YORK, WALMGATE BAR c. 1900

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This is the fourth of the Bars of York: Walmgate Bar. Given the nature of the local dialect that means the gate on Walm street. It is the most easterly gate in York and is the most interesting of the gates. Walmgate is thought to mean the street belonging to someone called Walba in ancient times.

The term 'gate' used in York street names like Walmgate, Coppergate, Stonegate and Skeldergate, derives from the Viking word 'gata' meaning street. The term should not be confused with the word gate meaning a gateway. The historic gateways to the city of York are called 'Bars'.

Most of Walmgate Bar, the most easterly gateway in York dates from the 14th century, but there are Elizabethan parts that date from 1580. Like Bootham Bar and Micklegate Bar, it still has Bartizans or little rounded towers on the top, but unlike the other bars has retained its extensive Barbican - outer walls extending beyond the outside of the gateway alongside the road itself, to give extra protection. A moat once passed beneath the barbican.

These two tinted post cards collected by the Millers in 1906 are part of the Frith Series of postcards. The two cards show the outside and the inside view of the Walmgate Bar. It is the only bar to retain its barbican, portcullis and inner doors.

The Bar's most notable feature is its barbican, which is the only one surviving on a town gate in England. The word comes from Latin 'barbecana', meaning the "outer fortification of a city or castle," from either the Arabic 'barbakh' or Persian 'bab-e-khaneh' "gate-house" and "towered gateway" or perhaps the medieval English "burgh-kenning".

A barbican is a fortified outpost or gateway, such as an outer defense to a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Usually barbicans were situated outside the main line of defences and connected to the city walls with a walled road called the neck. In the 15th century, with the improvement in siege tactics and artillery, barbicans lost their significance.

Walmgate Bar also retains its portcullis and 15th century oak doors. On the inner side, an Elizabethan house, supported by stone pillars, extends out over the gateway. The Bar has been repaired and restored many times over the years, most notably in 1648, following the 1644 Siege of York in the English Civil War when it was bombarded by cannon fire, and in 1840 after it had suffered years of neglect. It was also damaged in 1489 when, along with Fishergate Bar, it was burnt by rebels who were rioting over tax raises.