The Shambles

We braved the arctic cold winds to wander round York, as it was my sisters first trip to the city.

After visiting the Minster we walked down 'The Shambles', an old street with overhanging timber-framed buildings, some dating back as far as the fourteenth century.

It was once known as The Great Flesh Shambles, probably from the Anglo-Saxon Fleshammels (literally 'flesh-shelves'), the word for the shelves that butchers used to display their meat. As recently as 1872 there were twenty-five butchers' shops in the street but now there are none, instead restaurants, galleries and sweet and chocolate shops.