Walking through this section of York’s walls begins well and takes you into what could be described as “the real York”: residential, northern and industrial.

York's city walls south of Monk Bar

On your left as you emerge from Monk Bar you can see an igloo-shaped ice house, which would have served a relatively modern building (possibly what is now the Keystones pub would have been an old hotel).

After you’ve passed the Monk Bar Hotel, you’ll see three Listed buildings that have survived the creation of an ugly Sainsbury’s supermarket and multi-storey car-park.

The first building, which can only be viewed from the side on, is the old York County Hospital, York’s first purpose-built hospital. It was built in 1740 and was in service as a hospital until 1977. After that it was used as offices and was converted into apartments around 2000.

Hard by the City wall on your right-hand side you’ll see the Tudor beams of the Merchant Taylor’s Hall. The surrounding buildings in this area are mostly residential houses and flats dating from the 1980s. They were built in response to the 1968 Esher Report into town planning in York, which recommended that more homes be built within the city walls.

York's old medieval moat at Jewbury

The one-way street to your left has been known as Jewbury for centuries as in medieval times it was the site of York’s Jewish cemetery.

As you approach the end of this stretch of wall you can see a wide ditch on the outside of the wall. This would have formed a moat – an extra line of defence to repel invaders and – perhaps more importantly – stop merchants from smuggling goods into the city without paying the necessary toll.

Layerthorpe Postern, the tower at the end of this stretch of wall, was a gateway into the city built to enable the gatekeepers to extract this toll from traders coming into York. People entered the city across Layerthorpe Bridge. A bridge has spanned the River Foss here since at least 1309. The bridge was destroyed during the Civil War siege of 1644. The modern bridge dates from 1996.

York’s medieval city wall ended at this point. The Foss fed into an artificial lake known as the King’s Fishpool, which provided a natural defence against invaders. Visitors must descend from the wall at Layerthorpe Postern, cross the road and walk down Foss Islands Road, following the river, until they reach the Red Tower.

Read more about the walk between Layerthorpe and the Red Tower, or go back to Monk Bar.