York's Castle car park is to be turned into a new public space for the city's people. But what kind of space? A series of walks and talks this weekend will aim to find out what people think. STEPHEN LEWIS reports

BELIEVE it or not, the Castle car park hasn't always been a car park. Before 1935, on this very spot, there was a grim-walled Victorian prison. Its central hub stood right where the car park is now, next to Clifford's Tower. Prison blocks radiated out from it, and the whole thing (Clifford's Tower included) was surrounded by a forbidding wall that cut the castle compound off from the rest of the city.

There was even a 'last drop' here: a gallows on a specially constructed platform at the end of the old female prison (now the Castle Museum) where condemned criminals were executed.

Go back a bit further, to a time before the area was enclosed by prison walls in the late 1820s-1830s, and the Eye of York was one of the most important public spaces in the city: a place where public elections were held, hustings took place, and announcements were made. William Wilberforce, the great abolitionist, would have stood right here, raging against the iniquities of the slave trade.

This area of York, in fact, is just about the oldest and most historic part of the city. The castle was a Royalist stronghold in the civil war. In medieval times it was a major centre of administrative power - the castle walls extended all the way from what's now the Hilton Hotel to today's inner ring road, enclosing a huge bailey or courtyard which would have been filled with accommodation, people, storage and stabling. You can still see the remains of the bailey walls from the ring road - they form the south wall of the Castle Museum.

Clifford's Tower was the site of the infamous massacre of York's Jews in 1190 - and before that, the place where William the Conqueror placed his mail-clad foot upon the neck of the rebellious people of the north, building two castles - one here, and once across the Ouse at Baile Hill. Even the Romans recognised the importance of this place: they chose the tongue of land between the Foss and the Ouse to build jetties, wharves and warehouses.

York Press:

Clifford's Tower in the 1880s, when it was enclosed by the Victorian prison

But what is next for the Castle car park and the Eye of York? That's the question.

A council masterplan drawn up for the whole Castle Piccadilly area following major public consultations in 2017 envisages the car park being swept away and replaced by a public open space. There will be a new pedestrian footbridge across the Ouse leading to the site of the former Castle Mills car park on Piccadilly, which is to be turned into flats; a new footpath from the Eye of York along the banks of the Foss behind the Castle Museum: and a new pedestrian crossing over the inner ring road leading to a new multi-storey car park at St George's Field.

That car park will replace the parking spaces lost at the Castle car park: and it holds the key to the redevelopment of the whole area, says Andy Kerr of City of York Council's major projects team.

The new St George's Fields car park will be built partly using the commercial proceeds from the 110 new flats planned for the Castle Mills site. And once it is finished in Autumn 2021, it will mean the council can get rid of the cars next to Clifford's Tower, and concentrate on turning the area around the castle into a great new public space for York.

But what kind of public space?

That is exactly the question that a series of eight guided walks taking place this weekend - four on Saturday, four on Sunday - will seek to answer.

The walks will be led by Phil Bixby and Helen Graham of My Castle Gateway, who led the earlier 2017 consultation which fed into the design of the Castle Piccadilly masterplan.

As they walk around, they'll be asking people just what kind of public space they would like to see here.

There are all kinds of possibilities: green gardens with trees and picnic areas; a performance area (the pop-up Shakespeare's Rose which comes in the summer has already become an institution); a stage/ bandstand for open-air concerts; you name it.

Then there's the whole question of what do to with the banks of the River Foss. At the moment they are hidden away behind a tangle of trees and scrub. The sheer river bank, at least at the north end, is the remains of the old Victorian prison wall, says Phil Bixby, a York architect.

But can the river be opened up, and if so, how? And could the river itself be used, for canoeing or kayaking or boat trips, say?

York Press:

Could we open up the River Foss? asks Phil Bixby

The back of the Coppergate Centre is also a complete eyesore. Can a new building be wrapped around that - one that faces into the castle area, and that maybe includes cafés or public seating areas?

Finally, there is the whole question of how the council's redevelopment of the car park will fit in with the York Museums Trust's plans to improve the Castle Museum (see panel). Those plans include an extension to the north end of the old female prison building - ie the bit of the Castle Museum which extends northwards along the banks of the Foss to the car park.

There's a real grown-up conversation to be had about what kind of public space we want here - because there are real challenges, says Helen Graham, a Leeds University academic who lives in York. "Do we want a space for live events, theatre and music. Or do people just want a quiet place where they can hang out together without spending money?" And if people want, say, music here - do they want a space where bands can play to 2,000 people, or somewhere where buskers can perform in front of just a handful?

Many people have said they'd like to see grass and trees here, adds Phil Bixby. "But then how do we best make use of the space in winter, or when it is wet and raining? Do we have a covered area?"

Whatever we end up with, it also has to respect the history of the site, says Helen. There has been so much that has happened on this site - from the massacre of the Jews to public executions. People were imprisoned here; and brought here before being transported to the colonies. "So we also need to remember," she says. "There's a great opportunity for reflection."

  • If you want to take part in the conversation about the future of the Castle car park, why not join one of the eight 'walkabouts' this weekend? Walks leave from the Castle Museum entrance at 10am, 11.30am, 1pm and 3pm on both Saturday and Sunday - the 1pm walks will be accessible to those in wheelchairs. As you walk around, Helen and Phil will encourage you to share your ideas and get involved in the discussion. The feedback will be used to help refine plans for the area. To book a place, or find out more, visit mycastlegateway.org

IMPROVEMENTS TO THE CASTLE MUSEUM

York Museums Trust has its own plans to improve the Castle Museum, which are running parallel to the council's masperplan for the whole Catsle Piccadilly area.

  • The Museums Trust's vision includes:
  • A new building at the north end of the Female Prison next to the car park
  • An emphasis on properly telling the history of York Castle and the Eye of York. This area, the Trust says, 'has been a significant site since at least Roman times'.
  • A renewed emphasis on crime and punishment, social justice and democracy from the time when the museum buildings were a prison. Proposals include telling the stories of the 'lives of the famous and the faceless; those for whom the site was a place of law and incarceration, home or final resting place'
  • A new temporary exhibition space
  • A new riverside walk, connecting Tower Street with the planned new public space in the Castle car park area. 'This will include walking through the recently developed Castle gardens and by Raindale watermill,' a Trust spokesman said.