The Market from the City walls
York Cattle Market was held in the city centre from the 16th century, cattle were initially driven to and from the market, however in more recent years they came to be transported to and from the market by rail until the market was moved out of the city to Murton in 1976. The market was not only limited to cattle but also saw the sale of other livestock such as horses and sheep and also of produce such as wool.
The site in the photograph now belongs to Persimmon Homes who have re-submitted a planning application first submitted some twenty year ago. It envisages 410 apartments. To the west of the site there is an apart hotel currently used for housing asylum seekers and the Barbican concert Hall.
The only relic of the market is the unusually high number of pubs surrounding the site. Farmers and livestock dealers would retire here for one last chance to make a sale. Any unsold would be loaded back onto the train and moved to the next market – usually at Selby
This 1914 image shows the horses at York Cattle Market ready to go to the front in the first world war. The volume of animals highlights the importance of such centralised markets. The rail sheds(?) in the background show how important it was for the transport of such large numbers of livestock. As Steve Masterman highlighted in his interview with York Greenways. (290_12_121_692)
For scale, the York Cattle Market can be seen here on the lantern slide ‘York from 1750ft’ dating from the early 20th century (certainly after 1912 as Piccadilly can be seen). The York Cattle Market can be seen in the bottom right corner. The prison walls can be seen in the top-right quarter. (y_11274)
The cattle market was held here outside Walmgate bar from 1827 to 1970, the market was served by 17 nearby public houses. (y55_11019)
To the left of this image, we can see the pens for the cattle market outside of Walmgate bar c.1950. (y55_3091)
- Archive
- York Explore
- Theme
- River
- Decade
- 1900, 1910, 1950