The crab business

To judge by the number of boats landing their catches the floor of the North Sea must be covered in crabs. In ten minutes I saw four boats landing their crates and this one was just coming into harbour. 

The main crab caught is the Brown Crab (Cancer Pagurus) the most commercially important species of crab in the U.K.

To catch 'em you'll need some bait, of course, some juicy looking salmon or trout heads will do nicely.

A few of these wouldn't come amiss

Load it up then you're ready to go.

Modernisation

The development of Bridlington harbour has been a long running saga with grand plans for marinas bubbling away in the background while local interest groups squabble among themselves. Here at last is something tangible. Built by the Harbour Commissioners, a £250,000 floating pontoon with electricity and running water and berths for 66 craft. This has got to be a boost for Brid's yachting trade and the money that follows that. Previously boats could only be reached at high tide now now they're available 24/7. Below shows the almost mediaeval moorings that have been replaced (no, don't laugh).

Window Boxes

Every year the buffet at Bridlington station puts on a floral display and this year's effort is as good as ever. As you can see it's not an understated affair by any means.

If you're thinking this looks familiar I mentioned this in a post ages ago here.

The Weigh-in

Bridlington is holding a four day sea angling competition (Sep 10-14). An obvious attempt to attract trade at the end of season. I came across the weigh-in where many anglers queued up to have their catch weighed. Many had two or three  large cod and ling. It was a time of much jollity and banter as you might imagine. The poor chap who had nothing to weigh was the butt of many a coarse joke.

St Charles Borromeo, Jarret Street

The Catholic church of St Charles Borromeo on Jarret Street was opened in 1829. This is not the place to go into my views on the Catholic Church (as someone who was sent to a Catholic school and to church every Sunday believe me I could go on for some time) so I'll just say that this building is next to the brewery and is Grade 2 listed.

You'd probably never heard of Charles Borromeo and neither had I until today. Wikipedia has him as an architect of the counter-reformation and setting up seminaries for the education of priests. Quite how that makes him a saint I don't know, and frankly I don't care.

Riverside balconies

An old riverside warehouse has been converted into apartments with balconies overlooking the brown gloop of the river Hull and an unredeveloped wilderness on the far bank. So desirable.

There's more B&W fun at the Weekend in Black and White.

In pursuit of the inedible

I was going to have a trip to Bridlington yesterday but events conspired to dash that plan, however here's a picture taken exactly two years ago. This couple seem intent on their fishing. I hope they didn't eat any of their catch as a nearby sign warns of the pollution of the harbour by sewage.

Dull and uninspiring

Hull folk of a certain age will know this as the Spencer Arms on Spencer Street. It had a  reputation as being not salubrious shall we say. After failing and reopening several times it ended up as Circus-Circus. The B.O.G.O.F (buy one get one free) notices on the door attest to a desperation to attract customers, effectively they pay you to enter! It did no good because whatever it was called and whatever offers made now it's shut permanently and even the plumbing has been taken out. 

The site was planned to be redeveloped as offices but in a move that was not lacking in irony the Planning Committee turned the plans down because they were too dull and uninspiring. Silly developers clearly didn't know that 'dull and uninspiring' can become 'exciting and futuristic' by the payment of a fee to the right person. (You didn't hear that from me).

Big Black Box

 

I showed you this hotel while it was being built and it was still covered in scaffolding (here). Well here it is all opened up and ready for business. As for appearances whatever fee they paid the architect was too much; it's location however, at the junction of four main roads, makes good business sense.

The Hour of the Flower

Hull's very own floral clock stands at the junction of four busy roads and must be seen and ignored by thousands as they make their way into and out of Hull. This year's display is looking a bit tatty in the centre and it's certainly not as complex as previous years. Possibly the result of,  dare I say, pruning of budgets.

David Whitfield

No, I don't suppose you've heard of him either. David Whitfield was a tenor singer in the 50's apparently very popular. Anyhow he was born in Hull and so here is his statue unveiled a few days ago. The £50,000 cost was paid for by donations from members of the David Whitfield Appreciation Society so he must still have some following.

His biggest hit Cara Mia was number 1 in 1954 (before my time) and if you're interested it's on YouTube here; it comes complete with Mantovani and his orchestra and chorus. Different times, different tastes.

From the train

Harpham is a little village about half way between Driffield and Bridlington. The train goes whizzing past so this is about as much as you can see. Harpham's claim to fame is that St John of Beverley was born there in the 7th century, they've been dining out on that ever since.

Chrome plated

Passed by a flash black Jaguar and took a pic of the silver cat on the bonnet. Then I saw the chrome was flaking and pitted. Looks like a cheap piece of tat.

I came across a wedding

All lined up in a wedding group

 'Ere we are for a photograph 

We're all dressed up in a morning suit 

All trying hard not to laugh ...

