Old photos offer snapshot of York’s forgotten past

Decades earlier, those grounds on Acomb Road in York echoed with very different sounds as children played under the watchful eye of nurses in the gardens of what was then the Godfrey Walker Home.

It isn’t easy to mentally swap that scene of pints, replica shirts and nervous glances at the scoreboard for prams, toys and nursery games. But our old photo highlights the history of the Victorian villa that was originally built for the Russell family, according to the York Historic Environment Record.

Old photo reveals forgotten past of popular York pub – pictured, children at play under the eye of nurses in the grounds of the Godfrey Walker Home (now the Carlton Tavern pub) in 1948 . (Image: Newsquest)

The Waifs and Strays Society moved its Godfrey Walker children’s home here in 1946, turning it into a nursery in 1947 for babies and toddlers up to five. Records show it continued as the Godfrey Walker Children’s Home until about 1970, before becoming a hotel and, in the 1990s, the Carlton Tavern pub under Marston’s.

1962 – The Glass Bridge in Grosvenor Terrace, Clifton, is replaced with a new footbridge. (Image: Newsquest)

The photo is one of several that we’ve uncovered in our archives to a offer snapshot of everyday life in York – from the Cross Keys pub in 1968, standing watch over the busy Tadcaster Road junction, to the Crystal Palace on Holgate Road in 1961, a well-known stopping point for locals.

1968 – The Cross Keys and the junction of Tadcaster Road and St Helen’s Road. (Image: Newsquest)

Shops, too, tell the story of a changing city. Older readers may remember when Newbould’s Fisheries in Huntington reopened in 1967 after a £3,000 refurbishment, while the street scene of Hull Road and Matmer House hints at the mix of homes and businesses lining York’s expanding suburbs.

Matmer House in Hull Road in 1968. (Image: Newsquest)

Other photos feature once-familiar scenes from carnival crowds in Wigginton, school days at Robert Wilkinson, and Clifton’s old Glass Bridge giving way to the new.

Wigginton Carnival on Midgley’s Fields (now Windsor Drive) in 1962. (Image: Newsquest)

We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane. If you love delving into York’s past and seeing photos from yesteryear, and reading stories about them, then please join our online nostalgia group on Facebook, Why We Love York – Memories. It is free to join and you will find us at www.facebook.com/groups/yorknostalgia.

22 July 1966 – The old Robert Wilkinson Primary School, which was built in 1857 and was replaced by new premises in 1972. (Image: Newsquest)

It would be great to see your old photos of York – and they don’t have to be from centuries ago.

We all love seeing old photos from our own past, and some of our more popular stories date from the 70s, 80s and 90s – and even into the noughties.

If you have a nostalgia story for us, you can also contact us on email – write to nadia.jeffersonbrown@newsquest.co.uk.