Her upset look says it is never over.

Here's an odd thing. An installation named "Truelove" (not, you note, "True Love" which should raise suspicions that there is more to this than a Mills and Boon romance) stuck in the tidal ooze of the River Hull. It's a strange story of married Eskimo couple Memiadluk and Uckaluk being brought to Hull on the whaling ship Truelove in 1847. They were then exhibited in native costume and with canoes and so on; supposedly to make people aware of the poor conditions of their homeland in towns and cities in North England. On their way home the next year Uckaluk died of measles on board ship, she was fifteen years old. The heads are copies of casts which are on display in the Maritime Museum along with posters of their "visit".

 The installation is sited at the mouth of the Hull where the old harbour was and where many whaling ships including the Truelove would have landed. The artist is Stefan Gec. 

 The title of the today's posting comes from a poem "The Esquimaux" by Caitríona O'Reilly.

Inside looking out on Bank Holiday Monday

If the weather's not too good or you're interested in anything maritime and fishing related then Hull's maritime museum is worth a visit. If you've been before or are bored by the whole thing then you can always look out of the windows and see the world from a different angle. Did I mention that it's free?

Pigeon passion

 

Until quite recently wood pigeons were birds of farmland and open countryside. Now, thanks to modern agricultural practices and the behaviour shown above they are, well, as common as pigeons in town and city. 

The Hull Mermaid

 

There have been many reports of mermaids throughout the centuries and most have been hoaxes. Perhaps the most notable was that of Phineas Taylor Barnum and his "Feejee Mermaid" hoax in New York in 1842. This specimen, however, was acquired by a noted marine biologist, Sir Alistair Hardy FRS, in 1934 and so we can have no doubts as to its authenticity. It is on display in Hull's Maritime Museum.

Fountain

This is the fountain in Queen's Gardens in front of the newish BBC building which also has fashionable apartments for city centre living.

Space Hopper

It's a toad, of course, but from a different world. This one landed outside the station and is showing the signs of having come into contact with many alien hands. 

  

 

Siwrengale, Bridlington

 

This smart crabbing boat is apparently named after the sons of the owner and not some mythical beast of the east Yorkshire coast. There's more, possibly far more than you might want about this boat here.

Fish Quay, Bridlington

 

Although the public are allowed on to the Fish Quay it is still a working area so you've go to be careful with all the fishing gear that is left  lying around.

 

Bridlington Harbour

 

Always a busy little place Bridlington; there are plans for a marina here but then there have been plans for many years and nothing has come of them. There's more about Bridlington here.

Benchmark

 

Street furniture in Hull is labelled as part of a drive to improve literacy in the city . 

Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull

 

 You won't hear from me that this is the library that Philip Larkin used to run, no sir, no way.

 I will say that when I was employed by the University, eons ago, this was a great place to pretend to be working and the views from the upper stories are not bad either.

Choices, choices

  

Hull History Centre, Worship Street

 

This air conditioned little delight holds all Hull's historical archives in one place for the first time.

From their website "The History Centre brings together the material held by the City Archives and Local studies Library with those held by the University of Hull. These include the City’s borough archives, dating back to 1299 and amongst the best in the country; records relating to the port and docks of Hull; papers of companies and organisations reflecting Hull’s maritime history; papers of noteable individuals including Andrew Marvell, Philip Larkin, Amy Johnson and William Wilberforce; records relating to local and national politics and pressure groups; and over 100,000 photographs, illustrations; maps and plans, newspapers, special collections and reference sources relating to Hull and the East Riding." 

The Old Post Office Building

Standing opposite the Guildhall is this imposing building. It was built in 1904 with later additions in the '30s and '50s. The monumental renaissance style apparently compares well to the Opera House in Paris; but this was the central post office and Royal Mail sorting office until quite recently. The grand facade hid a hive of activity with dozens of delivery vans coming and going, the mail sorted and prepared for local delivery or for forwarding to the rail station. Now mail is sorted in a large shed on Malmo Road industrial estate, out of sight and more importantly out of reach of human beings who might need to pick up their undelivered parcels.

It has now been converted into town dwellings for city folks, ie. flats.

Queen's Gardens, Hull

A nice bit of greenery in the centre of town. The gardens are much used by students and workers to take their lunch breaks and so on. 

