position was reversed: the Scots had penetrated into England as far as York, and after gaining much booty retreated. The Archbishop and the Mayor hastily gathered an undisciplined army, which passed through the Bar and overtook the Scots at Myton. This time the city forces were completely routed, the Mayor and many of the clergy who had joined were slain.
In later times a Scot was obliged to announce his arrival at the Bar by using the rapper, and if he entered the city without the permission of the warder or Lord Mayor, he was liable to arrest and imprisonment. This Bar retains its portcullis or drop-gate in its entirety, the pointed ends of which and the wicket are seen within the archway. The upper part of the portcullis is to be seen in the chamber above.
Monk Bar, the entrance to the city from Scarborough, was built in the reign of Edward III. It is the most complete and imposing of the Bars, and, although shorn of its barbican, it remains the finest example of an English city gatehouse. Over the archway are crosslets to two stories which are enclosed by a pointed arch springing from the base of the turrets and supporting an embattled balcony, access to which is obtained from either turret. The balcony is adorned with the shield of Edward III, and on each spandril is a shield bearing the arms of the city of York. The gateway is vaulted and above are two stories of vaulted chambers, in the upper of which is the horizontal windlass for raising or lowering the portcullis. This is the only bar that retains its original city front, which has, however, been slightly modified by the insertion of mullioned windows. The first floor over the gateway is contained within an arched recess. A doorway leads to a narrow platform, from which the constable could announce to the citizens important news from the northern world outside or the herald could thence read proclamations. Through this Bar passed King Charles I attended by his knights and soldiers and a great concourse to a meeting on Heworth Moor. The meeting was called by the King, whose disputes with his Parliament had reached a crisis. The King, in his overconfidence, rejected the petition presented to him by Parliament and the Civil War broke out.
Walmgate Bar is the entrance to the city from Hull. It retains its barbican, portcullis, and its inner oak gates including the wicket. Henry V with Queen Katherine passed through this Bar on their way to visit the shrine of St. John of Beverley, and in honour of the event the arms of the King are emblazoned on the Bar. Later, when Edward IV had been temporarily deposed in favour of Henry VI, he, after a sojourn on the Continent, returned to England and landed at Ravenspurn, a site now submerged, and, gathering a force around him, marched to York, only to find the gates of Walmgate Bar closed against him.
“What then remains, we being thus arrived
From Ravenspurn haven before the gates of York
But that we enter, as into our dukedom.”
He demanded to be admitted as Duke of York, and on acknowledging Henry of Lancaster as king, he and his followers were permitted to enter. This scene is described in the play of Henry VI, Part III, Act IV, Scene VII. Henry VIII with Queen Catherine Howard on their visit to York entered the city by this Bar.
The city front is in striking contrast to the exterior elevation and consists of a timber and plaster dwelling built in front of the Bar on columns, and apparently erected in the time of Queen Elizabeth. The Bar suffered severely during the siege of York, owing to its proximity to Garrow Hill, which was secured by the Parliamentarians during the great Civil War for their batteries, which kept up a destructive fire on the Bar. The barbican was repaired four years after the surrender of the city, for over the arch is a shield with the city arms and the date 1648.
Fishergate Bar was the entrance to the city from Selby, and the walls from this Bar to Fishergate Tower commanded the narrow approach to the castle. The Bar consists of a round arch between two wide buttresses, each with passage through. Adjoining the eastern buttress was a rectangular guardroom. The arch is of two orders, continued to the ground with rounded groove for a portcullis. Over the arch is a panel containing the city arms and an inscription. An insurrection broke out in 1489 amongst the peasantry in Yorkshire. At Topcliffe the rebels murdered the Earl of Northumberland and then invested York, burning the gates of Fishergate Bar. The rebels were eventually defeated and one of the leaders beheaded at York. Fishergate Tower is provided with a garderobe, and when built adjoined a wide water area. Adjoining, on the land side, was a postern under a pointed archway, which has the jambs grooved evidently to accommodate a portcullis.
York Castle was constructed originally by William the Conqueror, who built between the two rivers a mound, and set on it a wooden watch-tower, surrounded with a bailey-court. In order to keep the castle and other ditches full of water, the Normans placed a dam across the River Foss, which was thus considerably widened, and formed into an efficient defence where it adjoined the city.