Dobbin the York trace horse had 'a good job, for a beast of burden’

He’d spend his day standing outside the post office on Micklegate, nose buried in his nosebag. Then, whenever a horse-drawn tram came along that needed a bit of help getting up the steep Micklegate hill, he’d be hitched up to give a helping pull.

At the top of the hill he’d be released again - when he’d trot back down the hill to his nosebag and water.

We even have a photo of Dobbin - he may well be the horse on the far right of this brilliant Explore York photo showing Micklegate in about 1900.

Micklegate, c1900. The horse on the far right might be the tram trace horse Dobbin, who gave extra help to get horse-drawn trams up the steep hill (Image: Explore York Libraries and Archives)

What Dobbin would have made of today’s congested city, who knows?

All the talk recently has been of dualling the A1237, and of the need for a new transport plan for the city centre to reduce the number of cars.

For a change of pace, in our gallery today we've chosen a few photos from Explore York's wonderful digital photo archive showing the days when horse-drawn transport ruled York’s roads - and the main pollution problem was horse dung. Enjoy...