The Guildhall, Hull

 

When Hull became a city in 1897 obviously it would have a new town hall, so the old one was pulled down and this cathedral to municipal might was erected in 1913 or thereabouts. It's a massive edifice stretching all the way down Alfred Gelder street (see below). The law courts used to be at the far end with Council business being carried out at the front. Now there's two new courts and the Council has little to do except collect the bins and do what central government tells it to do. Local democratic control simply doesn't exist in this country anymore.

You can tell what a busy place it is by the milling crowds thronging its doors. 

 

Gulls just wanna have fun ....

The pigeons in the park

 

They call it impiety,

And lack of propriety,

And quite a variety

Of unpleasant names.

But it's not against any religion

To want to dispose of a pigeon.

From Poisoning Pigeons In The Park

Tom Lehrer 

Hull hole ... a history of sorts.

So what's all this then? A dirty big hole in the middle of town, surely it must mean something. Well, the something is explained by the plaque below; this is where the English Civil War got uptight and personal. The King, having done a runner from London, was on the look out for some munitions to help his cause. Kingston-upon-Hull had an armoury; so he turned up at the gates thinking to take the guns and what have you. He was told to go away and the gates of the town were slammed in his face. So poor old Charley had to turn round and trot all the way back to Beverley for his supper. After that, I'm afraid he rather lost his head. (Here endeth the lesson).

The hole contains the excavated foundations of the old entrance to Hull and part of the city walls, that's the brickwork you can see at the bottom of the hole. As is usual in Hull, what should be an attraction, indeed a national monument, has become a litter filled midden and an utter disgrace; it's gradually falling apart. In my capacity as an outraged citizen I wrote to the Council inquiring what they were going to do about it; I have had no reply as yet and I'm not holding my breath.

Hull College & Wilberforce Monument

Bond Street, Hull

 

Solicitors

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."
William Shakespeare
King Henry VI Part 2.

Building with Meccano

Met odist Chur h, Cottingham

This imposing Methodist church stands on Hallgate, Cottingham. Not being in any way religious I do wonder at the way they advertise Jesus like a brand of cornflakes or a new laxative.

Alvis in Cottingham

This was taken on Cottingham Day a few weeks back. It was the usual village day with exhibitions of this and that, vintage cars, birds of prey, arts and crafts and so on. It would have been much better if they hadn't decided to fill the air with amplified "music"; why is there a craze to drown out any event with noise? I didn't stay long which is why this picture was taken by Margot Juby.

Res per industriam prosperae

This monumental mosaic fronts what is now the BHS store on King Edward Street. Originally the Coop had a massive department store here but it changed hands and is now half the size, graphically disproving the latin inscription on the mosaic.

Trinity House Lane, Hull

 Trinity House Lane runs from Trinity Square to Whitefriargate. The building on the left is Trinity House, the organisation runs the lighthouses around Britain's shores as well as other nautical affairs. In Hull there is a Trinity House School associated with this building. The pub in the centre is the Kingston, here showing the flags of England's less than exciting World Cup effort. The tower on the left is the indoor market, quite why it needed a tower I don't know. The market is becoming more run down as stallholders can't make a living. This picture was taken from what used to be Hull's open market place, sadly Hull no longer has an open market. The development of Princes Quay and more recently the St Stephen's Mall means that fewer people come to this older part of town, you can see it's hardly crowded out. 

Posterngate, Hull

This is Posterngate which now runs from Trinity Square to Princes Quay but which used to be the rubbish disposal route for the old city. Much of the land that is now occupied by Princes Quay and the Marina was an old midden or dump, effectively it was mediaeval landfill. Cynics might say there's not been much improvement over the years.

Parallax

There are people who find beauty in pylons; who am I to argue? This was taken from a moving train just north of Cottingham .

Prince Street, Hull

Prince Street is a pretty little lane that runs from Trinity Square to Dagger Lane. It is named after the Prince Regent who became George IV.

Red and Green should never be seen ....

This is the ceiling of Holy Trinity Church, Hull. At one time all the church would have been as brightly coloured and painted. It was the Reformation and the puritans who had no colour sense that lead to plain  interiors. How the stain glass survived the siege of Hull and the bombs of Hitler I don't know.

 

This months theme day topic is bright colours. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants