Malton’s Yorkersgate has a rich history – and last year was even treated to a royal visit. Howard Campion looks back.
THIS is a street with an unusual name. It is a corruption of a York House Gate – ‘gate’ means ‘street’ and York House is the handsome building set back on the left-hand side as you head up the hill out of town.
Hundreds of people lined it last April when King Charles and Queen Camilla visited on their first visit to the town following the death of the late Queen Elizabeth.
Early post cards mention the street as ‘Yorker’s Gate’ (apostrophe) but its former full name can be seen on architects drawings from the 1800s.
The street runs parallel to the River Derwent and is dominated by buildings associated with water borne trade, which was dominant in the years before the railways (pre-1840-50).
Goods had to be moved up from the various wharves during this time.
And through the Water Lane archway was one of the ways that this could be done before Railway Street was fashioned out of the then gap in the buildings and connected up to Wells Lane.
Across the road and behind number 22 Yorkersgate, there was a corresponding archway now covered by a shop frontage.
It is said that this was once intended for use as the commencement of a deliveries access route to the rear yards of the shops in Saville Street. Its restricted width causes problems even today.
On that side of Yorkersgate we have the Palace Cinema, formerly the Corn Exchange.
This much-loved venue was often – along with Norton’s cinema – the only source of entertainment for younger residents.
There were frequent queues on a weekend and one remembers patiently queuing for over an hour in 1957 to see High Society (without success).
The re-development of the site gave rise to an interesting indoor market,
Along with York House, the Talbot sits at the end of Yorkersgate.
Recommended reading:
- ‘I’m completely speechless’ – people in Malton react to meeting the King
- Malton welcomes King Charles III and Queen Consort
- A ‘bumper weekend’ of trade in Malton after visit by Royal couple
The popular venue was originally a hunting lodge for the local Strickland family but becoming a hotel in the eighteenth century.
They seem to have been commercially linked for some while, old maps showing the space between them as a ‘service yard’.
Certainly Malton’s spa was behind the Talbot’s gardens by the river.
It is also thought, according to Nigel Copsey, that the Talbot was built across the town wall, thereby incorporating part of it and possibly the gatehouse in the basement.
Directly across Yorkersgate is Talbot Yard which is a multi-occupied collection of food outlets contributing to Malton’s reputation as Yorkshire’s Food Capital.
Charles and Camilla even visited the yard during last year’s royal visit.
- Howard Campion is a trustee at the Malton and Norton Heritage Centre
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