WORK is under way to improve the junction at Bootham Bar, Gillygate and St Leonard's Place.

The city council has drawn up two options for the notorious bottleneck. One would create more room for pedestrians, but cut road capacity by about 30 per cent. A second would see traffic lights upgraded and the existing pedestrian crossings widened. The council is asking people to have their say on which they prefer by Wednesday.

Any improvements will be welcome. But the plans did get us thinking about what this area of York looked like in the days before the car and all its attendant clutter - yes, we mean traffic lights and road signs - came to dominate.

So we have dug out a few old photographs just to see. Many thanks to Explore York Archives, who supplied most of the images.

The actual physical appearance of Exhibition Square and the Bootham Bar/ St Leonard's Place junction hasn't changed all that much in the last hundred years. But the car-related clutter of busy modern-day life makes a huge difference.

Our main image shows Bootham Bar and York Minster photographed from Exhibition Square in the late 1890s. The Minster is there in the background, looming just as it does today. Bootham Bar is there, as is the wonderful 'archway to nowhere' - Queen Margaret's Arch - that takes up one side of the square.

York Press:

Exhibition Square and Bootham Bar in the 1900s. Queen Margaret’s Arch is on the left

What isn't there is cars, and traffic lights. There's a horse-drawn carriage, it is true. But that apart, the only 'clutter' is the two rather elegant street lamps in the foreground. It all looks very tranquil - and surprisingly spacious compared to today.

Queen Margaret's Arch, incidentally, has a fascinating history. Back in 1497, when it is thought to have been built, St Mary’s Abbey was entirely enclosed by walls. The only way in or out of the abbey precinct was from the river, or else through the main entrance on Marygate.

An archway was cut through the wall to make it easier to get into the abbey grounds from Bootham. It was supposedly intended as a short-cut for King Henry VII (the man who had defeated Richard III) when he was visiting York and stayed at the Abbot’s Lodging, now King’s Manor. The short cut would have made it quicker for him to get from the abbey to the Minster.

The arch isn’t known as King Henry’s Arch, however, but as Queen Margaret’s Arch. Margaret was King Henry VII’s daughter - the elder sister of the man who became King Henry VIII. In 1503 the young Margaret, then just 13 or 14, was married ‘by proxy’ to King James IV of Scotland. The wedding took place at Richmond Palace in Surrey - but James, the bridegroom, wasn’t actually there. Instead, he was represented by the Earl of Bothwell.

The young Margaret, now officially Queen of Scotland, was then sent north, accompanied by a huge retinue, to meet her husband in Edinburgh.

The Queen is said to have stayed in York as the guest of the Abbot of St Mary’s for two days en route. The archway has been named in her honour ever since.

York Press:

Bootham Bar seen from Exhibition Square in 1955

Our other photos show Exhibition Square at various times in the last 100 years. We have included one taken in 1955, by which time the car was already beginning to make is presence felt. We also couldn't resist including a photo from the 1940s, with a series of elegant wartime cars clustered in front of the art gallery.