Its the letter thorn, which was turned into y in print back in the day because ... cost. It was originally the leading letter in the (or thee) instead of th.
Nowadays, and for quite a lot of the past, people like to riff on "ye olde shoppe" and the like to imply "ye olden dayes".
The problem, as I don't really see it, is that a possible cost cutting measure in printing seems to have swung back and changed the English alphabet. I don't really buy the official explanation for the loss of thorn. I think it simply wandered off and got bored, it looks quite like a p too. I gather that it originally sounded slightly different to "th" but English has largely lost that distinction.
Nowadays, and for quite a lot of the past, people like to riff on "ye olde shoppe" and the like to imply "ye olden dayes".
The problem, as I don't really see it, is that a possible cost cutting measure in printing seems to have swung back and changed the English alphabet. I don't really buy the official explanation for the loss of thorn. I think it simply wandered off and got bored, it looks quite like a p too. I gather that it originally sounded slightly different to "th" but English has largely lost that distinction.
I used an actual thorn, because I can!