History


Beneath the surface of York's colourful past we delve into the detail of Vikings, Romans and Victorians...

Views Of York: Thoroughly modern city

Views Of York: Thoroughly modern city

7:48am Tuesday 22nd May 2012

There is a real feel of the Roaring Twenties about this splendid print, possibly produced as a poster but never made into one.

Yorkshire’s old shore

Runswick Bay Lifeboat being inspected in about 1910

3:41pm Monday 21st May 2012

IT is said, writes Alan Whitworth, that North Yorkshire’s coastline truly begins at Staithes and finishes just short of Flamborough Head.

The other coronation

Mr Theaker’s grandmother outside their house in Garden Terrace with his cousin Winnie

8:53am Monday 14th May 2012

THE official celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee are fast approaching. They have prompted reader Peter Theaker to come forward with memories of a street party in York held to celebrate the coronation.

How Bootham School built on wartime bombing experience

The Bootham School Sanatorium, known as the Lodge, before the bomb struck

8:37am Friday 11th May 2012

A FORMER Bootham School pupil has recalled how the wartime Baedeker raid destroyed part of the building.

The days when York burned

Members of the Civil Defence Force in York in the 1940s. Four members of the York Civil Defence were killed during the city’s Baedeker Raid

11:03am Monday 7th May 2012

Peter Theaker was ten years old when the Second World War broke out. He lived with his family in The Groves area of York.

Views of York

St Mary’s Abbey Gateway, 1801, by Thomas Rowlandson. Reproduced courtesy York Museums Trust (York Art Gallery)

8:15am Tuesday 1st May 2012

THERE is a wonderfully rural feel to Thomas Rowlandson’s 1801 ink and watercolour drawing of Museum Gardens and the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey - right down to the cattle grazing in the foreground.

The human cost of war

Private Robert Victor Pickering

11:52am Monday 30th April 2012

ALL Mary Pickering knew was that her husband of a year had been killed. A returning colleague mentioned something about shells hitting his trench, but there was no official word...

When sparks flew across the sky

Poppleton Road Primary School after the air raid in 1942

10:51am Saturday 28th April 2012

Today, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the York Blitz, we conclude our coverage with five more eyewitness accounts from that night when bombs rained down on the city.

Bombed out by moonlight

Harold Wood speaks after receiving his Volunteer of the Year award at the York Community Pride Awards

11:06am Friday 27th April 2012

All week, we have been bringing you eyewitness accounts of the York Blitz. Today, we hear from Harold Wood, David Lockwood, Joan Flower and George Tatterton.

Tragic roll call the dead

10:50am Friday 27th April 2012

The following were the 94 civilian casualties of the Baedeker Raid on York in the early hours of April 29, 1942.

‘A night of terror’

James Sydney Bell

All week, we are bringing you eyewitness accounts of the York Blitz. Today, we hear about the dreadful damage to Coney Street, and a tale of survival from Blake Street.

‘I could hear the planes turning back towards us’

Kenneth Mellor

11:55am Wednesday 25th April 2012

All week, we are bringing you eyewitness accounts of the York Blitz of April 29, 1942, which left the city devastated. Today, TOM MARSHALL, KENNETH MELLOR and STAN WYNN tell their stories.

York Blitz: Buried alive

Image from PictureGalleryModule_ID:3159133

12:20pm Tuesday 24th April 2012

All week, we are bringing you memories of readers who lived through the York Blitz of April 29, 1942. Today Kate Houghton, Barbara Weatherley and Christopher Backhouse and his sister, Jane Whitworth, tell their stories.

Tweeting the York Blitz

10:07am Tuesday 24th April 2012

YORK Explore Library will tweet a minute-by-minute account of the air raid which severely damaged the Guildhall on its 70th anniversary.

York’s night of fiery terror

Jock Wilson in the  wreckage of the Guildhall

11:50am Monday 23rd April 2012

In the early hours of April 29, 1942, the Second World War came to York in the most violent manner possible.

