Flowery delights by St Helen’s church, 7 July 2018

It has been a while, hasn’t it. But I can’t let another month go by without an update to this long-running record of York and its changes, so thought I’d share some images and thoughts gathered over recent weeks, during a summer that has been surprisingly hot and sunny for weeks on end.

This summer saw the first Bloom! York festival, celebrating all things horticultural, with some fantastic displays of floral loveliness. After dashing across York on a very hot afternoon earlier this month I particularly appreciated the coolness of Holy Trinity church on Micklegate, enhanced by the relaxing greenery of trees.

‘A Congregation of Trees’ – Bloom York, Holy Trinity, Micklegate, 7 July 2018

A cool place for quiet contemplation, with trees in tubs and birdsong through the speakers. Beautiful.

I didn’t get to see much of Bloom York, but what I saw was cheering and uplifting. Like Etty looking pretty, in Exhibition Square, adorned with flowers.

Etty statue, Exhibition Square – Bloom York, 7 July 2018

A fountain of flowers around the plinth, even some on the palette he’s holding.

I’ve written about Etty and the fountain and Exhibition Square many times before. The square is often virtually deserted when I pass in the evenings, when the art gallery overlooking it is closed. Quite a contrast to see it on this sunny Saturday afternoon, and good to see so many people enjoying the square, and particularly its fountain.

Exhibition Square, Bloom York, 7 July 2018

A page I wrote some years back about this fountain included this quote from a York Civic Trust annual report, published many years ago:

‘It is a pleasing thing to see young children running round the square thrilling to the dancing water.’

As it was in 1971 so it is now, or at least on this particular sunny summer day in 2018.

The greenery and flowers really did bring a feeling of celebration to the fountain and the square. (On that particular day when I took the photo above there was a general feeling of celebration, as I emerged from the quiet of the library to streets where people were spilling out of pubs singing ‘football’s coming home’ …)

Not far away from Exhibition Square is Dean’s Park, where greenery and flowers can be enjoyed all year round. And, usually, it’s a nicely calm and quiet place. Not so quiet this summer though, as there’s a summer attraction occupying part of it.

Sol Ast, Dean’s Park, 14 July 2018

According to the York Minster website this new bar/restaurant is from the team behind Thor’s tipi bar, which I think is usually in Parliament Street at a different time of the year, (and, according to the York Minster website, it’s ‘legendary’).

I sat on the grass outside the Sol Ast enclosure and observed its ambience. Clearly lots of people having a good time. The music from it rather clashed with the joyful exuberance of an excellent group of buskers performing within earshot in front of St Michael le Belfrey nearby. All very lively. Though I didn’t seem to be in the city centre at the right time to see and be shocked by all the stags and hens and general debauchery that I keep reading about in the local media.

York is often these days described as ‘vibrant’, and seems particularly lively on summer weekends. I’ve not been feeling particularly vibrant, after a recent family bereavement and illness, and an earlier attempt to venture to the vibrancy of Piccadilly left me saying to my companion that it was all too vibrant for me and that I wanted to go home and sit in the garden.

Some time later I revisited a site I’ve been following with interest for some years now, where the Spark:York development is now open.

Spark:York, Piccadilly, 20 June 2018

It’s certainly striking, as you approach from the junction with Merchantgate.

What was perhaps the most interesting aspect was hearing the sound of voices, many voices, people chatting while sitting out in the sun on the first floor level above the street. So much activity, on a site where I can still remember the quiet dereliction and emptiness of the Reynard’s garage building.

The opening of Spark:York hasn’t been universally welcomed, it’s fair to say. Yes, I’m choosing my words carefully and going for understatement rather than stoking things up further, as here on these pages we like to weigh things up and try to see everyone’s point of view.

Of interest at present regarding the Spark:York site is a follow-up planning application, requesting the approval of the exterior, which isn’t quite as presented in the original planning application.

Spark:York, side view from Piccadilly, 20 June 2018

The shipping containers were supposed to be behind ‘soft timber cladding’, according to the earlier plans as approved. Instead there’s some graffiti art on the side. The Guildhall Planning Panel comments on the planning application note their disappointment that the result is ‘more edgy than originally proposed’.

