Front cover of the official guide: City and County of the City of York (1961). Illustration by Kenneth Steel.

I’ve recently been perusing an interesting guide to York, bought as part of a small pile of publications from the Barbican Bookshop, in its closing down sale, some years back. As previously mentioned, I found the ‘local interest’ shelves pretty much cleared, but a few little treasures were found. (See ‘related posts’, below, for several of them.)

I’ve wanted to mention this particular guidebook, and feature a few scans of its pages, for some time.

Much of it is the familiar tourist-focused information on the Minster and other famous buildings. But alongside that are many pages illustrating York as it was for people living in the city, the places where residents worked and shopped.

My particular copy was once the property of Moorlands Hotel in Whitby, the stamp in the front suggests. I wonder how and when it ended up tucked away in a corner of a secondhand bookshop in York.

The booklet was published ‘by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of the City of York’.

Title page of the 1961 York guide

For me, looking at this title page of the booklet, the inclusion of the ‘Citizens’ — and the fact that the word is capitalised — really stands out. Do we use the word ‘citizens’ as often now? Probably not, and perhaps not with this amount of civic pride.

The guide, in its introductory ‘Welcome to York’ page, ends with:

‘This book is not intended for the delectation of visitors only, but also for the men, women and children who dwell within the boundaries of our City.  The citizens of York are proud of their City, and York is proud of its citizens.  No matter where they may roam, those who have lived within the sound of the Minster bells, and have trodden its old streets, never forget the City of their birth or adoption, and for them this book may perhaps bring back happy memories.’

It’s perhaps even more likely to provoke memories now it’s 57 years old, and it certainly gives an insight into the city as it was at the start of the 1960s.

After many pages of the kind of information you’d expect to find in a guide for visitors — the history of the city, and its well-known historic buildings — the subject of page 69 is the University of York, not built at that point, but clearly seen as an exciting and important thing for the city, after government approval in 1960.

‘The university will be built at Heslington, less than a mile from the city walls, on a site of nearly 200 acres which includes Heslington Hall and its grounds.’

This is followed by a page on the city’s library and information service, and several pages on the history and uses of the Ouse, then brief information on the strays (mainly the Knavesmire), and the city’s parks and open spaces. There’s then, rather surprisingly, a ‘French Section’, which is actually just the one page. My French is quite poor but this part stood out:

From the French section of the 1961 guide to York

Ah yes, the wagons de chemin de fer, the chocolat and the instruments optiques. It sounds even more impressive in French.

The reason this is in the French summary section is because this official guide, in 1961, devoted a whole four pages to ‘Commerce and Industry’ (pages 88-91). Featuring, as you might expect, Rowntree and Co Ltd, followed by Joseph Terry and Sons Ltd. But then a reminder that the city’s workforce in the factories didn’t just make chocolate, with a page on the York Carriage and Wagon Works (aka the carriageworks), followed by a page on Cooke, Troughton and Simms Ltd. (Cooke’s factory was at the Haxby Road site where the new mental health facility is to be built.)

The advertisements towards the back of the guide remind us too of other places where many York citizens worked, back then.

Examples of Adams Hydraulics ironwork can of course be seen all over York, if you’re paying attention to ground level ironwork (and perhaps in particular, as a 21st century citizen, if you’ve had concerns about silted-up street drains).

Adams Hydraulics, advert from the 1961 guide

Big buildings advertised by Shepherd’s, including one for the University of Leeds which seems to be still in use (see Google Street View), though it seems less likely that the ‘Boiler House for 52 acre factory’ will have survived. (A quick Google suggests that the building was apparently still standing in 2010.)

Shepherd, advert from the 1961 guide

And then Shepherd Homes, building family housing out in the expanding suburbs:

Shepherd Homes, advert from the 1961 guide

From where the citizens of York might have worked and lived, to where they shopped:

Hunter and Smallpage, Goodramgate, advert from the 1961 guide

Hunter and Smallpage’s advert inside the back cover of the guidebook highlights that the shop had ‘6 floor showrooms’ and its own private car park, which must have been where Café Luca is now.

I remember the name Hunter and Smallpage, but don’t remember a store called Harts. But Harts also advertised in the 1961 guide, with a map showing the locations of various landmarks, including their shop:

1961 York guide: advert for Harts store

Interesting that the map includes mention of the telephone exchange, which of course at that time would have been a fairly new building, and was clearly seen as a landmark worthy of mention. And in the bottom corner of this page, the last page of the guide, mention of the printer of this official guide to York, in 1961. Printed locally, of course, at Ben Johnson’s, as so many things were, back then.

