Shortest street, longest name
Some years ago, York built a new street linking one suburb to another. A competition was held to name it. After some weeks, and with great fanfare, the winning name was announced: Link Road. Oh, how we yearned for the creativity of yesteryear. The best example of that? Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate.
This is the name that was given to a street which is a mere 105 feet long. It takes you as long to read the sign as it does to walk the length of road from the Stonebow to Colliergate. So the name is Old English irony at its best. Its exact derivation is unclear. Gatta is the Norse word for “street,” and by 1505, the street was called Whitnourwhatnourgate. This translates roughly as, “What a street! Call this a street?” which makes this one of the first examples of trolling in York. It is believed that the city’s stocks and whipping post were placed here later, which would account for the updated version of the name.
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Address Located between Colliergate and the Stonebow, the street is found almost opposite Fossgate, York YO1 8BL | Public Transport 3-minute walk from Shambles car park. Closest bus stops: on Stonebow | Tip On nearby St Saviourgate are two more historic churches: St Saviour’s Church is now home to DIG, an “archaeological adventure” attraction run by the Jorvik Viking Centre team; and the Central Methodist Church occupies a grand building with a stone front flanked by columns.
The street was once home to a church with its own odd name, St Crux. That title is derived from the holy cross, and it became York’s largest medieval parish church after it was rebuilt in 1424. But you won’t see it today, as the church was pulled down in 1887, despite objections from the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings. What remains is the small St Crux parish hall, which includes some of the monuments from the old church.
Today, new life has been brought to Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate – literally, thanks to Edible York, a grassroots initiative dedicated to growing food in all sorts of otherwise unused or forgotten corners of the city. This campaign encourages healthier lifestyles both through the exercise of digging and weeding, and from eating the fresh fruit and veg that is grown. And last year the group planted herbs and fruit in a small bed on the wall behind that remarkable street sign.
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