York Historic Environment Record

Shambles, a narrow street running S.E. from King's Square to Pavement, results from the infilling of a more open area, perhaps after 1086 when the district is first mentioned ('in macello'). Booths still existed in 1100 but by 1240 the street had the name of Haymongergate and was later called Nedlergate (1394). In 1426 both these alternatives and the more usual name of the Great Flesh Shambles, eventually abbreviated to the Shambles, were used. There is a continuous tradition of occupation by butchers: in 1798 nineteen and in 1830 twenty-five out of eighty-eight listed in the city had shops here. Now only two butchers' shops remain. St. Margaret Clitherow, the wife of a butcher, lived in a house in the Shambles. The churches of Holy Trinity and St. Crux, at either end of the street, were demolished in 1936 and 1887. The picturesque appearance of the ancient jettied houses almost meeting across the cobbled roadway now attracts tourists and the sellers of antiques, souvenirs and luxury goods. The buildings on either side have been generally restored by the city since 1950. However it is only within the past fifty years that this street, the last survivor of other equally picturesque, though more squalid, York lanes, previously demolished without protest, has been thought either remarkable or attractive.

An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 5, Central. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1981.

NMR Information

Related Archives

BF086954 THE SHAMBLES, YORK File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued.
OP08085 A view looking south of properties on the west side of Shambles, York
OP08086 A view looking south along Shambles, York with people standing on the pavement and a man sat on a chair next to meat hanging outside a butcher's shop
OP08087 A view looking south along Shambles, York with a groups of boys and two women standing on the pavements

NMR, 2019, NMR data (Digital archive). SYO2214.