Rebecca Gilbert

Walmgate is a street steeped in history and the York Early Music Foundation wants residents to help mark a new chapter when its national headquarters opens in April.

Walmgate Bar pictured in the 1960s. The York Early Music Foundation is working with Walmgate and Navigation Road residents' associations on the Shadows In Time project where residents will turn their stories of living in the street into a musical shadow puppet show

The foundation is working with Walmgate and Navigation Road residents associations on the Shadows In Time project where residents will turn their stories of living in the street into a musical shadow puppet show.

The finished performance will be part of the opening weekend of the National Centre For Early Music on April 9.

And the participants have a lot of material to work with. In the 1930s Walmgate was a bustling community packed with shops but inhabited by some of the poorest residents in the city, especially the Irish labourers' families.

It boasted a spectacular array of pubs with, at one stage, every other building said to be one.

More recent pictures from the 1960s show how the street landscape has changed. A row of shops, which stood on the right hand side of the road near the bar have now been demolished to make way for housing.

In 1997 York's oldest shop, the country outfitters Ellerker's, closed down after more than 200 years.

The business started out making ropes and supplied nooses for hangings in York in the early 19th century and residents might have memories of the shop's ghost.

Community musician Chris Bartram and University of York student Ursula Crickmay are working on the project to draw on residents' memories of the area.

Delma Tomlin, administrative director of the York Early Music Foundation, said: "I think that this is a wonderful way for residents to become involved in the new National Centre for Early Music.

"Walmgate has had a rich history in the last century.

"Although overcrowded housing conditions and poverty were connected with the area in the early years of the century, Walmgate also thrived with many small businesses and was renowned for its pubs, in which many an Irish song was to be heard.

"The area had a gritty vitality, and we hope to discover much about its varied history from the participants of the project."

To get involved with the Shadows In Time project contact Ursula on 01904 645738.

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