YOU might think you know North Street. But these images from Explore York’s Imagine York website are like a trip back in time...

The street’s origins are thought to go back to the 12th century, when it was a muddle of warehouses, yards and alleys leading down to the riverside.

Much of this was swept away in the 1960s, to be replaced by the Viking Hotel and a riverside walk. But all our photos from today date from long before that...

The main photo (top) was taken in the 1890s. It shows two women in starchy Victorian dresses standing in front of All Saints Church. One woman is holding a little boy by the shoulders.

Further up the street is a bearded man in a smart top hat. The street itself is cobbled, and if you look carefully, you can see in the distance the corner shop that was to become Arthur Hemmens’ grocery shop.

Other photos show:

Arthur Hemmens’ grocery shop 1910

York Press:

The tree casting the shop into shade seems to have grown considerably since the earlier photograph (top)

A group of local children peering hopefully into the window of Arthur Hemmens’ in the 1920s

York Press:

There's obviously something in the shop these children would love to get their teeth into. We guess there must have been some sweets placed temptingly in the window...

The White House on North Street in the early 1900s

York Press:

The gentleman on the left holding a little girl’s hand in front of The White House is Alby Jackson. Blundy’s coal, sand and gravel merchants can be seen to the far left

Blundy, Clark and Co’s premises seen from the side overlooking the Ouse

York Press:

In this photo, Blundy's is pictured from the side overlooking the Ouse, with a barge moored alongside. The premises were at 26-36 North Street. The coal, sand and gravel merchants traded until March 1963, but this picture probably dates from the early 1920s and was taken by Arthur Finney who was the city librarian.

The floods in North Street in September 1931

York Press:

The photograph shows people using raised walkways to move around the city above the floodwaters. According to the caption that accompanies the photograph, at the time of these floods North Street was a busy commercial and residential street, with a great variety of businesses including printers, hairdressers, “drysalters”, a “fried fish dealer”, importers, builders merchants, confectioners, grocers, chemical manure manufacturers, motor engineers, a tin smith and of course, public houses.

Mr and Mrs Press during the 1931 floods

York Press:

Mr and Mrs Press are pictured standing on the raised walkway outside their flooded home at 33 North Street. Generations of the Press family had lived in the house – since at least the 1860s – and they had operated as coal merchants in the city since the 1830s. By 1931 Francis Edward Press was a greengrocer.

  • All the photos on these pages, and thousands more, are held on Explore York’s wonderful Imagine York archive. You can browse it yourself for free by visiting http://www.imagineyork.co.uk/