When I first thought about including this 1961 guide I thought it would be a case of just scanning some of the pages and adding them without too much comment, perhaps no comment at all. But it always ends up being more complicated than that, and several hours on from when I started this ‘quick page’ I find I’ve still not finished, as looking carefully always prompts more questions, and usually more Googling. So I just have to mention the cover illustrations of this lovely guidebook, and the fact that when scanning it I paid more attention to the signature, Kenneth Steel, apparently. The back cover illustration is particularly pleasing.

1961 York guide, back cover. Illustration by Kenneth Steel.

Footnote

… Gentle nostalgia, sometimes … getting to grips with important current things sometimes … hundreds of pages of all kinds of things here on this citizen’s record of York and its changes. And all without annoying adverts or pop-ups nagging you to join my mailing list (though you can do that on this link if you’d like to), and all proper ‘authentic’, independent, and apparently unique. Looking after this online resource I’ve built up over the years also involves paying website hosting fees every month. If you’d like to say thanks for this online resource, virtual coffees are always appreciated. I continue to add to these pages what I can, when I can. Thanks for your interest and support,
Lisa

The post York in 1961 appeared first on York Stories.

A piece inspired by the My Future York project. An imaginary walk/cycle ride through York in 2026 … a utopian vision of how I’d like my side of town to be.

. . . . .

On Burton Stone Lane there’s an entrance to the football and rugby ground, on what used to be the MoD land of Lumley Barracks. The plans for a new ‘community stadium’ at Monks Cross were eventually abandoned after growing ludicrously bloated and unworkable, and a way was found to keep the football club at Bootham Crescent. The MoD land became available, and in a sudden surprise move the massively profitable housebuilder Persimmon decided to be philanthropic in the city where its business had begun, and instead of building houses on the Bootham Crescent ground, as had been the plan, it bought the whole site, and the MoD land, and donated it to the people of the city.

The new stadium has the necessary upgrade in facilities, and is also used by the rugby club. It’s still in the heart of the community, in the same place now for almost 100 years. Both York City FC and York City Knights are now doing well, with larger attendances.

Bootham Park hospital has reopened, and the forbidding ‘no unauthorised persons’ signs around the site have been removed. The double gates to Bridge Lane have been repaired and are now open, allowing cyclists to access the site more easily without the danger of colliding with pedestrians. The former ‘gala field’ is used for community events and the green space is better appreciated and cared for.

The journey from this part of York to the station has been made much easier since the construction of a new more accessible bridge alongside the old Scarborough Bridge, on the Clifton side. It curves across the river, set higher than the riverside paths so that it’s still accessible in times of flood. The floods are less dramatic these days, as there has been more work upstream to manage the flow before it reaches York.

The new curvy bridge over the river takes us into York Central. It’s possible to walk or cycle right through the middle of this area, to reach Holgate Road and Water End. It’s still a work in progress, but parts of it have been built. The tallest buildings, a mix of offices and residential blocks, are carefully sited so as not to block light from the rest of the site. Here, open parkland areas have been created and planted with trees – proper woodland trees like beech, oak and horse chestnut.

A strip of land planted with meadow flowers has extended from the original wildflower meadow around the Holgate arch right along the edge of the site, a river of flowers leading to the carriageworks canteen building.

The canteen was saved and has a new use as a community centre and business start-up space. On its walls are massive images of the carriageworks site in the past, and its workers, including those iconic images of all the bikes streaming out into the Holgate Road traffic. A ‘borrow a bike’ scheme based here pays homage to that memory. Outside and through the wildflower areas are information boards giving a history of the site and what was built here, with a plan of where all the rail workshops were when the site was at its peak. The ‘pride’ we talked about so much in the mid-1990s when the carriageworks closed has eventually been revived, thirty years later, through a thoughtful reuse of the site and its surviving buildings.

The new and old sit more happily together now. There’s not that conflict there used to be between those who want ‘progress’ and those who used to be labelled ‘the heritage brigade’. More people have come to have a wider and deeper appreciation of this city’s heritage and also of their own, and how the two fit together, and there’s a recognition that intelligent development (‘progress’) means working with what’s there, building on that.

Alongside the excitement of all things new and innovative there’s a growing recognition of the fact that it’s fairly easy to start things but much harder to keep them going, how much work and commitment it takes. A while back it was all about innovators and innovating. Now the focus is on maintainers, maintaining. In line with that, a new shopping area behind the station on the York Central development has been massively popular, featuring only those businesses with an established local presence dating from the 1980s or earlier. Many businesses ended up moving out of the walled city, as bars and restaurants moved in. York Central has its own fairly new ‘high street’, with a branch of Barnitts in the middle of it.

Heading back towards the city centre we pass the retained and improved Railway Institute buildings near the station, and pedestrians and those on two wheels can pass through the quiet arches under Queen Street bridge, taking the line the trains used to take, in the mid-19^th century, right up to West Offices, the station at that time.

