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 .

Coffee, Tea and Cakes

The Cyclists' Touring Club [ 1 ] started in the 1878 to promote the interests of cyclists. Establishments such as hotels, cafés and repair shops that met their standards were awarded a large plaque. 

Wikipedia informs me: "CTC is organised at a district level, with CTC Local Groups organising cycle rides on most Sundays and often during the week. The more leisurely rides are planned around café stops, the quality of the ride often being judged on the standard of the cakes; CTC has been referred to as "Café To Café" or "Coffee, Tea and Cakes". 

Eating Out

This sign belongs to a bistro on North Bar Within in Beverley. Like all good establishments they have a website here.

Needler's Way or what's that funny smell?

These new buildings are on the site of the Needler's sweet factory. The factory was demolished a few years ago but while it was making mainly boiled sugary sweets called, I believe, Glacé fruits the smells around there were tremendous. Mixtures of strawberry and  coconut  scents would fill the area hiding the stench from the nearby tannery. Though they knocked down the sweet factory the tannery is still making the area "smell of delicious boiling bovine carcasses" .... [ 1 ]

Another exciting development

If your name is Walker, Tucker or Fuller then it's a good bet your ancestors were involved in the cloth making trade. The fulling of cloths involved them being scoured by soaking them in stale urine and walking up and down on them, this bleached the cloth which was then thickened by felting to give increased waterproofing. I have read that urine was so important to this trade that it was taxed; an early example of the government taking the piss.

Above is a sign on a jewellers which is being tarted up, we're on tenterhooks. Below an uninspired picture of Walkergate, it's the only one I've got so it will have to do. At the end of the 1970s a road, New Walkergate, was built to by-pass all these old streets which were then pedestrianised. 

Surf's up

In 1890, so the story goes, two Hawaiian princes  and their English guardian went surfing in the east Yorkshire resort of Bridlington, in the cold North Sea. So starting a craze in this country for taking boards out to sea in order to be washed ashore ... hmmm. Anyhow the UK tourist people seem to think that folk would rather go to Bridlington than Bondi for their surf, they're nuts, of course!

In Memory of ...

Dotted around Beverley Westwood are a few seats with memorial tags on them. This one seems designed for people with very short legs. 

These were taken a few months back, I've not taken any photos recently so I'm using up old stuff.

Black Mill

Here's the old Black Mill on Beverley Westwood again. 

Hull Road, Beverley

Around here a lot of roads lead to Hull and are called Hull Road. This can lead to confusion especially with the police who are, it has to be said, not the brightest stars in the firmament. Here Hull Road is neatly crossing over Beverley Beck.

Old wrecks

This is looking upstream from the lock at Grovehill and was taken sometime ago so these decaying hulks may have finally been washed away.

Lock Gates at Grovehill

Until the early 1800s Beverley Beck was a tidal stream. The building of a lock meant a constant level of water and better access for Beverley's traders. Nowadays it's pleasure craft that use it.

River Hull

This is where Beverley Beck on the left joins the Hull. 

Figureheads

Here's a couple of naval figureheads in the Maritime Museum. The busty lady, sadly, I know nothing about. The colourful chap is the Earl of Beaconsfield, better known to the rest of the world as Benjamin Disraeli a victorian prime minister no less. This figurehead was rescued from the wreck of The Earl of Beaconsfield which had come to grief on the east Yorkshire coast, then it stood in someone's garden for a few decades then it was rescued and renovated. You can read more here.

Old MacDonald had a place ...

This used to have the golden M hanging over but it not any more. Bridlington's big mac days are over, at least in the centre of town. Don't despair; this is not like Bolivia or Japan, there's still a drive-in just outside the town centre.

25

This used to be known as Permanent House on account of housing the Leeds Permanent Building Society where people saved their money and took out sensible mortgages. Times and fashions change and nothing is permanent not even the Leeds Permanent. Now it's been painted black and houses a gambling den, sorry, make that a betting office sounds much nicer.

Inclusive

This is the new Hallgate primary, right next to yesterday's old school. They've been educating young 'uns here for 115 years. Its a very inclusive place; here they'll talk to anyone.

Exclusive

This is the old Hallgate junior school in Cottingham. It was built in the 1890s and was used up until a few years ago when it was merged with the infants school next door. It then stood empty for a while. Community groups wanted it to be made available for community uses such as a Scout Hall and so on. The Council, however, sold it to an arm of the Exclusive Brethren, a Christian group that encourages members to avoid contact with any outsiders wherever possible, even other Christians.

All that exists deserves to perish

Poor old Thomas Stainton; nothing to remember him by but his headstone and that ain't looking too good.

This is in Cottingham, St Mary's churchyard.

Waiting for the bus

This snazzy yellow bus was unfortunately not my bus; mine was due in a minute or two. Bus fares are due to rise again this week; since I moved to this area they've more than doubled in eight years!

April Flowers

Taken by Margot K Juby

Kathmandu

Looking slightly the worse for wear this Buddha stands outside Kathmandu, a shop unlike any other in Hull. It's an amazing place selling silver jewellery, incense, crystals, Tarot, candles, clothing, handicrafts and more. This dull list doesn't begin to convey the Aladin's cave of delights within. For those wanting body piercing (not me, I hasten to add) there's a studio upstairs. Definitely worth a visit even if you don't buy anything.

Oh yeah, it's on Ferensway opposite the station

Net Value

This is the length 'developers' will go to ensure that nothing stops them in their path to profit. The site is a school on Inglemire Lane and plans have been submitted for some new buildings. The netting, would you believe, is to stop birds nesting which would delay these crazed folks from uprooting the trees. Time is money ....
Anyway an open space amenity is now fenced off and ruined by heavy machinery. All this before permission has even been granted to go ahead with the 'development' and despite a protection order being in place. A Council spokeswoman said "The nets are up to protect the birds."  I suppose the fencing is to protect the people!

Skyline

Found myself in the Princes Quay shopping centre partly because it was raining (at long last!) and partly out of  morbid curiosity. The place is slowly dying, almost deserted, empty units and desperate attempts to hide it all behind acres of plasterboard. They've even taken down the plaque commemorating the official opening by some royal personage in 1991! The planned expansions of 2006 are but a distant memory.

Well look there's one, there ...

OK here's Vladimir and Estragon wandering down Posterngate.

It's a load of cobblers I know so I'll put it into the CDPB theme day thingy.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Maizecor Tower, Wincolmlee

Across the road from the defunct Scott Street bridge is this concrete wonder; the Maizecor tower. It's on Wincolmlee, an old riverside roadway where Hull gradually extended northwards outside of the city boundaries.

Maizecor take maize (not surprisingly) and turn it into all sorts of wonderful products. It's the only such mill in the UK. They have a website that will tell you all you want to know about what they do and how they do it, it's here.