100 years ago

A serious accident had happened to a workman on the premises of the new White Swan Hotel, Pavement, York.

About 7.40 Samuel Whiteley, aged 23 of No. 2, Shaftoe's Place, Holbeck, Leeds, employed by Messrs Braithwaite, plumbers, York, was engaged in flashing the chimneys of the building with lead, when the rope by which he was secured snapped, and he fell to the ground, a distance of about 40 feet.

First aid was promptly rendered and the police, on being informed of the accident, sent the ambulance, and the young man was conveyed to the York County Hospital.

He was found to have sustained a compound fracture of the left arm and internal injuries of a serious nature.

He was also suffering from severe shock. A later inquiry at the hospital informed us that the patient was in a serious condition, but that he was doing as well as could be expected.

50 years ago

About 15,000 Yorkshire land workers were being asked to subscribe one shilling each to pay for the attractive cedarwood permanent pavilion that would be opened officially on the Yorkshire Show Ground at Harrogate, on Wednesday, July 11.

Members of the National Union of Agricultural Workers in all parts of the three Ridings were invited to contribute towards an expenditure of more than £700 on a building that would give the union a permanent interest in the Harrogate show site.

The firm of WK Hare, of Snape, Bedale, had built the pavilion and already subscriptions of more than £100 had come in.

25 years ago

Archaeologists in York hoped to uncover vital new evidence during the summer to pinpoint the exact course of the River Foss 1000 years before.

The experts believed the proof lay underneath the redundant ABC cinema in Piccadilly, on the site of the city's Roman waterfront.

They hoped the dig would help fill in a missing link in the city's history - the waterfront trade from the Roman to the mediaeval period.

When the cinema was demolished, the archaeologists aimed to move in for two or three months to excavate the site.

Mr Richard Hall, deputy director of the York Archaeological Trust, said: “This is a very exciting prospect, as it will help us to know how the city has grown and developed. The bare minimum we hope for is to pinpoint the exact course of the river. The optimum find would be remains of Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Viking waterfronts, jetties, and stone walls. If we were extraordinarily lucky, we might find bits of boats.”

The site in Piccadilly, soon to house a new Marks and Spencer store, was only a stone's throw from the Coppergate dig which discovered the Viking town of Jorvik.