Gathering Place: Clifford’s Tower and the Eye of York Area

A place to gather: for events, to protest, to spend time

A gathering of layers of history: making sense of castles, elections, prisons, courts and protests

A gathering of ideas: of what we want the area to be like in the future

Gathering Place is a strand of the My Castle Gateway project. Through a series of different events, conversations and art works in summer 2019, Gathering Place will explore the Clifford’s Tower, Castle and Eye of York area and what we want the area to be like when it is no longer defined by the Castle Car Park.

We’ll be building upon the original My Castle Gateway Open Brief and masterplan ideas and developing detailed proposals for how the spaces can provide for the different activities.

We’ll consider the challenges of creating spaces for everything from concerts, family play and picnics, protest and quiet contemplation.

We’ll be exploring:

  • Uses and activities: Understanding different uses and activities and how they might work with each other.
  • Enclosure and openness: Identifying how different types of spaces and landscapes enable different activities.
  • Day and night, and all year round: Considering how openness, materials and shelter need to be considered to make the spaces work all the time.
  • Movement and meaning: Seeking strong intersections between movement to and through the area and the interpretation of the area’s heritage.
  • Money, belonging and ownership: Looking at how much it will cost to make the new area, who might make money from it, how to think about ownership and belonging and how all of that can be related to a key point from the My Castle Gateway Open Brief, which was for the new area to be a part of York where you can ‘spend time without spending money’.

Our Launch Weekend is 6th and 7th July: Find out more and sign up for walks.

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