Little-Known, York UK

Here's our guide to Little-Known - York, UK. Ancient laws, urban legends and myths about York. Secrets the York Insider grows up with...

Ancient Laws – An ancient law that has never been updated, tells that you can legally shoot a Scotsman with a cross bow, within the city walls. Peoples variations of this law say that it has to be on a Sunday only, and only one per day.

Little Devil – Many people photograph the little Devil outside number 33 Stonegate, but not realize that the Devil is not anything bad or warning. The Devil simply signifies that the building was once upon a time a printer and that Printers Devils were errand boys.

Butchering – one of the streets which is visited by tourists on a visit to York is The Shambles. This is quaint street of souvenirs and subject of many camera clicks with building leaning over, almost touching at the top. However, in ancient York times, the Shambles was a street of Butcher shops and slaughter houses. On an evening, the shops used to throw the guts and blood and any unusable parts into the street where it would be washed away or eaten by rats.

Day Light Robbery – Ever wondered why, when wandering round the old buildings of York, there are some buildings with bricked up windows? Well in ancient times, the government decided to implement a window tax based on the amount of windows in your house. People who couldn’t afford to pay the tax or didn’t want to pay, bricked up windows so that the tax wasn’t applicable. This is where the term Day Light Robbery came from.

Striking – One of the most famous disasters to happen to York, is the bolt of lightening that hit York Minster in 1984. This caused devastating damage to the Minster, which took many years to fix. Most people believe that the fire was caused by the natural elements of weather, where as some people believe that it was more spiritual as two days before, David Jenkins was set as the new Bishop of Durham causing problems with in, with his interpretation of the miracles of Jesus being simply conjuring tricks and the resurrection being more trickery. Which ever way you look at it, the lightening was still an act of God.