Working with York-based design agency LazenbyBrown, we have refined our original logo. The Trust’s logo was chosen when Trust was founded in 1946 and was inspired by the York assay mark of 1423. An assay mark was a guarantee of quality, stamped on precious metals to confirm their standard. York’s right to use one signified the city’s importance as a centre of trade and craftsmanship in the medieval period. In addition to the historic fleur-de-lis, the new logo more closely resembles the leopard-like face of the original mark. The result is a clearer, more distinctive symbol that will serve the organisation for years to come.

Old logo (1946-2025)

New logo (from 2025)

The brand refresh also introduces a new colour palette and typography with strong ties to York’s history. The headline typeface references the work of Frank Pick, a former pupil of St Peter’s School, York, and later a pioneering figure in British design. Pick was instrumental in commissioning the Johnston typeface for the London Underground.

“The brand refresh is a big step, and one that will help shift perceptions of the Trust. The new logo, colours and typeface, developed with LazenbyBrown, will help us present a clearer, more consistent identity, one that reflects who we are today and ensures the Trust remains relevant and recognisable for years to come.”

Delma Tomlin, Chair, York Civic Trust

“In such changing times for heritage and place branding it’s been a pleasure to assist the York Civic Trust to define and develop an identity that defines and characterises their progressive approach to stewardship of such a remarkable City as York.”

Mat Lazenby, Creative Director, LazenbyBrown

York Civic Trust at 80

The refreshed identity launches as York Civic Trust prepares to mark a major milestone. Founded in 1946, in the aftermath of the Second World War, we have spent eight decades promoting the sensitive conservation of York’s heritage while supporting the city’s growth as a thriving, modern place for residents and visitors. Our legacy includes supporting the foundation of the University of York, campaigning for pedestrianisation of the historic city centre, conserving or reusing twenty-one important historic buildings, and installing hundreds of blue plaques across the city.

In 2025 the Trust will launch ‘Our York’, a three-year programme of events and initiatives that both celebrate the city’s rich history and look ahead to the future. Highlights will include a major refresh of the blue plaques scheme, a new community heritage grants programme, and expanded outreach work to engage more people in shaping York’s story.

The post York Civic Trust unveils refreshed identity ahead of our 80th anniversary first appeared on York Civic Trust.

York’s rich and long history would suggest that underneath every street and building there lie hidden layers of the city’s past.

But what about the city’s open green spaces, enjoyed by so many people, are they as fertile ground for evidence of the city’s history?

Many have survived mostly unscathed by development. The strays of York – the green wedges that provide a connection between the centre and the city’s outer reaches have remained reasonably untouched for 2000 years.

The green ramparts that lap the city’s medieval walls likewise have been mostly undeveloped.

Dean’s Park may hide a bishop’s palace and Museum Gardens holds the remains of one of the richest and most powerful monasteries that existed in Medieval England, but what about the numerous small patches of green space that we sometimes perhaps do not think about or even notice. What might lie beneath their grassy surface?

Take for instance the grassy knoll that lies beneath the bright yellow Biles Bean sign, restored in 2012 by York Civic Trust. Does anyone pay any attention to it?

The site is split into two by a single brick wall. On one side is a raised platform crossed by a footpath and on the other is an uneven depression surrounded by gravestones.

In the 12th century, a small parish church dedicated to St Maurice was built on the site, on what is now the corner of Monkgate and Lord Mayors Walk.

St Maurice was, according to a 5th century author, serving in a Roman legion made up entirely of Christians, recruited from Thebes in Egypt.

The legion was ordered to what is now Switzerland by the Emperor Maximian.

Their task was to help quash a revolt of local Christians. On account of their faith, the legion refused to fight against fellow Christians. The emperor had the legion ‘decimated’ – 1 in 10 soldiers killed as a punishment. They still refused to fight and eventually the emperor in retribution has the entire legion slaughtered.

The legend of St Maurice inspired many dedications across Europe including perhaps the most famous – the now ski resort of St Moritz in Switzerland. York’s church to St Maurice did not fare as well. It was in a state of disrepair some 300 years after its foundation. Repaired piecemeal, it was eventually replaced by a much larger Victorian Church in 1878. The local congregation could not support the church and within 90 years it was demolished in 1967 – the last to be demolished in York. The last remnants of the church were incorporated into the building of St James the Deacon in the west of York.

On the other side of the dividing brick wall the neighbouring piece of level land was once home to first a terrace of five houses and their backyards fronting onto Lord Mayor’s Walk and then three larger post-second world war homes – all now demolished.

That such a small patch of grass has nearly a 1000-year history should be of no surprise to York. Though today the site perhaps feels somewhat under-appreciated and under-used. Dominated by the proximity of the busy junction of Lord Mayors Walk, Monkgate and the appropriately named St Maurice’s Road it is not really a place for relaxation and enjoyment. But could it be?

Sitting directly across Lord Mayors Walk from the city wall and its rampart is there an opportunity to turn this corner into something different? Perhaps a pocket garden that could provide a respite after a busy day in the city centre, a place to sit before beginning a journey home from the neighbouring St John’s Car Park, somewhere that local residents could garden and provide some enhanced habitats for nature.

