Snickelways are the most intimate of places. Some are inviting little alleys while others are smelly and forbidding spaces. The city of York in northern England is a honeycomb of secret snickelways.

Most visitors to York stick to the main thoroughfares that link the Minster with the city walls, York's two rivers and the principal shopping areas. These are roads with wonderfully evocative names that tell the history of northern England's most engaging city: Swinegate, Low Petergate, The Stonebow and Whip-ma-whopma-gate.

But those with a little local knowledge forsake these principal streets for a different York: a city of hidden alleys and back lanes.