City Enhancement Projects – People’s Choice Award

Vote now for your most preferred project for York Civic Trust to commence work on to enhance our beautiful city of York. The voting option is at the foot of this page. There are 5 projects which we are currently considering, as detailed below:-

Acomb Green: Conservation and repairs to the War Memorial

The memorial was unveiled on 12 May 1922 and commemorates local men who lost their lives in the First World War. Subsequently, the names of those who died in World War Two were added on a stone in the shape of an open book.

The memorial has suffered from the ravages of the environment and damage. The stonework needs restoring to its former glory with minor stone repairs and replacement of some of the lead lettering. City of York Council have asked that the work be completed before Rememberance Day on 11 November 2018.

The memorial is a listed structure and conservation works are expected to cost around £12,000.

Monk Bar: Reinstatement of portcullis to working order

Monk Bar was constructed in around 1330 and is the strongest of the medieval gateways to the city. It was built as a self-contained fortress, an important part of which was the portcullis. It is thought that the portcullis was last lowered in the 1950s and the original windlass and ratchet still remain. York Civic Trust are working with the University of York to produce a feasibility study for reinstating the portcullis to working order. It may be that an electric hoist may be utilised to raise and lower the portcullis although being a scheduled historic monument, approval will be required from Historic England.

The cost for design and installation of the equipment along with interpretation boars is likely to be in the region of £40,000.

Monk Bar: Conservation of Ice House

The Ice House, which is situated in the ramparts close to Monk Bar, is one of York’s hidden gems. It was constructed in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century and may have belonged to the adjacent Bay Horse pub or the Croft family, who were wine merchants and lived nearby.

Originally the Ice House was covered by earth but has been exposed for many years. Exposure to the elements has resulted in the building, in particular the brickwork, to be in poor condition. Over two hundred bricks will need to be replaced along with all the lime mortar joints which will need to be pointed. The bricks will have to be made specially.

The approval of Historic England will be required before any works take place and the estimated cost of repairs is around £15,000.

Museum Street Water Fountain:

York Civic Trust would like to restore the drinking fountain in Museum Street to good working order. It is a Grade II listed structure dating from 1880 originally sited in Library Square, it’s been derelict for at least 30 years and we wish to restore it to working order, in particular to meet current Government initiatives. One of the lion head’s need replacing. Estimated cost £6,000.

Scarcroft School: Reinstatement of timber finial posts to bell tower

Scarcroft School was built in 1896 to the design of York architect Walter Brierley. A significant feature of the design was a clock tower which has timber finial posts designed to provide structural stability to the tower. The finial posts are in poor condition and some have been removed.

York Civic Trust would like to replace the finial posts on what is known as Brierley’s ‘masterpiece’ and this will be a complex undertaking. The structure is Grade II Listed and the works are estimated to cost around £20,000.

Vote now!

The vote closes as 5pm, 25th June 2018 and the project with the most votes will be announced that week.