THOUSANDS of people enjoyed free events around the city this weekend, as part of the annual York Residents’ Festival.

Venues around the city opened their doors to the public for free, with activities at York Castle Museum, York Art Gallery, York Dungeon and the Yorkshire Museum.

The Guildhall also opened its doors, allowing residents the opportunity to see how the refurbishment and Mansion House restoration project was coming along, while a Big Garden Birdwatch took place in Museum Gardens, and examples of the museum’s taxidermy were also on display.

York Press:

A group about to be led into Common Hall Lane.

Lianne Brigham led guided tours of Common Hall Lane, the now subterranean alley below the Guildhall and Lendal Cellars, and said the interest shown by the public was hugely encouraging.

She said: “Over the weekend we’re expecting more than 250 people to join us. Everyone has absolutely loved the tours and had the chance to walk around and take photos and look at things they probably wouldn’t have known were there just by looking at the outside of the buildings.

"It shows how popular the Guildhall is rather than listening to certain people saying the public aren’t that interested. I’m pleased to see how many people have been along for the tour and it’s confirmed what we’ve said since October 2014 when we started doing these tours - if you let people know they can come and look round, it will be popular.”

Richard Pollitt gave talks on the refurbishment of the Mansion House.

He said: “Reaction has been really good, even though it’s freezing cold in the Guildhall.

“We’ve had lots of interest about the restoration of the Mansion House and in particular about the finds that have been coming out of the restoration process.”

Among the finds on show were pieces of broken bottle and beaker from a topping out ceremony, and the remains of a builder’s lunch - including 5p Golden Wonder crisp packet, pie casings, Terry’s and Cooplands bags, teabags and cigarette boxes which date back to the mid-1970s.

Mr Pollitt, who is curator of the Mansion House and project manager of the restoration, said the find was “a fantastic piece of social history”.