It may seem like a minor point but it does raise wider questions, all too complicated to go into on this page. Personally I’d rather valuable resources went into other things, rather than essentially pointless cladding to cover up some paint. But anyway, it seems that the matter is to be discussed and decided by the planning committee in August.

To clad, or not to clad, that is the question …

Guess where we’re going next …

Rose Theatre, side view, 14 July 2018

Just a stone’s throw away, on the other side of the Foss, is the much-anticipated ‘Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’, here for the summer on part of the Castle car park. The side of the theatre structure looked a bit more shiny and modern than I was expecting, as I approached it from the riverside walkway by the Coppergate centre.

Is this some cladding which I see before me?

Rose Theatre, side view detail, 14 July 2018

Perhaps it could be donated to Spark:York when the theatre is taken down.

Inside here there’s what sounds like an impressive structure: ‘state-of-the-art scaffolding technology, corrugated iron and timber with the historic 13-sided design of a 16th century Shakespearean theatre’, says the website.

In my usual way, I’m doing the ‘observing from the outside for free’ thing. Here’s a photo of the entrance, which has heads on spikes and pigeons. The pigeons aren’t real ones. (And neither are the heads, obviously.)

Rose Theatre, entrance, 14 July 2018

Again, as on Piccadilly, what I noticed most was the noise, laughter and voices, happy people on a sunny afternoon. At Spark:York and at the Rose Theatre new structures had brought new life to these particular sites, in creative and interesting ways. Does it matter what the outside looks like? These things are only here for a while.

Whereas some structures have been here for centuries, loved and cherished. I’ll end this page with a familiar building I’ve written about many times in the past. It has known many many summers, and this summer it’s overlooking the Rose Theatre’s temporary site in the car park below.

Clifford’s Tower, 14 July 2018

Clifford’s Tower, with its grassy mound all brown and dry from the summer’s heatwave.

In recent months the controversial plan for a new visitor centre here at the foot of the steps has been abandoned, as I’m sure most readers know.

It will be interesting to see what new plans come to light for this area. It would be good if they could better represent the complex histories of this castle site, and how its buildings are linked, and how it has been shaped over the centuries.

. . . . .

So much happening in ‘vibrant’ York, and so much change and development, since I started this (my salad days, when I was green in judgement). Despite my recent rather long silence I’m still reading about many happenings — petitions and planning applications, demolitions and developments. It’s all very interesting and I’m sorry I’ve not had the time or the mental space to write much recently. I will do my best in terms of more regular content creation.

As I’m increasingly tired of social media and so many other online platforms (full of sound and fury), it feels more important than ever to preserve and continue this independent and carefully compiled online space of mine, even though it now means wading through more rules and virtual roadblocks (a sea of troubles), like trying to make an old site like this comply with GDPR regulations …

If you appreciate the perspectives on these pages, and enjoy this record of York and its changes then you can support it, and me, with virtual coffees via ko-fi.com, to power more pages, and help me with (the slings and arrows of) my bills …

Thank you.

The post Glorious summer, and this sun in York appeared first on York Stories.

Before we leave Exhibition Square and the art gallery and move on elsewhere, I wanted to share an interesting document found today by accident while looking for something else. I mentioned that I wasn’t sure what was happening regarding the fountain and the Etty statue in Exhibition Square, following the consultation last year and the repaving and bus shelter work already done.

I’ve now found the document detailing the responses to the consultation, in the form of a PDF document on the council’s website. It’s an interesting read, cheering in many ways, and amusing in parts.

Read it here (PDF)

It’s cheering because it demonstrates residents’ increased engagement with the built environment of the city and the council’s plans for it. When the consultation on the King’s Square proposals took place a few years back it had just under 200 responses. Which isn’t bad, I guess, but is a tiny fraction of the population of the city. Last year’s consultation, the report shows, had 651 responses. An impressive increase.

King’s Square, the changes in King’s Square, seem to have woken us up. The references to King’s Square and its ‘reinvigoration’ are so frequent in the comments, a thread running through the thoughts on the plans for remodeling another square.

The ‘SM’ is an abbreviation of ‘SurveyMonkey’ – the online service used in the consultation – denoting responses gathered via that route. For other abbreviations see the key in the PDF linked to above.

So many people were clearly alarmed/dismayed/angry at the attempts to turn King’s Square into a ‘world class space’.

