Look to your left for the pink-grey brick building with wide, three-part windows and a hanging sign showing a golden sheep. This is the Golden Fleece, an inn whose history stretches all the way back to 1503. Back then, it was originally built as a coaching house and got its name from the local wool traders who gathered here.
If you look closely at the front, you will see it is decorated with glazed tiles and ashlar, which is simply a term for large, smoothly cut blocks of stone. But the real stories are hidden inside. The Golden Fleece claims to be the most haunted pub in York. One famous resident spirit is Alice Peckett, the wife of a former Lord Mayor, who is said to wander the halls. You might even feel her presence in the back alley, appropriately named Lady Peckett's Yard.
There is an even darker tale, too. In 1800, a woman named Elizabeth Johnson forged a one pound bank note, which was roughly the equivalent of one hundred pounds today. For this crime, she became the last woman hanged at York's Tyburn, the city's execution gallows. A replica of her skull is actually displayed inside the pub. Oddly enough, someone stole the skull in January of 2022, but thankfully returned it later that same month.
If you are feeling brave, they serve moderately priced food and drinks from ten in the morning until midnight every day. It is a wonderful place to soak up centuries of local folklore. Soak up the centuries of local folklore, and let's stroll on to our next stop, the Merchant Adventurers' Hall.
