St Sampson's Square, York, on market day, 1951

This busy scene shows St Sampson’s Square in 1951. It was taken on a market day before the market (mainly meat and fish) was moved to Newgate.

The square - once known as 'Thursday Market' - had been the site of one of York's two main markets (the other was on Pavement) for centuries - in fact since 'long before the 13th century' , according to the History of the County of York. "The name (Thursday Market) suggests that a market may at first have been held here only one day each week," the History adds. "But by the early 16th century three market-days were kept." It sold mainly meat, poultry and fish, but sometimes cloth, too - and, by the time this photo was taken, ice cream. The ice cream stall in the picture belonged to J Questa, who had a shop on the corner of King’s Square.

The photo comes from Explore York's new-look digital archive, images.exploreyork.org.uk

Stephen Lewis