York's Medieval City Walls

York’s medieval city walls are an intrinsic part of the city and would have been a fundamental part of how the city was experienced. My research explores the relationships between the city and its walls, the people and the walls, what the walls meant and how they were used.

Linked with civic pride and the development of civic power and economic prosperity, building (and repairing) stone walls was expensive. However, medieval city walls could fulfil a wide range of functions, including:

• Defences

• Security for visitors

• Exclusion of outsiders (including plague and disease)

• Status and propaganda

• Defining an area or jurisdiction

• Enforcing and collecting taxes and tolls

The walls had reached their fullest extent by the late fourteenth century, and what follows is a long story of maintenance and decline, documented in the extensive civic records. In 1487, Mayor William Todd wrote to Henry VII, and reported of “falling downe of the wallis” and warned that York “can not wel be kept agenst youre ennymess and rebelles”, whilst also repairing a section of wall near Fishergate at his own expense. Were the walls in disrepair due to a lack of funds to maintain them, or was there a change in priorities regarding how funding was spent and how the walls were regarded and maintained?

Initially, building and maintaining the walls was funded through murage - the right to raise money from the walls, for repair rather than profit, granted by the King. Murage rolls survive for 1442 and 1445, recording income collected and the expenditure on the building and repair of the walls. Where murage had to be spent on the maintenance of the walls, they were replaced in the late fifteenth century by simple ‘tolls’. These tolls were no longer limited to spending on the walls, giving a greater freedom to decide how the walls should be maintained, with such decisions made locally rather than by the crown.

Further funds were raised by renting out parts of the walls as accommodation or storerooms, and leasing parts of the ditches for fishing and grazing. From 1377 there are a succession of documents relating to issues with pigs on the ramparts, grazing without permission. Another issue was encroachment on the inner ramparts and wall. In 1491 it was ordered that Treasurer and the inhabitants of Ogleforth should “remove thayre pryves that standys upon the Kynges Dyke”.

I am not suggesting that the walls only had to be defended against pigs and encroaching privies - they could serve as formidable defences if needed. However, whilst York’s medieval city walls may have had an initial role as military defences, late medieval England was relatively free of internal warfare. The citizens of York were responsible for the defence of the city, but they were only occasionally called to defend the city walls.

There were normally one or two permanent watchmen employed for each bar (main gateway). The number of watchmen was increased at times, such as during a royal visit, or when plague threatened. In the fifteenth century these watchmen were instructed to keep out “rogues and vagabonds, and other ‘lewd’ persons libel to disturb the peace”. The city gates were locked each night between 9pm and 4am, and only high-status citizens with keys to the city would be allowed to enter and exit while the gates were locked. The walls allowed the movement of people and goods to be controlled; deciding who and what could enter, and enforcing the collection of taxes and tolls.

Conclusion

We cannot expect any place, especially something as complex as York’s city walls, to have had the same meaning and function at all times and to all people. So, what did the walls mean in the medieval period? To who? To an important resident with keys to the city? Or to the rogues, vagabonds and other lewd persons denied entry into the city? When? On an average day? Or during political instability, or an outbreak of plague?

More than simply defining the city and protecting its inhabitants, the walls also controlled the movement of people and restricted access. The city walls remind us that places can create community, but places can also be divisive. However, this lack of cohesion can be empowering. Meaning and function is shaped by the identity of the user and the context of use. Just as different people in the past would have understood the walls in different ways, today we can all experience the walls freely, rather than having to accept a single interpretation.

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