The Shambles

"Shambles" is an obsolete term for an open-air slaughterhouse and meat market. Streets of that name were so called from having been the sites on which butchers killed and dressed animals for consumption. (One source suggests that the term derives from "Shammel", an Anglo-Saxon word for shelves that stores used to display their wares while another indicates that by AD 971 "shamble" meant a 'bench for the sale of goods' and by 1305, a 'stall for the sale of meat'. )[2][3]

During that period there were no sanitary facilities or hygiene laws as exist today, and guts, offal, and blood were thrown into a runnel down the middle of the street or open space where the butchering was carried out.

There are streets named "The Shambles" in other UK towns and cities including Bradford on Avon, Chesterfield, Guildford, Swansea, Chippenham, Manchester, Sevenoaks, Whitby, Worcester and Armagh. There is also a Fishamble Street in Dublin.

The shrine to Saint Margaret Clitherow, 2018

Although not explicitly named in the Domesday Book of 1086, it has been identified through an entry which lists two butchers' stalls near the church of St Crux (ii bancos in macello nr ecclesiam St Crucis) being in the ownership of the Count of Mortain.[4][5] The area was known as Marketshire into the 14th century and included the streets of the Shambles and Pavement. The Shambles itself had several names, by 1240 it was referred to as Haymongergate, and it was called Nedlergate in 1394, both of these are thought to be references to other trades and crafts which took taken place in the street. In addition to these names by 1426 it had become more commonly known as the Great Flesh Shambles, which was eventually shortened to its current name.[4][5] Many of the current buildings are from circa 1350-1475.[2]

Among the structures of the Shambles is a shrine to Saint Margaret Clitherow, who was married to a butcher who owned and lived in a shop in the street. Her home is thought to have been No. 10 Shambles, on the opposite side of the street to the shrine, which has a priest hole fireplace.[6][7][8] As with most buildings in the Shambles these are both listed buildings.[9]

Although the butchers have now vanished, a number of the shops on the street still have meat-hooks hanging outside and, below them, shelves on which meat was displayed. The shops currently include a mix of restaurants and shops as well as a bookshop and a bakery. Five "snickelways" lead off the Shambles.

Patrick Pool, York, The Shambles Market at the end of this street and very close to The Shambles, operates daily

Shambles Market operates daily and is situated between The Shambles and Parliament Street. The market was previously known as Newgate Market after the street on which it is located, but was renamed in 2015.[10]

The Shambles is one of a number of locations, along with streets in Chepstow, Edinburgh, Exeter and London, for which claims have been made that it was the inspiration for Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter franchise.[11] Since 2017 four wizard themed shops have opened in the street.[12] However, the author, J.K. Rowling, has denied this and has stated that she had never been to the Shambles. [13]

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  Jettied buildings overhang the street by several feet
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  The Shambles is now a popular tourist destination (2005)
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  The Shambles by night, 2009

• Jettying

• Pevsner, Nikolaus; revised by Neave, David (1995) [1972]. The Buildings of England Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (2nd ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-071061-8.

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Shambles, York.

• The Shambles Official Website
• The Shambles at Yorkshire Guides
• This is York
• York Shambles tour QuickTime virtual reality image of the Shambles