The Water Lanes: York’s Demolished Medieval Past

The Water Lanes, now demolished, were three medieval streets in the historic city of York.

These lanes were part of the intricate network of narrow, winding streets that characterised York's medieval layout.

The Water Lanes were narrow thoroughfares, often barely wide enough for pedestrians and small carts to pass through.

Like many medieval streets, the Water Lanes followed a winding course, meandering through the cityscape rather than adhering to a strict grid pattern.

This winding layout was often a result of organic growth over time, with streets evolving along paths dictated by natural geography or early settlement patterns.

The buildings lining the Water Lanes would have exhibited typical medieval architectural features, such as timber framing, narrow gables, and masonry construction.

Many of these structures would have been multi-story, with living quarters above ground-floor shops or workshops.

The three Water Lanes were known by different names through their history.

In the 12th century, First Water Lane was known as Kergate, Middle Water Lane as Thursegayle, and Far Water Lane as Hertergate.

They were similar in appearance to The Shambles, with the jettied buildings hanging over the street, but they were much longer and perhaps even more ‘shambolic’. 

The lanes held great appeal for artists, who enjoyed capturing the long, narrow streets and ramshackle buildings.

In particular, the artist John Ruskin and his associates did several drawings of the streets in Victorian times as well as the early Victorian pioneer of photography William Henry Fox Talbot.

However, The Lanes had associations with poverty, crime and immorality dating back to the 15th century.

They often had the highest rates of poverty and crime in the City - and they were unfortunately known for their unsanitary conditions, much of York's cholera problems started in these streets.

Attempts were made over many decades to look at either improving or demolishing the lanes.

The police reports from the area made constant reference to the problems of crime in the streets, with offences ranging from murder to mugging.

By the 19th century, the Lanes had become notable slums.

In February 1830, City Commissioners looked seriously at the "plan of the projected New Street from Low Ousegate, across the Water Lanes, and to the present entrance to the Castle".

Although it obtained support, no firm action was decided for the area.

The fact that a tenth of those who died in the York cholera epidemic of 1832 lived in the three Water Lanes spurred on the argument in support of demolishing them.

After continued debate, in the 1850s the City Corporation decided that the lanes should be demolished, although work didn't finish for around twenty years.

After the demolition, many former residents were forced to move to other already overcrowded areas of the city such as the Hungate and Walmgate districts where their arrival exacerbated conditions.

This and placed them once more in the sights of sanitary inspectors and city councils, who went about demolishing large parts of these areas too.

The demolition lasted over quite a number of years and, while most of the street is gone now, there remain a few structures still extant that formed parts of the Water Lanes, namely, the King’s Staith.

Several buildings on King's Staith survived the clearances and remain to this day, including Cumberland House and the Kings Arm Pub which, from early-17th century formed the water front end of First Water Lane and still stands to this day.

If you’d like to experience what they lanes would have felt like, then we highly recommend a visit to The Shambles, York - one of the best-preserved medieval shopping streets in Europe.

It's a narrow street of mostly timber buildings that date back as far as the 13th century.

The street itself is mentioned in the Domesday Book, so we know that it has been in continuous existence for over 900 years.

There are 27 listed building in The Shambles, including 10 listed Grade II* and another 17 listed Grade II.

The Shambles has the effect of a time machine, transporting you back to the Elizabethan period!

The street was previously named the 'Most Picturesque Street in Britain' in the Google Street View Awards for 2010.

More than 11,000 voters selected The Shambles from a shortlist of 51 historic streets selected by a panel of experts.

The distinct architecture of the ancient street is a unique blend of medieval and Elizabethan styles.

The overhanging timber-framed buildings create a canopy effect, almost touching at the top and giving the street its unmistakable charm.

The lower floors, once vibrant market stalls, have evolved into quaint shops, tearooms, and boutiques, attracting tourists from around the country.

In certain parts of the Shambles you are able to stand with one hand on either side of the street.

With its cobbled streets and overhanging buildings, it is also believed to have been the inspiration behind Diagon Alley from the movie adaptation of the Harry Potter series.

Today, it’s home to four Harry Potter themed shops selling merchandise, but they can get busy at times!

Although none of the original shop-fronts have survived from medieval times, some properties still have exterior wooden shelves, reminders of when cuts of meat were served from the open windows.

Lacking modern-day sanitation facilities, there was a constant problem of how to dispose of the waste produced by the slaughter of animals in the city. 

The street was made narrow by design to keep the meat out of direct sunlight, but you can readily imagine the Shambles packed with people and awash with offal and discarded bones.

The pavements are raised either side of the cobbled street to form a channel where the butchers would wash away their offal and blood twice a week.

When butchering took place, the guts, offal and blood were thrown into the street runnels that had a natural slope which helped it wash away after rain.

These butchering practices long predated basic modern standards of hygiene and the street would have been incredibly unhygienic in these days.

The last butcher shops on the street closed in the early 20th century and although the butchers have now vanished, a number of the shops on the street still have meat-hooks hanging outside.

The projecting upper storeys had a very practical purpose too; they helped keep the rain off goods laid out for sale in the merchants' stalls below.

And, of course, they helped provide larger living quarters above the shops without needing to pay for more street frontage.

Today, The Shambles draws visitors from across the country and it’s an incredible place to visit.

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