Lords Feoffes' Clock

Again on King Street, this splendid three faced clock was presented by the Lords Feoffes and Assistants of the Manor of Bridlington. The Lords Feoffes etc are a charitable trust set up in 1636, our trusty friend Wikipedia will tell you more here. About the clock I know nothing and before you ask the pictures weren't taken at the same time or even in the same year!

Pig's Snout

From the online Oxford Dictionary:

"groyne

 Pronunciation: /grɔɪn/

(US groin)

noun

a low wall or sturdy timber barrier built out into the sea from a beach to check erosion and drifting.

Origin:

late 16th century: from dialect groin 'snout', from Old French groign, from late Latin grunium 'pig's snout', from Latin grunnire 'to grunt' "

Learn something new every day ...

Bluebells

On the edge of Beverley Westwood lies an area called Burton Bushes, it's said to be the remains of a primeval forest. It's also a great place to find wild bluebells.

Hull

Again this is a bit of a cheat since it, too, is in Bridlington; indeed on the same street, King Street, as yesterday's offering. This winged lion bearing the triple crown shield of Hull is on the public library.

Hull Cooperative

Just to confuse you this Hull Coop is actually in Bridlington and it's no longer a Cooperative store, it's a dry cleaners I believe. It is in King Street and it was built in 1913. It's a skinny long building that runs along a passage way to Charity Lane. Today no-one would dream of building a retail outlet with all these frills and in marble too.

Private Land

This ominous sign might make you wary of some dangerous horses until you realise it's just these dozy creatures I showed you before here.

Two Humber Quays

 

Some time back I posted about One Humber Quays well right next door is Two Humber Quays. It's another block of offices, meh!

 

No Fishing

I suppose someone somewhere knows why fishing is banned on Bridlington north pier from May through  September. I'm guessing it's an overcautious Council trying to avoid conflict between the throngs (in their dreams) of tourists and the few anglers. Maybe on the pier there might, just, be a case to be made. But at night? And why is fishing banned on both the north and south beaches? Could it be a cunning plan to make anglers hire boats to go fishing? Perish the thought ....

Triple B

This fishy weathervane is on Bridlington's north pier. The triple B is not a credit rating from Standard & Poor, in fact no-one is quite sure what the three Bs stand for in Bridlington's coat of arms. The best I've seen is Bright & Breezy Bridlington. Anyone got any other suggestions?

County Hall, Beverley

Once upon a time the county of Yorkshire (known to some, but not me, as God's own county) was, like Gaul, divided into three parts or ridings. The north, west and east ridings had been there since Adam were a lad, as they say in these parts. Then some clever chap (a southerner) thought this will never do, so, in the name of progress, the ridings were abolished and new counties were manufactured. It came to pass that the monstrosity known as Humberside was brought forth into the world unloved and unwanted and foisted onto the good folk of the east riding and north Lincolnshire. It couldn't last and it didn't last. With a haste that central government has never shown before (that is to say after 22 years) the East Riding of Yorkshire Council was recreated. Throughout all the shenanigans County Hall in Beverley has been the seat of local political and administrative power. Standing red and resolute, it's a conservative looking building with a conservative party in office in saecula saeculorum or so it would appear.

Odd thing

This strange looking thing sits on Bridlington's south pier. I have absolutely no idea what it is or if it still works as I've never seen anyone using it. There are two or three similar devices further along so if anyone knows what they are they could let me know.

Goodbye Goodfellows

Here was the Goodfellows supermarket on Sharp Street which had been closed for a while. It was knocked down, picked up, dumped in a big lorry and taken away. They (whoever they may be) intend to build houses on the site. Well nothing is ever as straight forward as that, is it? There's the problem of what is going to happen to the WW1 memorial that used to hang on the corner. It's a reminder of the hundred or so men from the street who went to war; many of whose descendants and relatives still live on Sharp Street. Now it's sitting in a council office waiting for the developers to make good on their promise to reinstall it. [ 1 ] Is that trouble brewing I can smell?

Leaving

A yacht leaves the marina. I wonder where they could be going that's so good they'd want to leave Hull.

A not so dull day in Hull

Wind! Hull is set on making a living out of wind power. The council earlier this week gave planning permission for a massive wind turbine construction site on a disused dock. If Siemens actually do what they say they want to do then this will greatly change Hull's prospects [ 1 ]. There's talk of thousands of jobs, many of them skilled engineering jobs. But so far it's still just talk and with the way things stand in Europe at the moment it's probably wiser not to plan too far ahead.

Here, however, is something more tangible. Here's a support platform for the Lincs Wind Farm being built off the Lincolnshire coast. It's being fitted up at the Albert dock. I showed you this on that dull day in Hull. Pure ignorance on my part to call it a drilling rig.

Old Fishing Boat

Looking a bit out of place amongst the expensive yachts and snazzy powerboats this old trawler, Mariner 1, is having a makeover into a genteel houseboat.

Things to do on a unicycle

So I'm having  a stroll round the dock when I come across a couple of shifty looking characters who waited till I got past them before one of them hops on a unicycle and proceeds to pedal, calm as you like, round the perimeter wall of the dock entrance. The wall is about eighteen inches wide and four or five feet high; fall off and it's a small pathway between safety and a drop into the dock. He made it safe enough until he came to some steps when he simply hopped down the steps, still on the cycle, and pedalled away round the corner. His mate was filming the whole event on a phone, he probably got better shots than me as it took me a while to get my trusty Fuji out of my bag. 

If you're wondering about things not to do on a unicycle I came across this page which is full of really useful tips.

