Blake Street is a road in the city centre of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, in England.

History

The area occupied by the street lay within the walls of Roman

Eboracum Eboracum () was a fort and later a city in the Roman province of Britannia. In its prime it was the largest town in northern Britain and a provincial capital. The site remained occupied after the decline of the Western Roman Empire and ultimate ...

, but the route was not established until later. The Blake Street Hoard, a

coin hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention o ...

of 35 silver ''

denarii The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very ...

'' dating to the first century AD was found here in 1975. The

York Civic Trust York Civic Trust is a membership organisation and a registered charity based in York, UK. Its primary function is to "preserve, protect and advise on the historic fabric of York". It is based in Fairfax House. Foundation York Civic Trust was fo ...

claims that it emerged in the Anglian period, as a shortcut between the Porta Principalis Dextra and the Porta Praetoria, now St Helen's Square and Bootham Bar. The street was first recorded in the 1150s. There are three main theories of the origin of its name: that "Blake" comes from the words for "white" or "bleaching", or from the Viking name "Bleiki". The church of St Wilfrid, Blake Street, was first mentioned in the 1140s and lay in the middle of the western side of the street. It was demolished in 1585, and for religious purposes, the street thereafter fell into the parish of St Michael le Belfrey, although the civil parish survived until 1900. The main entrance to

St Leonard's Hospital St Leonard's Hospital may refer to: * St Leonard's Hospital, Ferndown, a community hospital in Dorset * St Leonard's Hospital, Hackney St Leonard's Hospital is a hospital in Hackney, North London. History The hospital was founded as the infir ...

lay opposite the northern end of the street, and by 1215, it owned several properties on the street. A survey of 1230 shows that

Whitby Abbey Whitby Abbey was a 7th-century Christian monastery that later became a Benedictine abbey. The abbey church was situated overlooking the North Sea on the East Cliff above Whitby in North Yorkshire, England, a centre of the medieval Northumbrian ...

owned several others. During the Georgian period, the street was the departure point for

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

es to the north. In 1732, the

York Assembly Rooms The York Assembly Rooms is an 18th-century assembly rooms building in York, England, originally used as a place for high class social gatherings in the city. The building is situated on Blake Street and is a Grade I listed building. Designed ...

opened on the west side of the street, and these survive. An open area to their north was created in 1735, and this was sometimes known as "Blake's Square". In 1827, baths were opened on the street. The street now forms part of the city's central shopping area. It was pedestrianised in 2020.

Architecture and layout

The street runs north from St Helen's Square to the junction of Museum Street,

Duncombe Place Duncombe Place is a street in the city centre of York, in England. History The street was first mentioned in 1346 as Lop Lane, and it later became known as Little Blake Street. Initially a very narrow street, the eastern entrance to St Leonard ...

, and

St Leonard's Place St Leonard's Place is a street in the city centre of York, in England. History The site street lay mostly within the walls of Roman Eboracum, and two Anglo-Saxon carved stones and a large coin hoard have been discovered in excavations in the ...

. Until the creation of St Helen's Square, in 1745, it started at a junction with Stonegate, while a footpath across the graveyard of St Helen, Stonegate, connected it to

Davygate Davygate is a major shopping street in the city centre of York, in England. History During the Roman period, the site of Davygate lay just inside the city walls, and was covered by barracks. In the 12th-century, the land on which the street ...

. Other than the Assembly Rooms, the most notable buildings on the west side of the street are 18 Blake Street, built in 1789, while on the east side, 1-5 Blake Street has 16th century origins, 11 and 13 Blake Street were both built about 1750, and 15-21 were built by Thomas Haxby in 1773. 23 and 25 Blake Street are both late-18th century.

References

{{Streets of York Streets in York