This is how York’s next family attraction could look – a mini-golf course which takes you on a fun journey through they city’s history.

YorkMix revealed in August 2020 that plans were being drawn up to create the course on Library Lawn, next to York Explore.

Now York Mini Golf Limited, which was first set up in 2016, has unveiled detailed proposals for the attraction.

The course would be bounded by the library building, the ruins of St Leonard’s Hospital, the Roman wall and the Multangular Tower.

York Mini Golf are seeking permission to install the golf course for seven years.

“Twelve holes are proposed, each with its own historic reference and focus,” the company says in planning documents.

“It represents a low key and low impact use, which will bring people into a richly historic part of York, which is often ignored and unappreciated by visitors to the city.

“Each hole will have an information board which will give details of that time period in York and will signpost to related things to do and see.

“Almost all of the information boards have a ‘What was here?’ section, providing direct interpretation of the Library Lawn site.”

The 12 holes

Hole 1	Roman York
Hole 2	Anglian York
Hole 3	Viking York
Hole 4	Norman York
Hole 5	St. Leonard’s Hospital
Hole 6	Bar Walls
Hole 7	York Minster
Hole 8	Shambles
Hole 9	Siege of York
Hole 10	Georgian York
Hole 11	Victorian York
Hole 12	Chocolate York

During the summer the site is expected to open at 10am and close at 8pm. In spring and autumn, the hours will change to 10am-6pm closing, while in winter time it will be 10am-3pm.

The attraction will create one full time job, and a number of part-time seasonal jobs.

Part of the room in St Leonard’s undercroft will be used as a ticket office and place where players can collect and return their clubs.

The course, which will be wheelchair accessible, will require digging down no further than 30cm. When the temporary permission expires, the lawn will be reinstated and “the costs for this have been estimated and funds will be set aside to allow this to happen”.

York Mini Golf sought the opinions of City of York Council planning officers prior to submitting a planning application, given the historic sensitivity of the site.

Their initial assessment was “Whilst the mini-golf is an imaginative commercial project, the proposed location is so sensitive and historically significant, the harm to the character of the area, and quiet and formal setting of the monuments, would result in the scheme being entirely incongruous and inappropriate for this location.”

But neither the City Archaeologist nor the Bar Walls Manager have any objections to the course as seen in these images. “The City Archaeologist considers the scheme as having positives for raising awareness of the heritage assets in the area and discouraging some of the anti-social behaviour in the hospital ruins,” documents state.

The officers have now concluded that the harm caused was ‘less than substantial’, planning documents say.

Similarly, Historic England said the plans would do no harm, adding: “The proposal brings a new use to a slightly forlorn and neglected space and the chance to interpret York’s history to a different audience and this change could help repopulate and enliven this area and corner of York.”

An archaeological assessment of the site and the plans has also been commissioned. You can read this and the rest of the planning documents here.