St. Crux from Fossgate

St Crux church hall stands in a little green island in an otherwise heavily built up area. The foreground to the right is the shortest street in York Whip Ma Whop Ma Gate and to the left you can see the shutter doors of Marks and Spencer's goods entrance at the bottom of the famous Shambles. It can be irritating if you are driving along Pavement and there is a delivery lorry trying to get into the loading bay as it is a tight fit with very little room to manouever.

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate

This plaque marks the Shortest Street in York, for those unable to read the plaque it says :-

WHIP-MA-WHOP-MA-GATE
The shortest street in York. Known in 1505 as
Whitnourwhatnourgate (and meaning 'what a street!')
it was changed later into its present name.
The footpath was paved in York Stone by
York Civic Trust in 1984

York Civic Trust was set up to keep York a special place for residents and visitors alike.

Just to the right of the plaque is an alleyway leading to the Shambles (more on that in a later post). The building with the white shop front is a letting agency with address of one and a half Whip-Ma-Whop-Gate.

Gate is derived from the Norse word for street and the gates in the city walls are known as Bars. Can be quite confusing for a visitor if you tell them you are taking them on a tour of the York Bars and they end up walking round the walls without stopping for a drink!