At West Offices there’s a drop-in centre where residents can get details of planning applications and comment on them or discuss them with other residents and local councillors. The old ‘us and them’ attitude has gone, after more residents began to engage with the planning process and put pressure on the authorities to make changes in the way plans were presented. An improved online system has meant greater participation and understanding, and the Residents Planning Centre here at West Offices is usually lively and buzzing, with a good atmosphere, and occasional laughter even.

Leaving West Offices we can then walk along the city walls. Though many changes were proposed to the moats and mounds around the walls most of these weren’t put in place as residents campaigned to preserve the existing views. These have been enhanced by further planting of wildflowers right around the walls. The buzzing of bees can be heard as we pause to admire the view towards the Minster, which looks much the same as it did ten years ago, and a century ago.

Over the other side of Lendal Bridge the library and city archives continue to provide a valuable and well-used service.

If we walk past there, out of the city centre, up Gillygate and Clarence Street and onto Haxby Road, we find that an offshoot of the library and archives has recently opened in the newly refurbished Joseph Rowntree Memorial Library, alongside the Nestle South development. Lights are on in the old Rowntree factory building. People are living in there now.

Behind it there’s a new cycle track heading off towards Bootham Stray, which is still open land there for us, as it always was. Or we can cross the road and go past the allotments, towards Clifton Backies, then onto Kingsway, where the green space between the houses is also full of flowers, and bees buzzing. There are benches made by local residents, which are never vandalised, and there’s no litter on the ground, here or anywhere.

. . . . .

The post My perfect York, 2026 appeared first on York Stories.

Demolition of Burnholme Club

In January, demolition work began on this ‘fantasy villa’, aka Burnholme Club. We already knew this was going to happen, but I was still really shocked to see this photo.

Demolition of former Burnholme Social Club begins http://t.co/qaPn1CJece pic.twitter.com/oEk3XER4Jj

— The Press (@yorkpress) January 28, 2015

Looks wrong, doesn’t it. Like something from the 1960s.

Over the course of the last decade or so I’ve seen other buildings demolished, and some buildings saved and remodelled for new uses. It’s always nice to see buildings reused, and generally in the 21st century it seems we try hard to do that, where possible. So what went wrong here?

This landmark building, confident and handsome, with prettier details, could have been a desirable residence, if turned into flats.

Not economically viable, apparently. But still really very shocking to see it destroyed in this way. Really is like going back to the 1960s, and not in a good way.

See earlier pages on Burnholme Club for more background information.

Reynard’s garage/former Airspeed factory

This is really interesting. I’ve been banging on about this building for years, and I know I’m not the only one, and that many other people find it of interest and think that it should be preserved. The council, who own it, had apparently sold it, which, the available information suggested, meant it would be demolished and a hotel built on the site.

But no … I was rather pleased to read in the Press recently that all that had fallen through/been abandoned.

Why? Could it be that those with the power to affect such things realised it doesn’t look good demolishing interesting buildings, local heritage assets?

Perhaps there was some shame and embarrassment that the demolition of the Burnholme Club building was waved through with so little fight to save it.

Perhaps the new leader of the council read Nevil Shute’s autobiography Slide Rule and realised that this building is really very interesting and worth preserving.

Who knows. But there are now ‘new plans being drawn up’, according to the Press.

Do these involve the Yorkshire Air Museum? That would make sense.

Interest in 20th century history and industrial heritage is growing all the time. As is our awareness of place and local heritage. And the Yorkshire Air Museum wants to create a visitor attraction in the Reynard’s/Airspeed building, based in a particular place where at a particular point in the 20th century a particularly interesting venture got off the ground.

It’s kind of obvious what should happen, isn’t it.

Or if not that, how about today’s young entrepreneurs occupying it, instead of the Guildhall buildings, as that idea doesn’t appear to have massive popular support?

Background: all pages on this site on the Airspeed/Reynard’s building

Former White Swan Hotel, Piccadilly: looking good

Ah, the White Swan. I’ve never been inside the place, but feel as if I have, having read so much about it, written so much about it, over so many years.

I had a wander past a month or so ago, and it was quite remarkable, the transformation.

I love to see what people who know what they’re doing can do with old buildings seen as ‘eyesores’. This building, because of its prettiness and its copying of older styles, was seen as something worth preserving and renovating, despite its shabby appearance from decades of emptiness. It’s so good to see it rescued from its sad and useless boarded-up state, after so long.

See earlier pages on the White Swan, Piccadilly for more background.

Meanwhile, over in Holgate …

Perhaps the rather less pretty but particularly interesting Reynard’s/Airspeed building will also be rescued and remodelled for a new use after years of dereliction. And meanwhile, over in Holgate, I’m hoping that this significant reminder of our industrial and cultural heritage hasn’t yet gone the way of the Burnholme Club building, but I guess it won’t be long before we see photos of it being smashed to bits.

