NOSTALGIA: When riverboats ruled the River Ouse...

The Romans chose the site of their new fortress of Eboracum carefully: they built it at the confluence of two rivers, one of them - the Ouse - navigable all the way to the sea.

Ever since, goods have been shipped into York by river. The remains of Roman jetties, wharves and warehouses have been found, and there is evidence of a Roman river crossing just downstream from King's Staith.

The Vikings were famously river traders as well as river raiders, and in medieval times York was the third largest inland port in the country behind London and then Bristol. Wool was exported from the city to Northern Europe and goods like coal, butter and olive oil were all delivered into the city by barge.

More recently, Rowntree’s and Terry’s had their cocoa beans delivered up river into the city to their riverside warehouses; grain and gravel merchants had warehouses at Queen's Staith; and until comparatively recently even The Press had its newsprint delivered by barge (though sadly no longer).

Nothing brings back the days of working barges quite like a good photo, however.

Here's a selection of photos of barges on the Ouse taken from our own electronic archive...

1.

A barge on the River Ouse being unloaded on to a horse-drawn cart at Skeldergate in 1890. This photo was so badly faded that we have had to digitally enhance it

2.

Barges moored at the wharf near Skeldergate Bridge, probably in the 1890s

3.

Broken ice drifting past a barge moored at Kings Staith, York, in 1963

4. 

Barges on the River Ouse in York in July 1970

5.

October 20, 1973: barges cluster alongside Queen's Staith, York, to unload their sacks of Illipe nuts shipped from Borneo and Sarawak, in a scene that resembles a busy seaport

6.

Barges head slowly up the River Foss after passing under Foss Bridge, York, in December 1978

7.

A mystery barge is wedged across the River Ross in York blocking the waterway beside the Castle Museum in June 1983 - proof positive that life on York's river barges wan't always plain sailing...

Stephen Lewis