Many expensive civic improvements seem not particularly successful in the longer term and therefore a waste of money. We have plenty of evidence of that in the recent demolition of the ‘Splash Palace’ toilet block and the debate about the non-working fountain on Parliament Street. The consultation responses demonstrate that many of the residents who responded were exasperated at the idea of spending yet more money on ‘public realm improvements’, as they’re often called.

There was supposed to be a follow-up on the Exhibition Square proposals but I can’t find any record of it being discussed at later meetings. The fact that the Etty statue has been cleaned and left where it is suggests perhaps that he is staying where he is, in response to the fact that the majority of those who took part in the consultation wanted that.

And a majority favoured keeping the existing fountain:

The report of the consultation responses was prepared for a meeting of the council Executive on 1 July 2014: details on this link (agenda item 15). The minutes are also available, as a PDF. In the meeting ‘the Cabinet Member referred to the positive feedback in respect of the reinvigorates schemes’.

Do have a look at the PDF of the responses to the consultation and judge for yourselves how much positive feedback there was. It’s a long document, but a quick scan will no doubt provide some amusement and interest.

Perhaps now we have a new administration at City of York Council we’ll be focusing on other things rather than making Exhibition Square and other public areas a ‘world-class space’, or like Bruges or Barcelona or whatever the vision was.

Let’s make it like York, perhaps. It already is, so that’s fab, we’ve saved some money.

And funnily enough we have a new organisation called ‘Make it York’. Who appear to be a bit like Reinvigorate York? Obviously they’ll be consulting fully on proposed changes to the streetscape. Well, I do hope so – I enjoy reading what fellow residents think.

Footnote

In my heroic efforts to provide you, dear readers, with empowering and enabling information on engagement and fountains and statue cleaning developments, I spend hours sitting at the computer getting aching shoulders from typing when I could be doing something else instead. If you’d like to support this work, say thank you, etc, please support this site. Thank you.

Exhibition Square, June 2007

The post Exhibition Square improvements: what we said appeared first on York Stories.

The disused fountain on Parliament Street, having for many years served as a useful seat and meeting point, is now serving another purpose, as a support for advertisements for a forthcoming event.

On a previous page, prompted by Press reports, we were wondering what the story was regarding the fountain in Parliament Street and who ‘Make it York’ are, and how it is that they appear to be deciding on the destruction of the structure on behalf of the city’s residents.

The Press has since done a follow-up piece. It didn’t provoke as much interest as the original and rather alarmingly headlined one did, but it was more important as it provided clear information on the role of Make it York:

Steve Brown, managing director of Make It York said:”We wish to clarify that any decisions which impact on the fabric or infrastructure of the city centre are the responsibility of City of York Council.

However, as the company leading on marketing York, we will contribute our opinion on matters which we feel impact on the city’s attractiveness as a place to live, visit, study and do business.

Our opinion on this matter is that a redundant fountain doesn’t add to the city’s attractiveness and we were recently approached by the council to discuss this, in view of the fact that there is currently no plan to restore the fountain to working order. How this matter is progressed further is a matter for the council to lead on and to agree a way forward.”

(Full article here)

The Press also did an opinion piece on 13 July on the subject, perhaps hoping to provoke more comment. The piece seemed to suggest that we should leave Make it York to make decisions about the city centre.

The broader issue here is about the role of Make It York. Will every substantial decision on the city centre in future be taken by the city council? And if so, what was the point of setting up Make It York in the first place?

Yes, that is indeed part of the broader issue, as highlighted on these pages a few days earlier. Surely every substantial decision on the city centre should be taken by the city council? Because they’re elected and answerable to us, and we can usually read the agendas and minutes of their meetings? Hard to imagine how it could be otherwise, in the light of increasing citizen involvement, the ‘Localism’ agenda and changes in approaches to governance and transparency. It’s not the 1950s.

The Press coverage provoked some interesting and amusing comments and readers’ letters. In response to the oft-quoted fact that the fountain is an established meeting point in the city centre, one person suggested we could get rid of it and put a large sign saying ‘Meeting Point’ in its place. Another reader wanted a statue of Richard III.

On the subject of statues and fountains, let’s dash across the city to another fountain, overlooked by a familiar figure.

