the shambles

aka the medieval Butcher's street





The Shambles is a tourist must-see and is considered one of the "most visited streets" in the UK. The street itself is just a short stretch of maybe 100 yards although the name also applies to the short adjoining alleys, some of which have buildings of the same age. The street has a colorful history and is special simply because it survived, unlike others that would have been even older. The York Shambles website (yes, they even have their own website) offers a pretty concise synopsis...

Mentioned in the Domesday book (making it date over 900 years), we know Shambles to be York's oldest street, and Europe's best preserved Medieval street....

The word Shambles originates from the Medieval word Shamel, which meant booth or bench. It was once also referred to as Flesshammel, a word with meaning around flesh; this is because Shambles was historically a street of butchers shops and houses. Records state that in 1872 there were 26 butchers on the street....

Livestock was slaughtered on Shambles also, the meat was served over what are now the shop window bottoms, and these were originally the Shamels.

It is also interesting to notice the way the pavements on either side of the street are raised up, this was done to create a channel which the butchers would wash away their waste through; offal and blood would gush down Shambles twice weekly.

Shambles was actually a generic term for an open-air slaughterhouse or meat market and several cities in England use the name—York just happens to be the most famous. It's thought that the current definition of the word "shambles" (a scene or a state of great destruction or confusion) is derived from the association with the act of butchering and the mess leftover from the process. I think it also seems to apply to the odd jumble of buildings on the street.


This picture shows how people used to get past space and building restrictions back in the 1400s. If you couldn't build into the street to gain more space, step out over it. Word is people can shake hands across the street if they lean out the windows. This building technique just provided more ammunition for the Great Fire in London, among others I'm sure, and was banned.


The buildings are all genuine—no Disney here. Notice the huge wood timbers and wooden pegs holding them together.


Some of the buildings retain the hardware used for displaying the meat.


Here you can see the benches, or wide window bottoms, used for meat transactions.


This is an example of how short these buildings really are. In some cases, I have to duck in order to enter the buildings. I believe realtors would characterize them as "cozy and full of charm."


If you want to see more, click on this link for a 360˚ tour.