A Ramble Round the Shambles

"Shambles" is an obsolete term for an open-air slaughterhouse and meat market. They were the sites on which butchers killed and dressed animals for consumption. The Shambles of York is one of the best preserved of these old streets in England, with overhanging timber-framed buildings, some dating back as far as the fourteenth century. It was once known as The Great Flesh Shambles, probably from the Anglo-Saxon Fleshammels (literally 'flesh-shelves'), the word for the shelves that butchers used to display their meat. As recently as 1872 there were twenty-five butchers' shops in the street but now there are none. The shops currently comprise a mixture of eateries and souvenir shops, but there is also a bookshop and a bakery. Joyce Williams took Mel and I on a conducted tour of this historic site.