York’s city centre is a warren of narrow streets with small spaces often locked in between them which have no pressing purpose today, but all have a very long history of use and change. Could these spaces like Monkgate Green – once home to St Maurice’s Church provide the city centre with opportunities to create a network of ‘pocket parks’ – benefitting city centre residents, visitors, workers and nature.

Where houses and a church once stood could new life be brought back to continue the 1000-year process of change?

The post Hidden history of this 1,000-year-old York green space first appeared on York Civic Trust.

And yet, York is criss-crossed with trails, footpaths, and alleys that connect us to those who walked in the city centuries before us. Their choice of routes has directly shaped some of our modern road, path and cycling networks.

York’s unofficial paths came to mind recently during the council consultation for a new path between the Salisbury Road area and Scarborough Bridge. There’s clear indication of where people like to walk here (but it wasn’t one of the options). It’s close by the willow trees along the riverbank – illustrated by the well-worn track caused by people and a fair few dogs walking on the grass.

These types of tracks are called ‘desire lines’ or ‘desire paths’. They’re often the most-direct route between two places. But they can also come from other reasons – the most scenic, the safest feeling, the most quiet.

The oldest human footprints found outside Africa are at Happisburgh in Norfolk. They’re c.900,000 years old, include footprints of children, and were made in wet mud that became fossilised. It shows the simple act of walking as the earliest way humanity engaged with and left its trace upon nature; desire lines are part of this ongoing story.

In York, desire lines are most evident in grasslands, seen across common lands such as the Strays, Hob Moor and Clifton Backies. They are shown as simple earthen footways on the earliest Ordnance Survey maps of York, or etched in vegetation in early aerial photographs taken over the city. No doubt these types of tracks were shortcuts in centuries prior to this.

Much of York’s urban centre is a legacy of desire lines formed in the centuries after the Romans. The Romans were rigid and predictable in how they planned fortified camps and towns; Eboracum was effectively a grid system to garrison 5,000 legionnaires. After the Romans left, and the city fell into ruin, it was the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings who weaved new routes between the Roman ruins: Blake Street, Finkle Street and Goodramgate are testament to this.

In the case of New Walk along the River Ouse, a panoramic esplanade created in the 1730s, and one of the earliest in the country, ironically even this is not spared. Parallel tracks on the bank of the river run alongside the Georgian elm tree-lined walkway. They may have been made by those who simply prefer the sunshine along the river than the dappled shade of ancient elms, but likely, too, by children, in particular, who prefer the variation of a track in grass, where tree roots and level changes add variation, much more fun than the boring predictability of the tarmaced New Walk path.

But what can desire lines tell us about York’s past?

Tangibly, they show us how parts of the city were once separate and even remote, requiring tracks to be trodden to connect them. They tell us where people were permitted to roam, or at least considered the risk of trespass worth it. Children, too, who are often excluded from the annals of history, are particularly apt at making new routes, in play or, historically, the consequence of work tasks given to them.

Desire lines also help identify historic sites that were important to people. These are diverse, ranging from a river landing where the RSPCA centre is today, the Terry’s chocolate factory when a major employer, the Knavesmire for the races (some things don’t change), and the Tyburn on Tadcaster Road, where people were executed (some thing’s fortunately do change!).

They also indicate that our forefathers weren’t too dissimilar from us: leading perceivably busy lives, or simply lazy enough to opt for the shortest route possible.

Some of the historic York desire lines went on to be formalised as official, constructed paths and roads. A simple pathway that cut across Micklegate Stray on the earliest OS Map of 1852 is today’s Scarcroft Road. Where better to build a road or speculative housing than where people are evidently coming and going?

As man-made routes showing where we want to go, and not told to go, for some, desire lines are seen even as mini acts of defiance; two fingers raised against the social control aspect of modern urban planning. Should we observe more where us ‘masses’ talk with our feet, to help how we do urban design in York? Should we welcome children, especially, to show us where and how fun can feature as part of our grand designs?

The post York’s ancient ‘desire lines’ – the city paths of tomorrow? first appeared on York Civic Trust.

In the last 15 years, work by the City of York Council, My Future York, York Bid, York Civic Trust and the Bishopthorpe Road, Micklegate and Fossgate Traders Associations have developed plans to enhance parts of the city that were suffering from being dominated by tarmac and a lack of priority for people and high quality places.

In these areas a great deal of intensive work by individuals and local groups has achieved successful compromises that have improved the public realm, making it more accessible and welcoming to all, and providing increased economic opportunities for local businesses.

The successes have often required a huge amount of voluntary effort and leadership and have relied on the generosity of effort of individuals. But are we now failing to do this?

York is a city of many parts that have developed over centuries.

The city is not dominated by a single design like Bath or Milton Keynes.

Each neighbourhood has its own character developed by continuous change and adaptation.

These changes are most often driven by local authorities, commercial enterprises, or individuals and to a lesser extent by local communities.

Many have not stood the test of time and have disappeared leaving little trace whilst others have remained and added to the rich urban texture of York.

