RECOGNISE this view of York?

The photo dates from about 1911 and shows a very distinctive part of York - albeit one that looks a bit different today!

It is of Foss Islands Road, looking towards Layerthorpe Bridge.

The photo is from the council's excellent photo archive which you can browse online at: images.exploreyork.org.uk.

In the caption that accompanies the photo, the photographer has written: "The main thoroughfare connecting Layerthorpe and Lawrence Street. Observe kerb and ash footpath."

Step back in time and Foss Islands Road was very different. It was dominated by a large power station that supplied electricity to the area, and its cooling tower and chimneys dominated the skyline. Today only its chimney (at Morrison's) and the Blue Cable Bridge over the Foss remain.

Go back even further to medieval times, and the area was dominated by the King’s Pool, a large lake that served almost as part of the city’s defences.

By the 18th century this had begun to silt up and in the mid 19th century small industries such as potteries and brick kilns had grown up.

The York Gas Light Company was set up on the west side of the Foss in the 1820s. By the end of the 1800s Foss Islands Road had been created, the gas works had been expanded, and the power station and refuse destructor had been built. The Foss Islands railway branch connected most of these industries to the rail network.

From the mid-late 1900s the gas works site went through several periods of expansion and re-organisation until it closed in the 1970s.

Most of the terraced streets, home to generations of York people, were demolished between the 1950s and 1970s, along with the pubs and shops which had served them.

For more old photos of York, do visit the city council's Explore York archive (images.exploreyork.org.uk).

If you love looking at old photos of York, make sure to buy The Press every Wednesday for our weekly nostalgia supplement and join us in our Facebook group, Why We Love York - Memories. Join us at www.facebook.com/groups/yorknostalgia/.