Images of old York from the Historic England archive

The conservation body recently made its huge collection of architectural photographs and drawings available online.

The archive includes more than 8,000 images of York alone, and we have reproduced just a few of them here.

First up: a selection of views of York Castle, the debtor's prison and the crown court, as you may not have seen them before.

The elegant Georgian courthouse has been in use ever since it was built in the 1770s by John Carr to house the county assizes.

Today, the building is home to York Crown Court. But in our first photo, from 1949, it looks oddly neglected. Does anyone remember it when it was in this state? Or know why it was looking so run down?

York debtor's prison: elegant but neglected in the 1940s? Historic England archive

The same is true of our second photo, which shows the old debtor's prison. There is no date for this photograph - but we suspect it was taken at the same time as the picture of the crown court. Again, it looks elegant but neglected.

Our third photo, taken in 1944 by photographer GB Wood, shows the side and back of Block A of York prison. and fairly grim it looks, too.

York Castle Prison, side and rear of Block A. Historic England archive

The Assembly Rooms, next. This is another elegant Georgian edifice that was built in the early 1730s by Richard Boyle, Lord Burlington, to serve as the centre of York's upper-crust social scene. We have two photographs from the Historic England collection. One shows the building from the outside in 1943. The war was at its height: so the general air of neglect is probably understandable.

Assembly Rooms 1943. Historic England archive

The second shows an interior view, when the building was clearly in a very dilapidated state. The date on the photograph is 1966: but we suspect it must have been taken a good 20 years or so earlier. The Rooms were substantially restored by the York Corporation in 1951. By the look of this picture, it must have been taken before that.

Assembly Rooms interior, probably before the 1951 restoration. Historic England archive

And finally, we move on to Monkgate. There are a couple of fairly ordinary photographs, one dating from 1967 and the other, which shows the corner of Monkgate and Penleys Grove Street, from a few years later in 1970. Many readers might remember York Tyre Services.

Monkgate, 1967. Historic England archive

Monkgate, 1967: corner of Penleys Grove Street. Historic England archive

Our last two images show Monkgate in a very different light, however. They are drawings that were made in 1840 - and show the area as no one alive will ever have seen it.

One, by a C Dillon, shows the old Monk Bridge, with the Minster rising in the background. The second shows the view along Monkgate to Monk Bar. Looking at these two sketches, you realise just how much York has changed in the last 185 years - even though much of the city's architecture is the same now as it was then.

Monk Bridge and Monkgate, York. Drawing by C Dillon, c 1840. Historic England archive and Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeologial Society collection

Monkgate, York, looking towards Monk Bar, c1840. Historic England archive and Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeologial Society collection

Both of these drawings come originally from the collection of the Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeological Society (YAYAS), which has given us permission to reproduce them. Many thanks to YAYAS for that.

Yesterday Once More is expanding

Great news for readers who enjoy Yesterday Once More. We will soon be expanding, with twice the number of old photos each Monday in The Press.

That means we will need more of your photos - and more of your memories - than ever.

So if you have some old photographs that you think we could use, we'd like to hear from you. Don't send them to us directly: we wouldn't want precious original photographs to get lost. Instead, contact Stephen Lewis on 01904 567263 or at stephen.lewis@thepress.co.uk so that we can arrange to copy them.

Thank you!