30th April 2025

The Micklegate Horse Tramway

 As a taster for our new book about Micklegate, which we plan to publish this autumn, Keith Watson writes about the old horse tramway in the street

A horse tram about to ascend Micklegate hill with the trace horse on the right (1907)

Tramways had become popular in Britain around 1860, but were very slow to develop, as they needed special legislation. Proposals for a new tramway for York were first put to the City Council in October 1878, and authorised the following month. They considered a proposal by Messrs. Peterson & Peterson for the construction of several tramway lines, one of which was from the Plough Inn at Fulford, through Fishergate, Clifford St, Ouse Bridge, Bridge St, Micklegate, Blossom St and The Mount, terminating at Knavesmire Gates. The service was to be run by the York Tramways Company.

Powers were granted in August 1879 and construction of the 4-foot gauge (1.2 m) single line tramway started in July 1880, by contractors J. F. Weston of London. The rails were manufactured by the Darlington Iron & Steel Company and paved with five-inch stone sets.

The formal opening took place on 27 October 1880, after a successful inspection by the Board of Trade. At this time the tramlines had reached Castle Mills Bridge and then extended over the Bridge to the newly opened Clifford St and Castlegate by Easter 1881. The Board of Trade originally approved the use of steam power, but trials proved unsuccessful and horse-drawn power was adopted throughout.

Three routes were planned, including via Micklegate to the Mount (Tramway No. 1), with a branch off the bottom of Micklegate/Bridge St through Railway St, Tanner Row and Station Rd to serve the Railway Station (Tramway No. 2). Work started in the spring of 1882 on Tramway No. 1 by August Krauss of Bristol, extending to Clifford St and Micklegate through Micklegate Bar, Blossom St, finally reaching The Mount terminus.

After inspection this section opened on 29 July 1882, with two ceremonial tramcars leaving Fulford at 2 pm. An extension to Knavesmire Gates was never, in the end, built. Micklegate had to be widened slightly, to allow a space of 9 ft 6 ins each side of the tramway tracks. There were four track loops allowing tramcars to pass each other – one just within Micklegate Bar at Priory St junction, another two at Nunnery Lane junction, Holgate Rd junction and the other at The Mount terminus. In 1886 the horse-drawn tramway system was bought as a going concern for £14,500, by a new company, the City of York Tramways Company, a subsidiary of the Imperial Tramways Company based in Bristol.  

Before 1890 all the tramcars were of a two-horse single deck type, with a chocolate and white livery. In 1890 several double deck type tramcars were constructed by the Starbuck Company of Birkenhead, with national advertisements attached round the sides of the upper deck guard rails. These had ‘knife board seating’ on the upper decks, holding 16 passengers inside and 18 outside. They were pulled by two horses, and on the Micklegate route passengers were required to sit down on the upper deck when approaching Micklegate Bar, due to the restricted headroom. The trams were worked directly from Fulford village through the city to The Mount terminus.

In the first six months of 1887 the number of passengers was 413,090, an increase of 44,238 on the same period the previous year. By 1891, the Company owned ten tram cars (nine double and one single decker) worked by 37 horses, with a depot at Fulford Cross, completing 121,007 miles carrying 814,620 passengers, netting a profit of £940. By 1900 the system reached its peak of one million passengers. During 1902, 38 horses and 11 tramcars were owned.

Horse tramcar with broken axle derailment in Bridge Street outside Boyes store (ca 1909)

Horse tramcar at the junction of Nessgate and Coppergate

In order for the tramcars to negotiate Micklegate hill, the incline of which ranged from 1 in 20 to 1 in 48, the tramway company provided a ‘trace horse’ and attendant stationed at the bottom of the hill at the junction with Railway St (now George Hudson St).  For many years a large horse called ‘Dobbin’ was used and at other times another called ‘Jumbo’. It had a large leather nose bag, and both the bag and horse were tied to the lamp post outside the old Micklegate Post Office at the bottom of the hill, together with a water container. When required, the horse was hooked up to the tramcar and provided the additional ‘horse power’ for the steep incline. The attendant would blow a whistle once attached and the tramcar horses plus the trace horse would ascend the hill.  Apparently, the horse knew exactly the point at which its duty ended and happily made its own way back trotting down the hill to its ‘station’ to await the next tramcar. Quite often young boys would play tricks on the attendant by whistling to set off the trace horse before it was attached and the horse had to be brought back!  All the tram horses were unfortunately overworked, underfed and in a neglected state.

A comic local postcard depicting the old horse tramway outside St Martin's Church ca 1908

The Council took possession of the system in 1903, putting forward plans for a municipal tramway to replace the horse tramway, but this was rejected by voters. Plans for electrification at this stage failed. However powers to convert the horse tramway to electric traction were eventually successful. The City of York Tramways Company operated the horse trams from February 1909, with a further 13 horses in order to maintain the existing services. That year a poll of electors voted in favour of a new electric overhead tramway system. Construction of the narrower 3ft 6in gauge track for the electric trams started on 1 September 1909 and six days later the last horse-drawn tram service ran. The following day the Fulford-Mount service was maintained by four temporary horse buses hired from Thornton’s Repository and W & G. Myton, these being used until 20 January 1910.

The replacement electric tramway’s first route from Fulford opened on 20 January 1910. The new electric tramway system had to avoid the steep incline of Micklegate and instead a diversionary route was constructed via the Railway Station. Consequently, the old horse tramway tracks were removed from Micklegate. All the horse drawn tramcars were eventually broken up, apart from two: the body of a single deck tramcar was known to be located at Hob Moor Terrace but destroyed in 1978 and the other was sold to Doncaster Corporation for use as a salt trailer on the Doncaster Tramways. At the bottom of Micklegate hill, fastened to the boundary wall of St. Martin-cum-Gregory Church, there still remain three metal horse rings for tying up the trace horses.

Information sources

A History of the City of York by C. B. Knight (1944 Privately Published)

Tramways of York by M. J. O’Connor & G. J. Mellor (1954 Tramway Review issues 18 & 19)

The Horse Tramways of York 1880 – 1909 by Hugh Murray (1980 Light Rail Transit Association)

York Buses by Keith Jenkinson (1984 Auto Bus Review Publications)

City of York: Tramway, Trackless and Motor Bus Operations up to 1935 by West Yorkshire Road Car Co. Information Service (1977)

City of York Tramways by Joe Murphy (2002 Privately Published)

York Tramways and Trolleybuses by Barry Marsden (Middleton Press 2006)