Stonegate by YorkArtist's resident artist Mark Braithwaite
From The Victorian York Collection
Many of the streets in York are called "Gates". Once the Via Praetoria of the Roman city of Eboracum, Stonegate is one of the most famous streets in York, leading from the South Transept of the Minster to the Mansion House and Guildhall. Its name derives from the fact that it was a Roman paved street. Here the architecture of centuries mingles to provide a picturesque setting, the delight of visitors and residents alike.
Stonegate was home to famous printing offices in the 17th century. York was, for a long time, the only place outside of London where a printing press was allowed to be set up, and Stonegate was at the heart of this industry. Curiously for that time, women were prominent in the printing trade.
Renowned as the street of booksellers, in the 18th century, Stonegate housed the finest bookshop outside London , the Sign of the Bible. The "Bible" still hangs outside of No. 23.
For other views of this area, see "Stonegate", "Showers in Minster Gates" and "Stonegate and Minster Gates".
One of the initial paintings from M.J. Braithwaite's York Collection, researched from archive photographs of York at the end of the 19th Century, it is one of a series of four pictures which make up "The Victorian York Collection".
The original picture was painted in acrylic, on canvas in 1995. Look for Lucy, M.J. Braithwaite's black cat trademark!
"Victorian Stonegate " has been reproduced using the offset litho process on art card.
© The Artist
