency.” The twilight looks brighter in the first photo, below, than I perceived it.


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 19:38:16
High Petergate, looking towards Bootham Bar


Saturday 21 September 2019 — 19:38:16
Façade of York Minster

Back at the Lamb and Lion,… Janet found it disconcerting that as she showered, the water started filling up the shower tray. One of the advantages of showering as opposed to soaking in a tub, we perceive, is that you’re not immersing yourself in your own dirty water; but here she was, doing just that (her feet and ankles were, anyway)! Fortunately, the water got only about halfway up the fairly deep shower tray, and didn't overflow. She did this and that, and updated her journal. I… removed the camera’s SD card and plugged that into the port in the computer. …I copied the 84 photos from it to the WD Elements HDD (21:05). Looked at them using Windows Photo Viewer; and using Windows Photo Viewer, rotated 20 of them that needed it (21:08–21:13). We were in bed ca.9.30pm.

[Sunday 22 September 2019]