On your right, look for the two-story red brick building capped with a steeply pitched slate roof, standing out with its modern, pale stone entryway framing the glass doors.
This is the Tower Street drill hall, and its foundations are practically built on the grit of everyday citizens. Remember the World War One Pals battalion we talked about earlier? That same spirit of locals stepping up to defend their home has echoed through this exact spot for over a century. When this hall opened in 1885, it was swarming with local artillery volunteers learning how to haul and fire massive cannons.
Soon after, it became the home of the Yorkshire Hussars. They were a volunteer cavalry unit originally formed way back in 1794 to fend off potential French invasions. It must have been quite a spectacle on this street... ranks of proud cavalrymen on horseback, sabers rattling, hooves clattering against the cobblestones as they paraded outside these very doors. When the Second World War erupted in 1939, those same Hussars mobilized right here, eventually trading their horses for steel tanks to fight in the brutal desert battles of El Alamein.
That fierce adaptability is a cornerstone of the regiments headquartered here. Take the legendary fifteenth Regiment of Foot. In 1777, during the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Brandywine, they completely ran out of musket balls. Instead of retreating, they kept aggressively firing blank gunpowder volleys to create blinding smoke and deafening noise, bluffing the enemy into thinking they were still fully armed. That desperate, brilliant gamble worked, earning them the nickname The Snappers.
Today, all that phenomenal history is preserved inside the York Army Museum. You can check your screen to see a photo of this building from 2014, before a major redevelopment modernized that grand entrance you see now. Inside, you can find deeply moving relics of war, from the oldest surviving British cavalry standard... which is a large ceremonial flag carried into battle in 1743... to a mechanical arm used by an amputee soldier from the First World War, a stark reminder of the heavy human cost of these conflicts.
If you want to explore the exhibits, the museum is open Monday through Saturday from ten in the morning to five in the evening, but closed on Sundays.
Now, we march on to our final destination, just a three minute walk away. We are heading to York Castle, where centuries of fortified history culminate in stories of ultimate defense and heartbreaking tragedy. Let us go.
