England Guide
Yorkshire
Around the walls
The city's superb walls date mainly from the fourteenth century, though fragments of Norman work survive, particularly in the gates (known as "bars"), whilst the northern sections still follow the line of the Roman ramparts. Monk Bar is as good a point of access as any, tallest of the city's four main gates and host to a small Richard III Museum (daily 9/9.30am–4/5pm; £2.50; 
www.richardiiimuseum.co.uk ), where you're invited to decide on the guilt or innocence of England's most maligned king. For just a taste of the walls' best section – with great views of the Minster and acres of idyllic-looking gardens – take the ten-minute stroll west from Monk Bar to Exhibition Square and Bootham Bar, the only gate on the site of a Roman gateway and marking the traditional northern entrance to the city. A stroll round the walls' entire two-and-a-half-mile length will also take you past the southwestern Micklegate Bar, long considered the most important of the gates since it marked the start of the road to London.