OVER the past 40 years or so, archaeologists have discovered some wonderful things buried beneath the streets of York. A whole Viking city, of course, complete with houses, tools, coins and even clothes; Roman sewers; medieval graveyards; the foundations of lost churches.

So rich is the history that lies beneath the streets that archaeologists are often among the first people on the scene whenever a development of any size is planned in York.

One of the first things they do is take photographs, to keep a complete record of a site both before they start digging, and as the excavation process is under way.

The result is a unique archive of photographs which are now a part of the city’s history in their own right.

They show parts of the city that are now gone for ever – the old Redfearn National Glass factory, for example, or Craven’s, which once stood where Coppergate is now.

York Press:

View from inside the old Craven factory site looking up towards Coppergate. Photo: York Archaeological Trust

And they provide surprising perspectives that most people, going about their daily lives, never had the chance to see: the view from inside Craven’s looking up towards Coppergate in the 1970s, before demolition began; or a wide shot of the Ebor Brewery site taken from a nearby building on Aldwark in 1972, before excavations discovered the remains of the church of St Helen-on-the-Walls.

The York Archaeological Trust has been busy preserving fragile negatives and transparencies from the 1970s and 1980s and digitising many of its photographs, to create a digital archive that can be accessed by future generations.

York Press:

View of the Ebor Brewery site from a nearby building on Aldwark in 1972. The remaions of St Helens-on-the-Wall were found here. Photo: York Archaeological Trust

And on Friday, in a “Meet the Experts: The Past through a Lens” event being held at Barley Hall as part of the ongoing Jorvik Viking Festival, you’ll get the chance to see the results of their efforts.

Adam Raw Mackenzie, who has been part of the team digitising the photographs, will be giving presentations in which he shows some of the photographs, and talks about what they reveal about the process of uncovering the city’s history.

It is a process that makes for a wonderful story in its own right, says the York Archaeological Trust’s marketing manager Paul Whiting.

“It is not so long ago that areas that are now very much part of our cultural hub within the city centre – the site of the Novotel in Fishergate, Swinegate and Coppergate – were industrial, factory sites with stories of 2,000 years of York’s heritage buried underneath,” he says. “Our photo records show how York Archaeological Trust peeled back the layers to reveal so much about our city.”

York Press:

A 1975 photo of the back of the Craven's Factory site backing onto what is now the Castle car park. Photo: York Archaeological Trust

The photo archives do more than that, however. They also serve as a record of this period of time for future generations.

That is enormously important, Paul says, because we may otherwise leave very little behind for future generations to use to piece together the way we live now.

“Whereas the Romans and Vikings would have built on top of previous layers, built up of rubbish and daily debris, our modern society wipes the ground clean when we are developing,” he says.

“So our descendants will rely on archives such as this to see what was happening in the city.

“Our historical footprint will be stored digitally rather than physically – and these images represent a transformative time in our understanding of York.”

Turn up at Barley Hall on Friday and you could be among the first to see them...

  • Meet The Experts: The Past Through A Lens, Barley Hall, Friday February 24. Presentations take place from 10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm, although members of the public are welcome to drop in at any time. Normal Barley Hall admission prices apply.