MOST street names can be explained easily - and 'Finkle Street' usually refers to a street with a bend in it.

However, Malton's Finkle Street could not be more straight and it may be that it did at one time have a less than straight appearance.

It has undergone alterations especially on the western side where all the shops have been replaced within the last century, or less. Nothing original remains apart from fragments of properties in the little lane leading off into Spital Street.

Gazette & Herald: Malton's Finkle Street could not be more straightMalton's Finkle Street could not be more straight (Image: Malton and Norton Heritage Centre)

However, looking across Wheelgate from Finkle Street to what was The Clarence (now 56 Wheelgate), we see Greengate as a narrow single roadway accompanied some distance away by a pedestrian only passageway leading through 56 Wheelgate.

It seems that 'Greengate' was once known as 'King Street': this piece of information emerged over a century ago when improvements were being made to the roadway and its history was being examined (see press cutting and map created from 'The Archaeology of Malton and Norton, J.F.Robinson, 1978).

Gazette & Herald: Press clipping Press clipping (Image: Malton and Norton Heritage Centre)

It is not clear why it was given this regal name. Certainly, Selby once had such a street where a monarch (Henry I, 1068/9) had reputably been born; York also has one, but its name is a corruption of Cargate or Kergate meaning 'marshy street', hardly appropriate for Greengate.

Gazette & Herald: Map created from 'The Archaeology of Malton and Norton, J.F.Robinson, 1978Map created from 'The Archaeology of Malton and Norton, J.F.Robinson, 1978 (Image: Malton and Norton Heritage Centre)

Architecturally 56 Wheelgate (The Clarence) does seem to be 'at odds' with the local 'street scene.’


Read more from Howard: A defensive town wall once surrounded Malton, but what happened to it?


I wonder if the one-way street and narrow pedestrian passage were once part of a through road linking Finkle Street and Greengate, until The Clarence (with its semi-detached neighbour) were built across it?

Gazette & Herald: The Clarence The Clarence (Image: Malton and Norton Heritage Centre)

Howard Campion is a trustee at the Malton and Norton Heritage Centre.