HE is not the most famous of York's pioneers. But William Pumphrey deserves to be better known, because he was the man behind these pictures - some of the first professional photographs of our city.

The centenary of Mr Pumphrey's death has just passed - he died in Bristol in 1905, aged 88 - but the images he created with the most basic of photographic equipment live on.

William Pumphrey was York's first professional photographer who was also a painter. He initially made daguerreotypes - a photograph made by an early process employing an iodine-sensitised silvered plate and mercury vapour.

After 1852 he used the calotype process created by Fox Talbot.

Born in 1817 in Worcester, he came to York in 1845, becoming a science teacher at Bootham School.

"At this time photography was emerging as a new art, or science, and it aroused Pumphrey's interest to such an extent that in 1849 he decided to leave teaching to start a Photographic Portrait Gallery in Coney Street," writes Hugh Murray in his book Photographs And Photographers Of York: The Early Years 1844-1879.

"This was to be York's first business devoted entirely to photography."

In 1853, he took the earliest comprehensive photographic record of the streets and buildings of the city: 60 views in total.

These are housed at the reference library and most of them can be viewed at www.imagine.co.uk. Here we reproduce a selection.

1 THIS is the Windmill Inn which used to occupy the site of St George's Field car park.

At the early part of the 12th century a grand military Order Of The Knights Templar was created. They were involved in the Crusades and became a powerful force.

In 1275 they owned a mill in York on the banks of the Foss on land which had been granted to the Order by Roger de Mowbray.

During the 14th century they abused their great wealth and privileges so the Crown seized their property and members of the Order were imprisoned.

Among the properties seized in York were the Castle Mills and St George's Chapel on St George's Field. In 1447 the Chapel was in a very dilapidated state and was repaired and used as a gild hall for the Gild of St Christopher.

In 1464 the Chapel and Mills were granted to St Leonard's Hospital.

The chapel was demolished during the Dissolution and much of the stone used to repair other buildings. The lower stonework in the photograph is the original stonework of the chapel which became the foundations of the Windmill Inn.

The inn was very close to the present entrance to St George's Field and was demolished in 1856 to create the Foss Basin.

This was needed to accommodate the many barges which were using the Browney Dyke and the Foss at that time - supplying the glassworks and Leetham's Mill.

2 PUMPHREY describes this image as "The view of Clifford's Tower... taken from the Castle yard in front of the Debtor's Prison."

The building on the right is the house of the governor of the civil prison, which was built from1826-35. In 1900 the prison and castle were handed over to the military and used as a military prison until 1929.

In 1934 the site was sold to York Corporation and in 1935 it was demolished.

The grassed area in front of Clifford's Tower has transparent deer - the long exposure times required by early photography often created "ghost" images of moving objects.

3 KINGS Staith is seen from the opposite bank of the River Ouse. The large building with the Georgian facade is Cumberland House and on its left is The Ship Inn. The houses to the right were demolished in 1882 as the clearance of the slum areas of the Water Lanes was completed. William Pumphrey said "the old houses... on the staith are types of the old timbered and plastered houses of the 17th century; many of this class of buildings are situated in such narrow and dark lanes as not to be reproducible in the camera". The bridge is Ouse Bridge.

4 YORK Minster is seen from Museum Street. The buildings on Little Blake Street (directly in front of the Minster - then called Lop Lane) have all been demolished.

On the right hand side of the image is Etridge's Hotel which, at the time, had the Gentleman's Club Room - a News Room described as being "well-supplied with the metropolitan and provincial journals".

Pumphrey describes this view as being taken from "the gates of the Museum Gardens".

5 GUILDHALL and general view of the city from North Street.

The Guildhall was erected in 1446 by the Mayor and Commonalty and the Master and Brethren of the Gilds of St Christopher and St George.

The Yorkshire Herald Office (currently City Screen) has not yet been built, making St Martin Le Grand Church on Coney Street much more visible.

Photographs reproduced courtesy of www.imagineyork.co.uk, a Lottery-funded project based at York Reference Library.

Copies of published pictures can be obtained from Anne Wood or Helene Brown from our photosales department, on (01904) 567135, or via photosales@ycp.co.uk

Updated: 09:35 Monday, April 18, 2005