york Archives - James Clay Stuff

September 20, 2023

Then and Now Take Two – Heslington Village Main Street

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

York is a place I have visited and lived in over the last forty five years. I first went to York on a school trip in 1979 and we did lots of different things. We went to the Railway Museum, the Castle Museum, went up Clifford’s Tower. We visited Mother Shipton’s Cave and Fountain’s Abbey. I made a return visit to York in the summer of 1987 when we had some Yugoslavian Scouts over.

In October 1987 I studied Economics at York University for three years.

I made a return visit to York in July 1993, I stayed on campus and did various things including a return visit to Fountains Abbey.

It was quite a few years later before I visited again, and this time it was a fleeting visit to the university in March 2006 for a meeting. I had flown up to Leeds and hired a car to drive to York and then drove back, all in the one day.

I also was there for a mobile learning workshop in April 2009, and stayed at the hotel by the Railway Station. We did a family holiday to York in March 2013.

It was on the March 2006 trip that I drove into Heslington Village next to the university and took this photograph of Heslington Main Street with a Sony DSC P200 digital camera.

On a return visit to York in September 2023 I took the opportunity to retake the photograph, this time with an iPhone 13.

Apart from some greenery not much has changed. However in the 2006 photograph in the background are two bank branches next to the Post Office. In 2023 the Post Office is still there, but both bank branches have closed and are now empty.

I also took this view in March 2006 from pretty much the same vanatge point.

So I took it again in September 2023.

Again not much has changed, well apart from the greenery on the house.

September 14, 2023September 14, 2023

Then and Now – Clifford’s Tower

We did a family holiday to York in March 2013 and I took this photograph of Clifford’s Tower with an EOS 400D SLR Camera.

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. I quite like those Then and Now comparison photographs that you see in books or on the Twitter or Facebook. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester.

I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart.

Clifford’s Tower was the keep of York Castle. I first went to York on a school trip in 1979 and we went up the tower. I didn’t have a camera back then. I made a return visit to York in the summer of 1987 and visited the Tower then as well.

In October 1987 I studied at York University for three years and saw Clifford’s Tower on a regular basis as I went in and out of town. I made a return visit to York in July 1993. It was quite a few years later before I visited again, and this time it was a fleeting visit to the university in March 2006. I also was there for a workshop in April 2009. We did a family holiday to York in March 2013 and I took this photograph of Clifford’s Tower with an Apple iPhone 4.

Ten years later in September 2023 I was back in York and it was pouring with rain and I quickly took a photograph of Clifford’s Tower with an iPhone 13.

It wasn’t too surprising that it was a similar view to the photo from 2013 with the iPhone 4 (and with the Canon EOS400D).

December 5, 2018

The Woman in Black

I saw the Woman in Black (the play) at the Grand Opera House in York in the late 1980s. It scared the hell out of me back then. The marketing for the play only mentioned the two male actors, as we left the theatre, we were checking windows as we went home.

I bought Susan Hill’s book that year and I couldn’t bring myself to not just read it, but I couldn’t even it have it on my bookshelf, it would give me the shivers, the hairs on the back of my neck would rise.

Even now just talking about the Woman in Black, gives me the chills, walking in London earlier this year I passed the Fortune Theatre on Drury Lane and they were showing The Woman in Black.

At that point I felt scared…

Don’t buy the book….

August 17, 2015

Fountains Abbey

I have been to Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, once in 1979 on a school trip and then again in the 1990s when I was visiting York. These photographs are from that visit in the 1990s.

This National Trust property is ruined, was burnt down by Henry VIII following his arguments with Rome over divorce.

Though I was at the University of York in the late 1980s, I never actually got around to visiting again, in the main as when I was at University I didn’t have a car, and public transport wasn’t always an option.

I keep meaning to visit again, we went to York at Easter 2013, but the cold weather at the time (it snowed a lot) meant that we kept to indoor attractions such as the Castle Museum and the National Railway Museum.

If you are a member of the National Trust, and though I went a long time ago now, I would recommend a visit.

February 22, 2012

I remember you…

Reading a tweet from that Mark Power returning to a conference venue yesterday.

Lofl! The barman at the venue remembered me from last time. November 2010!

I was reminded of a similar incident that happened to myself, and as the story was going to be a lot longer than 140 characters decided to write this on the blog rather than filling my Twitter stream with this story.

I went to the University of York to do my degree and those that know York will know that it is a collegiate university made up of individual colleges. Now they were never colleges in the vein that Cambridge and Oxford had colleges, much more a pale imitation. However when I was there each college did have it’s own bar! So though other universities had big Student Unions with a single bar, York had no big Student Union building, but we did have seven bars on campus.

My college was Langwith and the two Ethels that ran the bar back in the 1980s certainly kept us in check. Though I did go to other college bars, I usually ended up in the Langwith bar.

Once I left York, I left the area so didn’t go back to the city and certainly didn’t frequent the bars.

Just under ten years later, following a mailing from York, knowing that I could have cheap accommodation at the university as I was a graduate. I phoned the accommodation office and booked a couple of nights to have a break in the city. As it was the summer break they put me in Goodricke college. Goodricke was the home of the student union and the Rag, so I knew it quite well. It was also the closest college to my final year accommodation.

Though a different college to my own, Goodricke was similar in style to Langwith in terms of build and rooms. It was slightly weird staying again in student accommodation, but it was cheap.

One evening I decided that I would go to the bar, the only bar open on the campus was Goodricke, so off I went for a beer.

So there I was just under ten years since I left the university, in a bar that I did know, but had spent more time at another on campus… and the barmaid recognised me!

It wasn’t my regular university drinking hole, wasn’t my college… and the bar staff recognised me from ten years ago.

Five years later I was vindicated slightly, when at a Library event in London, run by JISC, I started chatting with some Library staff from the University of York and they recognised me too!