Views of York: Unfamiliar slant on a well-known landmark (From York Press)
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Views of York: Unfamiliar slant on a well-known landmark
9:29am Tuesday 31st July 2012 in History articles By Stephen Lewis
Views of York 16: Inside Walmgate Bar, c 1840, by John Harper, a Watercolour, reproduced courtesy of York Museums Trust (York Art Gallery).
This is a view of Walmgate Bar that is both instantly familiar, and yet unsettlingly different.
John Harper painted the bar – as seen from inside the city walls – just before it was restored and the surrounding buildings given a facelift, hence its ramshackle appearance.
“The inner façade with its two-storey extension sits on stone Doric columns,” writes Peter Brown in his catalogue to the Views of York exhibition at Fairfax House, where this painting is on loan from York Art Gallery.
“It had a wooden balustrade which was replaced in the 1840s… Houses also stood close by. The cottage on the left… with its shaped gable in English Vernacular style was the residence of the watchman, whilst the remains of a brick and stone enclosure on the right of the bar was not removed until around 1880.”
• The Views of York exhibition runs at Fairfax House until August 31. To find out more, visit the York Civic Trust website, yorkcivictrust.co.uk