Yes, it’s dear old grubby Etty! But he’s not grubby anymore. He’s all sparkling white.

This apparently happened a week ago and was captured on camera by Keith Myers, @York_Today on Twitter.

@YorkStories I saw him being blasted with water on Tuesday. Here’s the pic. pic.twitter.com/nGtyi1YsFQ

— York Today (@York_Today) July 10, 2015

Poor Etty, being blasted with water. I thought he looked a bit wide-eyed and startled.

Etty overlooks the fountain in Exhibition Square, which unlike the Parliament Street example is actually a working fountain with water jets playing gaily across a pool of water. But it was eating Etty, and there was talk about removing one or the other of them, as discussed on this site some time back.

At the time, Reinvigorate York did a consultation on changes here in Exhibition Square, and some of those took place, so it now has new paving and bus stops. I wondered if there was going to be a stage 2, involving the removal of Etty or the fountain, but it seems that we’ve settled for cleaning him up.

Perhaps the fountain will be filled in instead. I hope that any decisions on this will be publicised and made by elected officials in a transparent and open way.

I’m not a big fan of statues, but over the years I’ve developed a fondness for Etty on his plinth. And he needs to stay here, in this particular place, his eyes forever fixed on Bootham Bar, that’s an important part of the story of this statue.

Writing to the local paper in February 1832 Etty urged that “a little stir will save the Bar, and in saving it, save many more precious remains in York.” (source)

Local authorities sometimes have terrible ideas about civic improvement, and the passionate campaigning of ‘engaged’ citizens, in response, has helped to preserve the heritage and character of our cities. As Etty wrote back then:

With all your improvements, patching, and cobbling, you can never make York a uniform, “well-built” City. But keep her Antiquities, and she will always possess a charm, an interest, far beyond that of most other towns, however regular their streets or “handsome” their houses.

And a message from me …

This website is completely independent, receives no external funding, costs money to host and a lot of time to write. If you’d like to support this work and help pay the hosting costs you can do so via this link.
Thank you
Lisa @YorkStories

The post Two fountains, and a message from Etty appeared first on York Stories.

The ‘reinvigoration’ of King’s Square was rather controversial. In particular its repaving. Apparently less controversial, indeed barely noticed or mentioned as far as I can see, is the repaving work recently completed in Exhibition Square.

Though I didn’t like the idea of Etty being shunted off to the side of the square, as one of the proposed schemes had suggested, I wasn’t too bothered about what the paved part and bus part looked like. But the change is interesting, now it’s in place.

The square now appears bigger and flatter and paler, like King’s Square. I guess it’s supposed to look like another ‘world class space’. The same type of stone has been used as in King’s Square, to extend out from the existing slabs, most of which have been retained, though the smaller setts have been replaced.

I’ve taken a few photos of the square over the course of this year, when passing. As the proposed changes focused my mind on the place I thought I’d focus my camera on it too. Here are a few ‘before and after’ photos.

Here’s how it looked on a rainy day in May.

I was standing by the gate to King’s Manor. Small rectangular setts with the shabby remnants of double yellow lines marked the access road into King’s Manor. I guess that these setts, like the King’s Square ones, were laid in relatively recent decades, perhaps the 1970s. Photos of the square over the course of its history show various changes.

Now, in this 2014 remodeling, the ‘road’ and its kerb have been lost, merged into a flat surface, with the roadway indicated more subtly, as in King’s Square, and using the same type of stone setts:

I’m sorry these photos are rather gloomy and not exactly sharp. Difficult at this time of the year to get brightly lit conditions. Here’s a photo from October, showing the same bit of roadway under construction:

Walking across this area is much more pleasant now, and presumably more widely accessible to everyone, as the step of kerb has been lost and these new setts are completely flat and smooth.

And moving outwards towards the road, St Leonard’s Place … again, a photo from May this year:

And in late November:

Illustrating the way the bus pull-in has been reduced. It doesn’t really make sense to me, that the space for buses seems to have shrunk, rather than increasing. Presumably it works better and they know what they’re doing. I’m not a bus driver or someone who catches buses here so I can’t comment. I only notice the pedestrian perspective. Which is that it’s nice and smooth to walk on.

