York Cat Trail

Free Fun In York... The Fabulous York Cat Trail

The York Cat Trail provides both visitors and locals, young and old with the opportunity to find and photo the numerous statues of cats which are on York's old buildings.

These were put there to frighten away rats and mice. The statues were also thought to ward off wandering evil spirits and to bestow good luck and good health on people. The older statues are thought to date back to the Victorian Era whilst those removed or rotted are believed to have origins in medieval times, when a rat may have helped carry the bubonic plague.

If a Cat statue scared such vermin away then it was indeed your lucky day! Enjoy the trail... it's free!

You are warmly invited to download it from our website or you can pick it up from either Visit York Information Centre or the York Glass shop on the Shambles.

A fun challenge and looking for the Cats allows you to see more of the wonderful architecture and hidden corners of York than otherwise.