Visitors to York’s walls can now make donations to help fund their upkeep following the installation of ‘tap-to-donate’ points as part of a trail.
The contactless donation points, which allow visitors to donate £3, £5 or £10, have been installed inside the gatehouse at Bootham Bar.
City of York Council’s ancient monuments manager Liam Dennis said he hoped donations could help improve the experience for visitors and points could be installed elsewhere if the trial is successful.
It costs the council between £500K and £600K to maintain and conserve the walls every year.
Deputy council leader Cllr Pete Kilbane said the initiative could help cover the cost while keeping the walls free to access.
The installation of the donation points at a cost of around £10,000 follows approval of the trial in March.
The scheme, which takes inspiration from the contactless donation point outside York Minster, is set to be trialled for up to a year.
The points also feature a QR code which visitors can scan to donate an amount of their choice online.
It is hoped that if five per cent of the estimated 2.5 million visitors who walk the walls every year donate £5 that around £625,000 could be raised.
Cllr Kilbane told YorkMix: “As people are well aware, local government finances are under tremendous strain.
“It is our great privilege in York to be the custodians of this ancient monument that’s been here for at least 1,000 years, and we need to make sure it’s here for 1,000 years to come.
“What that means is we need to find innovative ways that we can try and raise the funds in as pain-free way as possible to help maintain these fabulous walls, and indeed improve them for the visitor experience.”
Cllr Kilbane would like more donation points if that’s possible. “I think the most obvious place to put a collection point is what I call ‘photo corner’, which is that genuinely iconic view of York looking down the walls across Lendal Bridge and to the Minster, where many people stop and take photographs.
“But of course, if you’re going to instal this kind of kit, you have to instal services and electric cables – and on an ancient monument that’s not very straightforward. So I think we’ll have to choose places that make sense and are appropriate without causing any damage.”
Mr Dennis said he hoped the donations could fund improvements such as interpretations and information boards for visitors.
“The donations could give us the opportunity to do interesting and innovative things, it would be great to do some heritage open days for instance,” he said.
“We chose Bootham Bar because it’s covered, but there’s power in most of these gatehouses and it would be straightforward to add other sites on the walls and elsewhere to the data contract we have for this.
“The spot on the walls by Station Rise would be ideal location for donation points, but it requires different technical infrastructure.”
