Ghosttown York - The Shambles

Did you know? The Shambles, York, England is the best-preserved medieval street in the whole of Europe and arguably the best preserved street in the whole World! It’s full of ambience.

 

This is Old England itself, truly magnificent. A magical, largely timber structured street, dating back to the 13th Century. Iconic – a must-see.

 

The  Shambles has won Britain’s most picturesque street award.

 

Just look at this awesome street! With its shops and residences.

It’s usually thronging with thousands of visitors and I got this photograph on 3 December 2023 - a rarity!

With no people in it!

Why?!

Because there had been so much freezing snow and ice here in York, England that people were not wanting to leave their houses. People here are not used to snow and ice, and the dangers it poses from such slippery, dangerous, conditions and freezing point, are concerning. With the bad weather everything seems to come to a standstill here in England. Social media advises citizens that It is better to stay at home and keep safe.

I had ventured out into the freezing cold at 5 am in the morning to get to The Shambles before anyone else did! I was slipping and sliding on the frozen ground, to get here, and once here,

because the houses were so close together, even though I was frozen to the bone and my teeth were chattering, my breath lingering on the cold Winter’s morning air, the cobbled streets were not frozen, but actually wet. The site before me was terrific. Inviting me into its historical splendour. On my own. Can you believe it?! On my own!!!

The air was silent. I could hear nothing at all. Not a pin drop. I was standing in pure bliss and mindfulness, imaginging what would have been happening here hundreds of years ago, and in total

surprise of my fantastic surroundings.

I was in awe of this beautiful place. I touched the beams of the buildings, just to ground myself, the glorious Tudor wood under my fingertips was smooth after all those hundreds of years. I smiled as I could not quite believe that I was standing here amongst all this history of hundreds of years in the making. It was the most amazing feeling in the World.

I started to imagine the hustle and bustle of those bygone days and how it must have felt like to have been a customer, the smells, the aromas and the excitement of buying something special.

How lucky! No people here in this shot. It was like being in a ghosttown. I could hardly believe my luck.

This is unheard of for The Shambles. There are normally hundreds of thousands, millions of people in fact, coming to York just to see this awesome street, at all hours of day and night. It is a never ending feast.

The Shambles, with its historic buildings and cobbled streets, are built so close together. The historic beamed buildings have overhangs so massive that you can almost reach across the

second floor windows of the buildings and touch hands with each other over the street in places. I found this fact to be both fascinating and absolutely amazing.

It is believed that this was the street for the inspiration for Diagon Alley from the movie adaptation of the Harry Potter series.

There are so many exciting stories to be told of The Shambles and what once went on here and what goes on nowadays. The Shambles is steeped in a long and interesting history. Originally

exclusive to butchers, the houses were built so close together so that the meat would be kept out of direct sunlight.

Later, there is history of Saints having lived here (Margaret Clitherow), of magical potions having been discovered and nowadays it is home to the Harry Potter shop and York Ghosts who make ghosts to instructions imposed by the Sorrowful Guild of Master Ghost Makers and York Chocolatiers, as York is famed for its chocolate history.

York is extremely famous for it’s Ghost history. There are so many ghost stories for York and there are many guided ghost tours of the city, which stop in The Shambles, to tell of the street’s

past.

York was founded in 71 AD by the Romans who called it Eboracum. Constantine was Emperor here in 306. After the Romans rule, York became the capital of Anglo-Saxon Kingdom,

Northumbria. The Vikings came here in 866AD!

York was a tourist destination 2000 years ago and these days it gets 8.9 million visitors every year.

The Shambles was given a mention in the Doomsday Book of William the Conqueror in 1086!

So, I can tell you that the Shambles is the most interesting and charming, ever so beautiful, Medieval street, dating back to the late fourteenth and fifteenth century (around 1350 – 1475).

I waited for my special unique, photograph, waiting for the world to awake, waiting for time to move on, waiting, waiting and then, the moment came.

Suddenly from nowhere, on this frosty, freezing cold morning, there appeared a huge group of tourists with their guide.

An urgency fell upon me. Now was the only moment in time, this day.

It was an urgent, most sensitive moment, it was now or never.

Instinctively, I urgently pressed my shutter.

It was THE moment. This was a major invasion of people into this special place and I just had to get my photograph before they all invaded.

Here it is! That most special moment!

Ghosttown York - The Shambles.

This photograph has a very special, extra magical feel to it for the holiday season. I hope that you like it as much as `i do.

With kindest wishes to you and your families. Mark Pollitt x

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