THE mystery surrounding a barrow pulled out of the River Ouse has attracted interest from all over York.

Earlier this week we published a photo of an old cart which was found in the river at Kings Staith by staff from York Boat, and asked readers for suggestions about where it could have come from.

Several people said the cart reminded them of old porters' barrows used by market traders who used them for ferrying sacks of grain along Kings Staith, or to carry blocks of ice to keep fish and meat cool.

George Smith, 71, of Bishophill, said: "I'm pretty sure it's a porter's barrow. They certainly used them a lot in fish markets in Hull - they were handy for storing crates on."

Several readers also thought it might be an old York Railway Station barrow that had been washed down the Ouse, and one suggested it could have been used for carrying peat.

A more unusual viewpoint came from Jeremy Muldowney, of the York Minster Centre for School Visits - a young person's educational service.

Mr Muldowney, whose job involves looking at medieval texts, said the design of the barrow was ancient - although the cart itself was probably not nearly as old.

He said: "It is almost indistinguishable from those commonly found in medieval manuscript illustrations, where they are usually shown carrying stone blocks for major building projects such as cathedrals.

"They have probably been making barrows like that from about 1200 right up until the invention of the fork-lift truck."

The barrow has been offered to York Castle Museum for public display, but curators said today they would not be adding it to their collection.

A spokeswoman said experts believed the cart to be a 19th century industrial barrow, and had offered to visit York Boat staff to have a look at it.

Director of collections Mary Kershaw said: "It is always very exciting when something surprising is found, particularly in a river, but in museums we're looking to collect things that have a history attached to them and although this is a quirky object, we don't know anything about it so it wouldn't be something we would be looking to collect."

Updated: 12:00 Saturday, May 28, 2005