York, England: The Shambles

You wouldn't expect a place called "The Shambles" to be new and beautiful, right? This street in York certainly isn't, but it's still worth a visit. There's a fine historical story to be told here. 

"Shambles" is an outdated word to describe an open-air slaughterhouse/meat market. Sounds like fun already. Some of the buildings on the street date back to the 14th century. The area was first known as The Great Flesh Shambles, which was something of a reference to the shelves in which butchers displayed their meat. 

The tradition of meat sales lasted quite a while. There were still 31 butchers there by 1885. However, the number has dropped to zero today. It's more of a tourist area, with plenty of stores selling the usual items. Restaurants are also located there.

Some of the second floors of buildings on this street stick out a bit from the rest of the building. As we've seen elsewhere, the building tactic was something of a tax dodge. Taxes were assessed by square footage on the ground, but not in the air. So it was a cheap way to gain a few feet tax-free.