10th May 2016

Footprints from the past

Pauline Alden writes about her researches into the shops on Nunnery Lane.

If you look at the shop window of 117 Nunnery Lane, near to the junction with Bishopthorpe Road, you will see a pair of very large feet. This is a good clue to the present use.

It has been used as a chiropodist’s practice by Gill Gooch from 1999. However, there are no clues that point to the shop’s long and varied past.

The 1891 census shows that Alfred Walton, confectioner, ran the shop and lived here with a wife and six children. Robert Kitchen, a milk dealer was a lodger. They inhabited four rooms which included the shop!

From 1893 the shop was run by Thomas Smith as a bakers and confectioners.

The 1900-1939 York Directory entries show that the shop was taken over by Joseph William Simpson, also a confectioner.

Between 1939 and 1949 the shop was taken over by Zdzislaw Kalicinski, a boot repairer. He was probably a Polish refugee during the Second World War. Mr. Kalicinski was born on 2 May 1918 and died in 1987, aged approximately 69. He married Eileen Swann born in 1924 and they had one child, Suzanne. Mr. Kalinski was still running the boot repairers in 1975. There are many people in the area who still remember him.

Between 1975 and 1999, traders at 117 Nunnery Lane sold antiques and second hand furniture.

 

Pauline is researching shops and businesses in Nunnery Lane. If you have any information on their history please contact us at Clements Hall.