They were designed in a gardenesque style by landscape architect Sir John Murray Naysmith, and contain a variety of species of plants, trees and birds.

The gardens, which were given to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society by the British Royal Family in 1828, occupy part of the former grounds of St. Mary's Abbey.

There are four entrances to the gardens: on Marygate (off Bootham) by St Olave's Church, on Museum Street by Lendal Bridge, via a path at the side of King's Manor, and from the riverside walk next to the River Ouse.

The site slopes gently down towards the river and is made up of historical buildings and undulating lawns interspersed with plants and trees.

Henry Baines' daughter, Fanny, recalled 70 years later that in this period the menageries contained a bear, a golden eagle, and several monkeys, amongst other animals.

[11] In 1831, a bear from the menagerie got loose in the gardens and reportedly chased the Keeper of the Yorkshire Museum, John Phillips, and Reverend Harcourt into an outbuilding.

A 1970 report covering the period 1965–1969 listed the vertebrates resident in the gardens at that time: Common wood pigeon, Tawny owl, Blue tit, Eurasian Wren, Dunnock, European Robin, European greenfinch, Mistle thrush, Song thrush, Blackbird, and House sparrow, Common shrew, Wood mouse, and Brown rat.

[13] Until 2006 a family of peacocks had been in residence for at least 70 years,[14] though numbers had fluctuated since at least 2001 as birds occasionally escaped or were involved in traffic accidents on nearby Museum Street.

[17] In 2018 a leaf-mining fly, Phytomyza scotina, was discovered mining the leaves of sage plants in the gardens – it was subsequently described as a new species for Britain.

[18] There is a geological oddity close to the main gates, consisting of a large boulder of pink granite that was discovered during construction of the city's railway station.

[20][21] As well as being a popular recreational space for both residents and visitors, the gardens are the venue for special events such as open-air theatre and music performances.

During the 20th-century revival of the York Mystery Plays, performances were held on a fixed stage in the gardens among the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey.

[32] Exhibitions in this space have included: In the northeast of Museum Gardens there are remains of the west corner of the fortifications that surrounded the Roman fort of Eboracum.

The original defences, consisting of turf ramparts on a green wood foundation, were built by the Ninth Legion between 71 and 74 AD.

As late as the English Civil War they were being used to defend the city, and there is a hole in the wall along from the Multangular Tower that was made by a cannonball during this period.

The Roman parts of the wall and towers are constructed of regular rectangular limestone blocks with a band of red tile running through them.

[39] The later medieval additions can be identified by the use of much larger blocks of limestone that cut through the red tiles in places and by the cross shaped arrow slits on the Multangular Tower.

[41] Behind the Anglian Tower are a series of banks showing the level of the defences during the Roman, early Middle Ages, Norman, and late medieval periods.

The Benedictine Abbey's origins date back to 1086 when Alan Count of Brittany granted St Olave's Church and the adjoining land to the monk Stephen of Whitby, who became the first abbot of St. Mary's.

Part of the north and west walls that formed the nave and crossing, designed in Gothic style by architect Simon of Pabenham in the 13th century, remain standing.

[50] It was originally part of a group of buildings in the abbey grounds that included a brew-house, stables, mill and, near the main gate, a boarding school with 50 pupils.

The interior of the undercroft, accessible from the gardens, has a rib vaulted ceiling and houses a collection of Roman and medieval stonework.

[6] In 1999, the hospital and surrounding area in Museum Gardens was one of three sites in York to feature in a live edition of the British Channel 4 television show Time Team.

Between the Museum Street entrance to the gardens and the River Ouse is a short stretch of York's city walls, which ends at the medieval Lendal Tower.

Henry John Wilkinson reports as follows: "Mr. Hincks was lecturer on botany at the York School of Medicine, and the services he rendered to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society for over ten years deserve our grateful thanks.

He devoted his leisure time to convert the " waste land " into a botanical and ornamental* garden, and in this work he was ably assisted by the late sub-curator, Henry Baines.

[55] The Yorkshire Museum was designed by architect William Wilkins in a Greek Revival style and was officially opened in February 1830.

Fossils make up most of the collection numbering over 100,000 samples, and include important specimens from the Carboniferous, Mesozoic and Tertiary periods.

[58] The archaeology collection has close to a million objects that date from around 500,000 BC to the 20th century, including the Coppergate Helmet discovered in York in 1982, and the Ormside Bowl, an intricate example of an Anglian silversmith.

Dr Tempest Anderson, a York surgeon and vulcanologist, presented the hall to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society to replace its existing lecture theatre.