HERE’S a fact to to make you pause for thought next time you stop for a pint at the King’s Arms on King’s Staith.

According to the people who put together the captions for Explore York’s archive of historic photographs, the pub was once known as the Ouse Bridge Inn (for fairly obvious reasons).

And long, long ago, way back in the days when there was a small prison on the old bridge, the building’s cellar was used to lay out the bodies of those who had been hanged there.

York, eh? Full of history.

Here’s something else you might not have known.

An ancient pub once stood on the banks of the River Foss in St George’s Field.

It was called the Windmill Inn - apparently after a mill on the Foss that, in 1275 AD, was owned by the Knights Templar, a fearsome and very powerful military order of ‘warrior monks’.

They had a chapel on St George’s Field. It was demolished during the dissolution of the monasteries, but some of the stone was used to create the foundations of the Windmill Inn. You can actually see the stonework in our photographs of the old pub, which incredibly date from 1850.

York Press:

The Windmill Inn in St George’s Field, in the 1850s. Picture: Explore York

Sadly, the pub was demolished in 1856 to allow the Foss Basin to be created. But we may soon have a lovely multi-storey car park nearby instead, so that’s OK.

Other pubs featured on these pages include the original inn which once stood on the corner of Burton Stone Lane - and the later pub, The Burton stone, which replaced it after it was demolished in 1896.

Oh, yes, and we also have a 1935 photo of The Marcia in Acomb, views of the various pubs which have lined St Sampson’s Square - and a glimpse of the Punch Bowl Inn near Micklegate Bar some time between 1925 and 1935. There’s a policeman standing on points duty in front...

York Press:

The original inn on the corner of Burton Stone Lane in the 1880s. It was demolished in 1896 and the new Burton Stone Inn was built in its place. Picture: Explore York Libraries and Archives