WHAT do you mean, you don't recognise this scene? The church on the right, with its distinctive tower, should be a giveaway.
It is, of course, St John's, Micklegate - which is today used as a popular bar, Jalou.
The photograph, which comes from Explore York Libraries and Archives, was taken in the 1880s. Micklegate stretches away uphill in the centre, Skeldergate is to the left, North Street to the right.
Micklegate was noticeably narrower then than it is today. The substantial building jutting out into the street beyond St John’s Church in this photo has now been replaced with a modern building set further back.
The building on the corner of Skeldergate and Micklegate houses both a commercial eating house and the 'Register office for Servants'. And what of the ghostly figures standing in both the left and right corners of the photograph? No, they're not evidence that Micklegate was once the gateway to the realm of the dead. They were simply caused by people coming and going during the long exposure time needed for the Victorian photographer to take the picture...
Stephen Lewis
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