Fishergate Postern Tower will be open from 10am to 4pm on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October as part of the York Unlocked 2026 events.
Location = Fishergate Postern Tower, Piccadilly, York, North Yorkshire, YO1 9AF
FREE admission and no need to book.
On Saturday 3rd October – York Unlocked 2026, and Environmental Festival – which this year has the theme of “Future Generations”. We are holding an event called ‘Future Eco Warriors Seed the Rampart of York City Walls’ which involves young people sowing pollinator-friendly wildflower seeds.
On Sunday 4th October – York Unlocked 2026
See inside this watch-tower on York’s City Walls. Rarely open to the public, our volunteers are on hand to show off the spiral staircase, Tudor toilet and timber roof. Find out about the history of the Walls and look out for any approaching invaders!
The Tower was built around 1505 where the City Walls ended on the banks of a swollen river Foss, with York Castle on the opposite bank. The narrow, 500 year old stairs twist to the right as you go up, making it difficult for a right-handed attacker to use a sword (or any weapon) as effectively as a defender facing him from above. The stairs take you up to the first floor room, which has a small twisted corridor off it leading to the garderobe, for human waste to drop straight into the river. The Foss had been made very broad by the building of a dam in the time of William the Conqueror, which raised the level of the river so it flooded the land between the Tower and the Castle, where the modern road called Piccadilly is.
You can see the modern lie of the land if you continue up the spiral staircase to the top floor (look out for masons’ marks on your way) and look through the windows, which were the open embrasures of battlements for the first few years of the Tower’s life. The roof beams may be older than the Tower itself: the roof was added in the late 1500s, using second hand timbers that carry obvious signs of their earlier uses. There is evidence that the then newly enclosed upper floor was at some point used as a dovecote
These two days are part of the Friends of York Walls – Fishergate Postern Tower 2026 Open Days. See details HERE
Go to the “York Unlocxked 2026” website HERE
Get the official “York Unlocked 2026” details and program PDF document HERE
Posted 30th Sept 2026 AF