The City of York Council has just finished a second round of consultation with residents, businesses and the wider community to share and test ideas exploring how to improve Front Street in Acomb.

The Phase 2 consultation looked to ask the community for its views on making Front Street a more welcoming space, protecting the pavements and reviewing the recently installed bollards and seating, the future use of the road and markets and activities.

In 2022 following extensive local consultation City of York Council published the Future of Acomb Front Street Study, setting out a 10-15 year vision for the area.

Funding was secured from the central government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund to address some of the needs identified through the consultation.

Unfortunately, the resultant scheme with its oversupply of bollards was not met with enthusiasm as what was delivered did not fit with the ideas expressed for the area and seemed to differ from the options proposed as part of the study.

The Future of Acomb Front Street Study contained some bold and design-led ideas for transforming this important part of the life of Acomb to create something that York and Acomb could shout about and which would benefit both residents and businesses in the area and put the community at the heart of the development.

The study was a strong piece of community-inspired design that unfortunately felt far short of the community’s expectations in its initial delivery.

York Civic Trust has been actively involved in commissioning reviews and advocating improvements to the places people live and work for nearly 80 years.

The Civic Trust sponsored a ground-breaking report by the leading architect Lord Esher in 1969 setting the groundwork for the next 50 years of development of York, commissioned reviews and design studies from urban designers including George Pace’s important work on Bishophill in early 1970’s and more recently Derwenthorpe and the former Terry’s factory site.

The Trust has actively supported local Traders’ Associations and organizations such as York Bid and the council to improve the public realm across the city.

The reactions to the recent Front Street improvements have clearly demonstrated the passion for and the desire to achieve high-quality public realm that local people possess.

There have been many complaints that the standard of York’s public realm is slipping and that perhaps the gains made in recent decades are being lost as uncoordinated development, lack of investment, poor maintenance and a lack of agreement and vision take over.

City of York Council, with ever-diminishing resources, cannot do it all. External funding opportunities such the UK Shared Prosperity Fund have come along, and York needs to be ready to respond proactively.

Is it not time for our city to have a strong design-led public realm strategy, developed by local communities, urban designers and policy makers, that covers the whole city? Not one that is developed and put on a shelf, nor requires endless volunteer advocates, but one that is held close to the heart of the city and informs all of our futures.

The post Acomb’s ‘Bollardgate’ row shows need to design spaces people want first appeared on York Civic Trust.

Held at the beautiful and historic St Denys Church at the heart of the Walmgate community, Voicing the Hidden: Live Event explored the rich relationship between creativity and heritage.

With short films and live readings, the event showcased the poems, writings, and photographs produced through the Trust’s Heritage Open Days 2021 creative walking tours around the historically rich streets of Walmgate and Fossgate.

It was fantastic to see people out on the streets of York directly engaging with heritage beyond the big tourist hotspots. Fossgate and Walmgate have a real working class history which the tours and follow-up event helped to unearth and keep alive.

In a free-flowing participatory discussion, led by award-winning York-based poet Robert Powell, Prof. Chris Bailey (UNESCO Creative City) and Stephen Lusty (York Civic Trust Chair), the event asked questions about how imaginative responses to the past influence our sense of place and how we understand our city.

As well as readings from tour participants, Robert Powell treated the audience to multiple readings from his repertoire of locally-inspired poetry, including a poem inspired by St George’s Churchyard and the supposed grave of Dick Turpin, a stopping point on the heritage walks.

“Some of York’s history is famous and well-known, but lots of it is hidden and anonymous. Through imagination, writing, photography and art, we can help bring this ‘hidden’ aspect of the past to the surface in exciting ways. I was really impressed by what the Civic Trust ‘Creative Walk’ participants produced!”

Poet Robert Powell

There was a good turn out from YCT Members and the general public, however it was especially encouraging to see so many members of the St Denys congregation and Walmgate community in attendance.

Being a free event, the Trust also used the event as an opportunity to collect donations on behalf of St Denys towards a fundraising project to restore their beautiful Victorian tiled reredos. They were one of the features added when the church was refurbished in 1846-7. A typical early Victorian piece of a type now comparatively rare, it includes the symbols of the four Gospel-writers, the Creed and the Ten Commandments. During the mid-20th century, when such things were unfashionable, it was covered in pasted-on flock wallpaper, which was later removed in 1982.

Along with damp-penetration (now cured) from the wall behind it, this contributed to the present poor state of the reredos, many of whose tiles are loose and some cracked. It is therefore in urgent need of restoration. Those would like to make a donation can still do so via this link, selecting the reredos project from the drop down options.

Thank you again to everyone who contributed and came along to support the event. The Trust hopes to build on our productive relationship with the Walmgate community, and continue to collaborate on future projects that celebrate and redefine York’s heritage.

The post York Civic Trust celebrates creative responses to local heritage first appeared on York Civic Trust.

To nominate your special someone, simply send in their details to events@fairfaxhouse.co.uk, or message us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, and we’ll create and share it with the nation!

As well as our website, we are uploading the Plaques across our social media channels so get sharing and spread some positive plaque power!

#PersonaliseaPlaque

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