THE River Foss is heavily silted and overgrown in this photograph from June 1989 -

appropriately enough given the marshy history of this quarter of York. The view is from Layerthorpe Bridge looking southwards. The hump-backed metal bridge which once linked the Foss Island power station (roughly where Morrison’s now is) with the concrete cooling tower on the other side of the river is still visible in the distance, although the tower itself,

demolished in the 1980s, is gone.

There is no sign of the modern DEFRA building which today stands beside the river to the right of this photograph. But visible in the middle distance on the right bank of the river as we view it is Adams Hydraulics, another remnant of York’s industrial past which today is gone.

The company was launched in 1885 by Samuel Henry Adams, and exported drainage and sewerage equipment all over the world - its manhole covers have been seen as far afield as Aden. The company’s foundry moved from King’s Pool to the outskirts of York in 1991.

It was taken over by Ham Baker in 2008, and The Press reported in 2017 that it had gone into administration.

Stephen Lewis