York's historic streets Based on a Roman settlement the centre of York is remarkably compact. One of the pleasures of visiting the city is being able to walk from one side to the other in just a few minutes. Some streets, such as Stonegate and Petergate, follow the route of Roman thoroughfares, leading away from the Principia, which was located on the site where the minster now stands. While other English towns and cities have their 'gates', none boast a greater number than York. And many of the city's outlying communities end in 'thorpe', which comes from the Scandinavian word for a village.
Some street names have obvious derivations.
Coffee Yard was the site of York's first coffee house. Other names need some linguistic unravelling. Aldwark, for example, indicates an old fortification and Spurriergate was the street of the spur-makers. Other streets bear the names of some of york's more prominent citizens. Leeman Road honours George Leeman, who succeeded Hudson as Lord Mayor of York.