Carriageworks canteen, Holgate Rd, 27 July 2014

Not widely appreciated, generally forgotten, but the character area statement for this area — part of the Historic Environment Characterisation Project — recognises the significance of this former canteen, once part of the entrance to a busy workplace, and an important part of York’s story for many York residents:

The carriage works still function for the repair and maintenance of railway equipment and represent a significant survival of railway structures. The canteen buildings (1888) at these works have been nominated for inclusion on the Local List of Heritage Assets as the last remaining social building in the carriage works complex. Some buildings have unfortunately been recently demolished by Network Rail for health and safety reasons.

… Those buildings that have been recommended for inclusion on the Local List of Heritage Assets add significant value to the character of this area. The majority are intimately connected with the railway. Every effort should be made to ensure that these buildings are retained and kept in productive use. Their loss or inappropriate alteration would have significant impacts on the character of this area. Remaining historic railway and industrial structures should wherever possible be retained and sympathetically converted to practical uses. Many could be successfully integrated into modern development.

Source: PDF download from this page on the council website

Will York ever find a way to respect and preserve this building, as it found a way to preserve the White Swan on Piccadilly and may yet find a way into the future for the Airspeed factory? It is 2015 after all, it’s not the 1960s, we’re wiser now about ‘heritage’ in all its forms.

For more on the meaning and significance of the carriageworks canteen, see the other pages on this website.

The post ‘Local List’ buildings: progress report appeared first on York Stories.

Carriageworks canteen, December 2011

Back in June I asked for memories, thoughts provoked by this building. It is, as many of you knew, the old carriageworks canteen. It was part of a group of buildings at the entrance.

These responses were brilliant, thank you.

Thoughts follow underneath your words.

I asked: ‘If you recognise this building, I’m interested in what it means to you. If it has any meaning, if it reminds you of anything, if it stands for anything, symbolises anything to you.’

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Here’s the building recently, as it looks this summer —

Carriageworks canteen, Holgate Rd, 27 July 2014

The place might look forgotten, but the comments above show that it isn’t, and that it has other meanings too, even to people who perhaps don’t remember it as I do, and as many of you do, in the 70s, 80s, earlier, when it was part of the entrance to a thriving and busy place.

It isn’t just about our memories. I thought that perhaps everyone who answered would be like me, remembering. There are other messages in the above, more general thoughts about York’s industrial heritage and our attitudes to it, and I hope that the comments above are read by those who get to decide on what gets demolished in this city and what’s considered to have value, to be worth retaining.

This building, these comments suggest, is recognised as the aesthetically pleasing building it is (‘I love the brickwork’), and as having a bigger significance, as symbolising something we’re losing.

I was also struck by, and cheered up by, the comment which mentions a memory of place being passed on: ‘My parents told me about the area and hundreds of men sat on the wall by the Fox Inn, all from the carriage works’.

I happen to know some of those men from the carriage works. And I remember the carriageworks, and that entrance, that canteen, from when I passed it, thousands of times, over the years, on my way to school. I remember it closing, I remember visiting it in the mid 1990s before it closed. I have photos, press cuttings, and audio recordings from May 1995, and will be putting some of those things on these pages. Because it’s important, and it’s not being recorded enough, and leaving it in our memories or just chatting about it isn’t enough.

Thank you to everyone who remembered, or was interested and cared even if you weren’t there to have known it personally as an important place. Thanks for recognising that it was.

This building has no protection at all, which seems odd for a place which clearly has local meaning and value on many levels. There should be full consultation on what happens to it.

. . . . . . . .

This is one of several pages planned under the carriageworks category. It was sponsored by a reader. Thank you.

The post One building … carriageworks canteen, thoughts appeared first on York Stories.

Carriageworks canteen, Holgate Rd, 27 July 2004

Back in June, in a short survey, I asked if readers recognised this building. It’s pictured here as it looked 10 years ago, July 2004.

It was really nice to see your answers coming in. It had looked as if the place had been forgotten. But you, dear readers, you haven’t forgotten it.

27 people answered the survey, and 17 of you knew what the building used to be. Thanks to everyone who answered, everyone who remembered.

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ABB entrance, 1995. Photo: Phil Singleton

Almost 20 years after it happened, a reminder of what the closure of York’s carriageworks meant. Below is a selection of snippets, news reports, reaction and background, recorded from the radio in May 1995 when the closure was announced. Many voices. Please do have a listen, particularly if you don’t know about this important aspect of York’s history. If you haven’t time to listen to them all (though all are quite short), maybe listen to the first and the last.

The carriageworks is what most of us called it, but by the time of its closure it was known as ABB. And by the time of its closure it was a modern and efficient factory. Or as the first clip states:

‘ABB’s Holgate Road factory is the biggest train builder in Britain and one of the most modern in the world’.

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