The Streets of York: Four Centuries of Change

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All proceeds from the sale of this book go to local charity, York Against Cancer. Walk the streets of York and you’re walking through history. It’s all around you, in the medieval masonry, ancient weathered timbers and fragments of borrowed Roman stone that crop up in the buildings you walk past. Many of the street patterns are little changed from medieval or Viking times. But that is not to say that time has stood still in York. The city’s streets have changed over the years - sometimes dramatically so. Those streets are an essential part of what makes York such a great place to live, work and visit. For centuries, they have attracted a succession of conservationists, artists, photographers, authors, craftsmen, job-seekers, and tourists. Many of these left a record of the city they knew and loved, in the form of paintings, sketches and photographs. Using a unique collection of some 300 of these original paintings, sketches and photographs, matched with contemporary photographs by Chris Shepherd of the same locations, this book seeks to take you on a journey through the history of some of York’s best loved streets. You’ll be able to follow the way those streets have changed over the centuries, mourning what is lost but also rejoicing that so much has been saved. The book also provides food for thought about how we want to see York grow and develop in the years to come. The Streets of York provides an invaluable pictorial work of reference for all those who love the city, strive to understand its heritage, and appreciate that its future and fortune is to a great extent dependent upon careful and thoughtful restoration, conservation and management.