Moving round, facing across to the De Grey Rooms opposite, in May, as it was:

And now, repaved:

So, as a pedestrian I like it, to look at I like it, but also liked what was there before. I also realise that it’s not quite finished. I assume we’re awaiting bus shelters and the other things mentioned in the information signs surrounding the site while the work was taking place:

Oh yes, that reminds me, there’s a cycle lane too, indicated with new road markings on the tarmac rather than road widening.

The information sign also answered the question of how much all this cost. Well, kind of.

Thoughts welcome, as always.

And the plans for the other part of the square, Etty and the fountain? I don’t know. They’re both staying, I hope. Personally I’m not convinced that the fountain is destroying Etty, and even if it is, maybe we should just let that happen. Let him fade, naturally eroded. And photograph the two of them at regular intervals and turn it into some kind of art project, and put it in the gallery behind him. He might like that.

The post The new-look Exhibition Square appeared first on York Stories.

Exhibition Square fountain

In that year York Civic Trust provided a new fountain for Exhibition Square. It’s still there, but as previously mentioned, it’s apparently eroding the Etty statue. And as the Etty statue is a listed monument, and the fountain isn’t, it seems more likely that the fountain will have to go. They can’t live together anymore.

So let’s focus our attention on the fountain, and let’s leap back to 1971. The Civic Trust’s annual report included a piece on this new fountain for York: ‘a gift which all its citizens could enjoy.’

It’s always good to read contemporary accounts, to get the proper picture of what people thought at the time, because we forget what we thought, as we get used to things being there and take them for granted.

‘Exhibition Square Fountain’, York Civic Trust Annual Report 1970-71, p4-5

‘Exhibition Square Fountain’, York Civic Trust Annual Report 1970-71, p6

The joy and sense of achievement and a job well done was recorded back then when this fountain was new. These images can be enlarged if you’d like to read the report. Please do – it’s very cheering and inspiring. And it reminds us of just one of the many gifts the York Civic Trust has given to the city and its residents.

The report tells us that the fountain was designed by Bernard Feilden, OBE, and that the slate plaques were carved by York carver Richard Reid (probably better known as Dick Reid, and we now add OBE to his name too).

Exhibition Square on a sunny morning in 2006

It was, says the report, ‘an excellent example of co-operation in which the Corporation played its full part.’ The council (the ‘Corporation’) repaved around the fountain – presumably the slabs that are still there today. The Etty statue was cleaned, and floodlit.

‘Altogether a splendid exercise in improving the environment. So, should anyone ask you what is the meaning of that word take them to Exhibition Square on a sunny day, look out across the fountain towards Bootham Bar with the tumbling red roofs behind it and the Minster towers beyond — surely one of the loveliest sights in Europe — and then remember what it used to be like.’

I don’t remember what it used to be like, but photos show that by that time the Etty statue was surrounded by parked cars on tarmac. The view across to Bootham Bar, the red roofs and Minster, remains. It’s still lovely, ‘proper York’, and it’s the main image at the top of these pages (full effect visible if you’re viewing on a larger screen).

Pigeon appreciates fountain

I’d forgotten how many photos I’d taken of the fountain. I did find it aesthetically pleasing, in the morning light in summer, when lit in the evening. I’m not sure whether it’s still lit in the evening – I stopped paying attention and took it for granted. Not alone in that I’m sure.

To me it has no strong personal significance, but it was a gift to the city, and it clearly meant a lot to York Civic Trust when it was placed here in the square back in 1971, and that should be recorded, with appreciation.

A new fountain/water feature will probably replace it, but it won’t mean as much as the installation of the 1971 fountain. The wish to ‘Reinvigorate York’ hasn’t produced anything as vigorous as that passionate and inspiring description from 1971 : ‘It is a pleasing thing to see young children running round the square thrilling to the dancing water.’ Now we get phrases like ‘transforming the economic, cultural and recreational offer’.

If you were one of the children of the 1970s running through the water, or have other thoughts you’d like to share, please add a comment. Please, on these important records of what we knew of York in the 20th century, share it on the proper open-to-all internet, the online version of the public square, rather than on Facebook or Twitter. That way there’s more chance people in the future will be able to find it, this history of ours. Facebook and Twitter don’t care about your real history, what you remember about this place we know. I do.

More information/updates

January 2021: It’s now some years since the above was written. The Etty statue is still there, and so is the fountain.

They looked particularly handsome, and seemed to be enjoyed, during the Bloom York festival a few years back.

The post 1971: welcoming the fountain, Exhibition Square appeared first on York Stories.

Exhibition Square, 1870s? © City of York Council

There are many photographs of Exhibition Square in the City of York archives, illustrating the changes in over a century of use. Seems a good time to look at some, in the light of the current consultation. (Archive images used with permission.)

First, this photo from its early days. Our eyes are drawn to the splendid Minster and Bootham Bar, but here for the purposes of this page we’re focussing on the foreground. Note the ‘random lumps of stone’ style edging around some kind of flowerbed in front of the art gallery (known as the Exhibition Building, back then, when new). From the abbey, perhaps, like the stone around the Museum Gardens. Note also the massive tree to the left.

Exhibition Square, 1880s © City of York Council

Here’s a better view of the massive tree, from around the same time. Before the construction of the square and Exhibition Building this area was known as ‘Bearpark’s Garden’. (Not because it was a park with bears in it, but because it was used as a nursery garden by a Mr Bearpark.) This large mature tree must have been retained from that time.

Modern developments often try to retain mature trees on site and it would appear that our Victorian forebears valued them too. Or this one, anyway, in this location.

Exhibition Square, 1880s © City of York Council

The paved surface back then was a mixture of materials, larger slabs near the art gallery and smaller setts further out.

Exhibition Square, 1900s © City of York Council

A little while later and the impressive mature tree has gone, replaced by two young trees.

Exhibition Square, Etty statue unveiled, Feb 1911

By 1911 they’ve been removed. The statue to William Etty is erected in this small garden area in the square in front of the art gallery.

This photo is one of several taken on the day of the statue’s unveiling (including a nice image of the moment of the ‘reveal’). It was clearly an important event, just over a century ago.

Etty statue in Exhibition Square, 1920s © City of York Council

In the 1920s, Etty settles in to his protected garden area, with adverts for cultural happenings resting against the railings around him.

In the 1940s. Cars cluster around the Etty statue, as they did until about 1971 © City of York Council

A lovely image of a rainy day in the 1940s. Cars cluster around Etty, all facing inwards, like an appreciative audience.

Etty stands rock solid, just the same, while the square changes around him, for decades filling with cars, and more recently, open-top buses for the tourists.

A photo in Patrick Nuttgen’s book York (Studio Vista, 1970) shows that the space around Etty has been reduced to the bare minimum by the end of the 1960s. There’s just a thin strip of paving, only a little wider than his plinth, in front of and behind it. The square by this time has marked parking bays, white lines on the tarmac. Parking now is more regimented than it was in the 1940s. The one car parked there faces outwards, ready for the off and not paying any attention to Etty.

Etty statue decorated during the ‘yarn bomb’ event, 2 Feb 2013

In 1971 the square changed again, and a fountain was placed near Etty’s plinth. The next page will focus on this fountain. Meanwhile here’s an image taken more recently. Etty’s plinth decorated with knitting and brightly coloured yarn, during last year’s yarn bomb event.

What will Etty be looking out across in the 21st century I wonder. Perhaps he won’t be looking the same way, but will be shifted across to the side of the square to look at King’s Manor instead, as in one of the ideas suggested in the proposals currently open for consultation. Perhaps he’ll look out across a new water feature/fountain.

Our idea of what’s appropriate for our cities changes over the generations. The Esher report, published in the late 1960s, includes an illustration of proposals for the square back then. Most striking is the suggestion that a line of lime trees should be planted to mark the boundary where the square meets the road. Lime trees. If you want to see what happens to lime trees in urban environments look on Burton Stone Lane or at the pathetic remnants of trees at the front of St John’s on Lord Mayor’s Walk, and on Penley Grove Street.

No more big trees anymore. We don’t have the room. If Esher’s trees had been planted they’d be felled now to fit in a bus stop, as a tree on Museum Street will be soon.

Etty’s standing there through all this, sighing perhaps silently in stony statue-like way.

I noticed he’s got a Twitter account, hasn’t said much, just one message.

The post Etty and decades of change, in a city square appeared first on York Stories.