Precious memories of the Queen’s coronation

The Queen’s coronation service

11:54am Monday 16th April 2012

THE fact that this year marks the Queen’s diamond jubilee has, naturally enough, prompted many memories of the time, 60 years ago, when the young Princess Elizabeth first became Queen – and of the celebrations just over a year later when she was formally crowned at Westminster Abbey.

Great views of our city

Edmond Barker’s 1718 etching, The South East Prospect Of The Ancient City Of York

8:16am Tuesday 10th April 2012

Welcome to our new regular feature, in which we will bring you each week a different view of York down the centuries, as captured by an artist.

A real hive of industry

Coney Street in the 1940s

11:15am Monday 9th April 2012

WE dipped into local historian Paul Chrystal’s new book York Industries Through Time on the books pages of this newspaper a week or so ago. But it is so full of evocative old photographs of people going about their business in York that no excuse is needed for paying it a second visit.

Fired up over days of steam

The old York Station is pictured in 1950 from the bar walls

9:36am Monday 2nd April 2012

THERE is a certain air of romance that hangs over the age of steam these days – and you can see why by looking at the photographs today. All come from a new book – Steam Around York & The East Riding – by railway author Mike Hutches.

How we used to work

Thomas Cooke of York and his three-wheeled steam car

1:41pm Saturday 31st March 2012

A new book celebrates the industries that helped make modern York – from chocolate and the railways to comb-making and telescopes. STEPHEN LEWIS reports.

Rank and file

George and Mary Rankeillor

12:12pm Monday 26th March 2012

THE letter is creased and worn with age: coming apart at the folds as though read time and time again.

Church rises from the ashes

April 1962: The new bell – recast from those damaged in the raid – is hung in the tower

12:48pm Monday 19th March 2012

IT is almost 70 years since Mr Hitler's bombs fell on York, in what has become known as the Baedeker raid. During that awful night of April 28/29, 1942, more than 70 civilian residents of the city were killed – 14 of them children – and hundreds more were injured.

Peter’s army postings

Members of the Yorkshire Hussars on parade in York before the First World War

2:29pm Monday 12th March 2012

BY his own admission, Peter Harland is an inveterate collector.

Sweet memories recall the birth of the Rowntree chocolate empire

A painting of the old factory in Tanner’s Moat, which is believed to be “previously unseen”

9:32am Thursday 8th March 2012

IT must be one of the most momentous business transactions in the history of York – if not the whole country.

Many faces of a monarch

A happy Queen accepts flowers from crowds during her 1983 visit

11:53am Monday 5th March 2012

In 1971, the Queen visited York for the city’s 1900th birthday. In April this year, she will be back – for the York 800 celebrations.


More history articles>>

WAY WE WERE

May 25

6:40am Friday 25th May 2012

100 years ago: Bridlington Town Council were negotiating to put into operation a scheme they had prepared for the construction of a marine drive the whole length of the southern portion of the town.

May 24

6:40am Thursday 24th May 2012

100 years ago: For the coming Whitsuntide holidays Messrs Thomas Cook and Son offered to the residents of York and district a very comprehensive programme of cheap travelling facilities.

May 23

6:40am Wednesday 23rd May 2012

100 years ago: Those who were interested in the better housing of the working classes had the opportunity of inspecting a model dwelling house which had been erected in Stockton, by Mr JC Currah, a local builder, in which was fitted his invention, a unique heating and cooking apparatus.

May 22

6:40am Tuesday 22nd May 2012

100 years ago: We understood that the new motor fire engine which Messrs Rowntree's had recently purchased from the well-known firm of Messrs Merryweather, London, was shortly due to arrive in York.

May 21

6:30am Monday 21st May 2012

100 years ago: The North Eastern Railway Company had just issued a new design of headgear for assistant stationmasters throughout their system.


More way we were articles>>


Local Information

Enter your postcode, town or place name

House prices »   Schools »   Crime »   Hospitals »

click2find




About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree