TANG HALL Beck was obviously a place to be seen if you were a respectable Victorian woman.
Our first two photographs, both taken in the 1890s, show a woman sitting or standing in quiet reflection on the bridge over the beck.
We’re not sure whether it is the same woman pictured twice at one of her favourite spots (if it is, the photographs were taken at different times, because she’s wearing different clothes) or whether these are two different women. But whichever it is, there’s a wonderful sense of rural peace about the photographs.
Both these images, and all the others on these pages today, come once again from Explore York library’s wonderful Imagine York archive of old photographs.
There’s no particular theme to the selection today: they’re just photographs that happened to catch our eye.
The one showing advertising hoardings plastered all over the walls of a building on the north side of Gillygate in 1902 is a particular favourite.
Such hoardings were a particular bugbear for Dr William Evelyn, a tireless campaigner against the “spoliation” of York in the early 1900s.
April 1902: Advertising hoardings cover the walls of this building on the north side of Gillygate. Photo: Imagine York
You can kind of see why he disliked them so much from this photo. From our perspective, however, looking back from more than a hundred years later, the adverts give a wonderful glimpse into everyday life back then. “Bovril repels influenza,” declares one. “Ogden’s Tabs Cigarettes: British Made by British Labour,” announces another proudly. Already back then, in the days when the British Empire was still the world’s superpower, people were obviously worried about jobs being lost overseas...
Other photographs today include an astonishing image of the old Windmill Inn which used to be on the site of what is now St George’s Field car park. It was actually where the Foss Basin is now: the inn itself was demolished to allow the basin to be created. Look carefully and you can see in the background the high, grim prison walls which once surrounded Clifford’s Tower.
The Windmill Inn on St George's Field in about 1855. Photo: Imagine York
The caption says this photograph was taken in about 1855, when photography was still in its infancy. The same can’t be said for the poor old Windmill itself, which was looking pretty decrepit and neglected even then.
Today’s other photos show:
Fourth Avenue, Tang Hall, in the 1930s. It was part of a suburb that was begun in 1919 to rehouse people from Walmgate and Hungate whose homes were demolished in a programme of slum clearances, the caption says.
Fourth Avenue, Tang Hall, in the 1930s. Photo: Imagine York
Providence Court behind Lowther Terrace in Holgate in about 1933. A family of impoverished-looking women and children look directly at the camera. The street was demolished in the late 1930s.
Vanished houses: women and children in Providence Court, Holgate, in about 1933. Photo: Imagine York
Stafford Place, Eagle Street and Rosary Terrace. These three streets were tucked away between Blossom Street/ The Mount and the railway lines and were demolished some time after the photo below was taken in about 1960.
Stafford Place, Eagle Street and Rosary Terrace in about 1960. Photo: Imagine York
Imagine York
All these photos, and thousands more, are held on Explore York’s wonderful Imagine York archive. You can browse it yourself for free just by visiting imagineyork.co.uk/
Use the search box to look for images of your street or area, or for any events such as parades or street parties you remember from childhood.
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