Voyager returns

Last year I reported on the outrageous theft of the statue Voyage [ 1 ]. Well the news is that he's back, well, not him exactly but a clone. At a cost of £40,000 Hull Council have replaced the stolen item with a copy of the Icelandic one. He looks a little greener than I remember him and he seems to be looking in a slightly different direction but who's quibbling? The Council have also installed £5000 worth of extra 'security'; some may mutter about closing the stable door after the horse has bolted but I'm not that sort of guy ... You can see a very short BBC news video on the unveiling here. It was quite a do with local and Icelandic bigwigs attending; please try not to laugh too much at the mayor he likes to dress up in funny clothes.

Indentured debt slaves?

Students waiting for the bus last October could be in line for debts of £60,000 according to a newspaper report [ 1 ]. Time was they used to pay you to go to Uni (I left uni with a healthy bank balance and absolutely no debts); now they expect students to become indentured debt slaves. Question still remains; why do they queue so orderly?

Walter L'espec

The western facade of Beverley Minster [ 1 ] contains many carved statues, not all of them are of saints and so on. This guy for example, Walter L'espec, was no mean piece of work. He controlled most of northern England during the reign of Henry 1 up to 1120. As was the custom in those days, he built castles all over the place (he is depicted with what looks like Helmsley Castle tucked under his arm), and established priories and abbeys including Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire which was one of the wealthiest in England. He died in 1153, so this  was carved much later  since Beverley Minster wasn't finished till the 1400s. This statue makes me question was he a small man with a normal sword or a normal sized man with a massive sword? I suspect the latter; either way you wouldn't want to cross him.

Yet Another Methodist Church

I wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea that I'm a closet Methodist; it's just that  there are a lot of these interesting buildings dotted around the area. I liked the maroon and amber pathway, it reminded me of my old Catholic  primary school colours. I forgot all the religion but remember the football strip! This one sits between Toll Gavel and Walkergate in Beverley and has its own web presence [ 1 ]. 

The Hanging Jerkin of Beverley

Another of the items on Beverley's town trail [ 1 ], a hanging jerkin or tunic made of copper. It's placed in a narrow alleyway next to the Beaver pub.  Beverley’s jerkin makers made leather tunics and held their own market between St. Mary’s Church and Saturday Market. There's a little more info about this here.

 

Cemetery Sump

I've posted before [ 1 ] about the new cemetery created to take Hull's ever expanding number of dead. I think I mentioned that it needed some special drainage to avoid unfortunate accidents happening (you know just what I mean). Well this is that special arrangement; a vast sump in the middle of the cemetery. I just hope it works, must be awful to spend eternity with damp tootsies!

Ellerman Wilson Line Building

We've come across the Wilson Line before [ 1 ] and these are the former offices of this once important shipping line. The company made its money shipping between Hull and Göteborg in Sweden. They carried many emigrants from Sweden and Norway to Hull as they headed to America. They had a monopoly on the trade and as always happens in these cases conditions for emigrants were hardly better than for cattle. [ 2 ] The Wilson Line was bought by Ellerman's in 1916 and the business eventually closed in the 1970's.

The building at the junction of Commercial Road and Kingston Street now houses a firm of architects. Below  is the weather vane atop the building.

Tenfoot

If you're ever in Hull and someone says they're going down the tenfoot, don't look at them as if they're from a different planet. They're just going down the numerous back alleyways that allow access for dustcarts and so on. They're called tenfoots  because ... well, you work it out.

Ice Cream or Coffee?

Today is the May bank holiday and if the weather forecast is correct it will be atrocious with high winds and plenty of much needed rain. (Since I last mentioned the drought we've had the wettest April for ages still not enough but welcome all the same.) This is Bridlington, a town that needs good weather to make a decent living. Sadly I don't think Notarianni will sell much ice cream but then there's always the hot coffee ...

Devil finding work for idle hands

I'm not certain that this is strictly a gargoyle since I couldn't see a spout to take water away but it looks pretty much like one to me. Anyway I was looking through some old photos and came across this winged beast and being at a lose end I thought I can 'do' something with that ...

The original is still hanging around Bridlington's priory unless it's flown off somewhere.

Desire Path

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line and no-one is going to walk round a space when they can go straight across it. Here's a classic desire path near Spring Street. It used to be a better kept area but the grass was destroyed when the space was used as storage for the construction of the St Stephens thingy you can see in the background.

City Centre Ironmonger

That nice red staircase on yesterday's post belongs to Scott's ironmongers. A Hull institution since 1943 serving the building trade and public with everything from nuts and bolts to locks, fasteners and tools and a whole lot more. The service is excellent and if Scott's haven't got it in stock it's a fair bet it doesn't exist. Their website is here.

The Star & Garter

I took this for the nice red staircase then I saw that I had included the Star & Garter in the shot. I've been in this pub maybe once or twice nearly thirty years ago. Dire is too good a word for the place. Looking back  I see now why the Samaritans building is so close by ....

Big Plastic Cricket

I have to admit to loathing all things Disney. There I've buttered my bread, now I'll sleep in it ....

Jackson's Bakery

Fine I thought when I read that today's theme was 'bakeries', I'll go take a shot at Jackson's bakery. There's usually something interesting going on around there. So I go and find that they've put up a large building blocking out all the going's on, that's the yellow thing on the right. Hmmph!

Jackson's are a successful Hull institution, they been going since 1851 and at one time nearly every main street had a Jackson's shop on it. The shops were sold off to Sainsbury's (boo hiss) and the company now concentrates on food manufacture. About a million loaves a week are made here but until recently none of them were sold in Hull; most of the produce goes to sandwich makers and food service companies in the UK and Europe. There's often a  smell of baking bread  filling the air round here.

To see how the dough has been rising in other places click here .