TRAWLING through some old files at Press HQ, we came across one which was marked simply '50s mix'.

We opened it up - and a real treasure trove it proved to be.

There were some wonderful photographs in there, all showing York in - presumably - the 1950s.

Sadly, however, there were no captions to any of the photographs. So while we have been able to work out what most of them show, we might need to enlist your help in getting more detail.

We're bringing you the first batch here, with the little information we have about them. But if you know more, we'd love to hear from you.

Our Fifties photos show:

  1. Castle Mills Bridge, presumably shortly before the 'new' bridge, built as part of the York inner ring road, was completed. The bridge was officially opened on November 22, 1956, by one Hugh Molson MP, the joint parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Transport and Aviation. So presumably the photograph was taken before then. The style of the cars on the road certainly seems to suggest it was taken very early in the 1950s. Mr Molson was, at the time, the joint parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Transport and Aviation – and his name is immortalised on a plaque on the bridge, according to local historian Hugh Murray.
  2. Castle Mills Bridge again, this time after it had been re-opened
  3. A fire at the York Cooperative Society in Railway Street (now George Hudson Street) in 1959. Does anyone remember this?
  4. Dunn & Co on the corner of High Ousegate and Spurriergate. In 1958 a Compulsory Purchase Order was made so that this building and some others could be knocked down in order to build new shops. The photo was clearly taken before then...
  5. A clever view of All Saints, Pavement, reflected in the plate glass window of a shop
  6. St Saviourgate and the junction of Colliergate, before the building of Stonebow House

Stephen Lewis