ANDREW MORRISON sheds light on the history beneath our feet – and why we should continue to take pride in the city’s paving.
WALK anywhere in York’s city centre and you’re walking across history. Our pavements and roadways are as much a part of the city’s character as the Minster’s towers or the snickleways threading between medieval plots.
The careful maintenance of this history is a vital part of the future of the city. Over the last 900 years the city authorities have taken pride in the state of the city’s streets.
Yet over the same period commentators have detailed the often mire-like state of these thoroughfares and the often immediate poor condition of expensively and recently installed paving.
Repairs to roadways and paving have for the same period been a constant drain on the city’s finances. In 1319 the authorities in York successfully applied to the King for the right to collect a toll for the maintenance of the city’s roads – known as Pavage, whilst the responsibility for keeping pavements in good order was split between residents, parishioners and the authorities.
For nearly a millennium the one element that has caused the most damage to the city’s streets has been large heavy goods vehicles making deliveries to local markets, removing waste and travelling through the city. In response to this threat the medieval authorities were not afraid to take action.
They legislated that large carts with iron tyres (the medieval HGV) had to pay extra tolls for crossing freshly made paved areas and for a period of time were banned completely from crossing the new Ouse Bridge.
A further city ordnance banned anyone from using large wagons with iron bound wheels, or face a hefty fine of 10 shillings, to remove dung from the city due to the damage caused by such vehicles to the newly paved streets, some of which were in a worse state than they were before being repaved.
National events also has a hand in ensuring that York’s streets were kept in good order. A potential visit of Queen Elizabeth I in 1575 (which unfortunately did not happen) again spurred the authorities into action, ordering that all the pavements in the city and suburbs to be paved over a 12 month period and every resident should do the same for those areas against and in front of their own houses or risk yet more fines.
In the mid-18th Century a new paving product appeared on the York market to replace the medieval cobbles, gravel and sand – flagstones – made of a robust sandstone from the Pennines – known more frequently as York Stone.
Once laid and if treated well this superior surface required less maintenance and produced a cleaner and more visually pleasing result. York took up this new surface in abundance as it complemented the new Georgian desire for a smarter city.
In recent decades pedestrianisation of much of the city centre has removed the tidal wave of tarmac that stamped its 20th Century imprint on our streets. The City Council has since the 1970’s continued to expend large sums on appropriate quality paving in the city centre reflecting its status as one of England’s most complex conservation areas, in particular on streets like Stonegate, Shambles and Micklegate.
Reflecting the fact that paving is not just a surface – it’s an asset to the city. Its colour, texture and joint pattern set the tone of whole streetscapes. Lose the quality in both the materials and the skills for caring for these surfaces and we risk losing the character of our streets.
Yet looking around the city centre it is easy to spot where this quality has not been maintained. ‘Temporary’ maintenance and safety replacements has seen a checkerboard of tarmac intrusions and a patchwork of modular paving of just the wrong colour creep into the streets.
These ‘temporary’ (some do feel like they’ve been in place since King Edward II granted the city the Pavage rights) measures are often too easy an answer for companies undertaking works in the city centre.
It is vitally important for York to thrive that we continue to take a pride in, and improve our paving to make York an accessible, appealing and thriving city. It is perhaps after all the one single element of the city that we all experience.
Andrew Morrison
In the York Press, 2025