I took this a while ago and never had a chance to use it until  the monthly theme for  City Daily Photo landed on 'people watching'. The bride looks a picture if a tad worried and the groom ... well, where is the groom? Maybe's he's done a runner.

You can find other 'people watchings ' here. If you use Facebook then you can find links on the group page here.

Zion, sorry not interested

Here's yet another church or chapel or whatever they call them, in Cottingham. It's a URC building and it's also on the same street as the CofE and Methodist churches so whatever flavour of English protestantism is your fancy you should find satisfaction here. I suspect however that like over 95% of the population (including myself) you aren't interested in anything they have to offer.

Upside down or sideways?

Took this in January and somehow never got round to putting it on here. I turned it this way 'cos I thought it looked more interesting, if you don't like it perhaps sideways might suit you. I often think that Hull might be greatly improved if was turned upside down and given a good shake.

Don't sit there like a dummy

Earlier this year Peacocks, a clothing retailer, went into administration. This branch on Whitefriargate was emptied out apart from some mannequins which were left artfully posed no doubt by disgruntled staff.

The Summer's gone

Next week it's back-to-school for these likely lads. No more doing what you like and spending all day by the fish pond; no it's book learning and hard graft from now on ....

West Bulls' Bus Stop

While waiting for the bus you can take a seat, turn your back on the world and watch the hedge grow!

West Bulls is the name of the pub you can just about see in the background. It in turn takes its name from a farm whose land was built on when the road on the right in the distance was created.

Coifi - a potted history

Coifi was a pagan priest at a temple in Goodmanham near York in the early 7th century. So what is he doing on the walls of Beverley's ever-so-Christian Minster? The story, as far as I can glean from the web, is that Edwin of Northumbria was thinking about converting to Christianity so he asked old Coifi for some advice. I paraphrase his response as paganism hasn't done us any good so why not give Christianity a go? I get the feeling he was having a mid-life crisis. Then, and here it gets a bit strange, Coifi  took off on a war stallion carrying a war-axe or a spear and a sword depending on who you believe (being a pagan priest he wasn't allowed to do any of these things), rode to the temple and threw the weapons inside. Apparently this was a big pagan no-no. Seeing that nothing untoward happened he then burned the temple down for good measure. Edwin converted to Christianity but it didn't do him much good because he was defeated by old fashioned pagans at the battle of Hatfield Chase a few years later. Anyway here is Coifi immortalised for losing his faith and a spot of arson.

You can read an extended and possibly more cogent version of this here.

Polar Bear

One of the most popular exhibits in the Maritime Museum is the Polar Bear. This specimen is an adult male and is nine foot long, good job he's stuffed really. These are pretty old pictures and he wasn't looking in too good a condition, fortunately they had a collection and took him away for some TLC and conservation work.

Stone Head

Here's a stoney head outside a hotel near the Marina. I can't find anything about what it's meant to represent or who made it. With its rugged features and flowing locks it's clearly been modeled on my good self ....

Another snicket and a snippet of history

This one leads from Newgate Street, Cottingham and is shown on old maps as Church Road or Church Walk. The wall on the left is the boundary wall of Kingtree House built in 1750 by a Hull merchant; a description of this place is at the end of the post, it seems to have been quite something. The house was demolished in the 1960 and a shopping arcade and houses were put up instead. The old maps show the path leading up to the church but now it stops as you can see below at the top of Kingtree Avenue.

The following is a description of  Kingtree House by Arthur Young (1771), "Letter IV", A six months tour through the north of England, containing, an account of the present state of agriculture, manufactures and population, in several counties of this kingdom (2 ed.), W. Strahan, W. Nicholl, Mr. Matson's Shrubbery at Cottingham, pp.152-5, 

"At this place Mr. Watson has a pleasure-ground, which is very well worth seeing; it consists of shrubberies with winding walks, and the imitation of a meandring river through the whole. The grass plot in front of the house surrounded with ever-greens and shrubs, with a Gothic bench on one side, is very pretty, and the clumps to the water's edge well disposed : From thence, passing by a bridge, you follow the water through a pasture ground, with walks and benches around it; the banks closely shaven, the bends of them natural, and quite in the stile of a real river. About the middle of the field it divides and forms a small island, which contains two or three clumps of shrubs, and is a very great ornament to the place; the walk after-wards leads to the other winding ones around the field, which is certainly laid out in general in a good taste. There are, however, one or two circumstances, that cannot fail of striking every spectator, which, if they were a little altered, would be a great improvement. Directly across the whole runs a common foot-way, which, though walled in, cuts the grounds too much; a broad arch or two thrown over it, well covered with earth and planted with shrubs, would take off the ill effect of crossing this path. In the water is the imitation of a rock, every kind of which is totally unconsonant with the pleasing and agreeable emotions of the gently-winding stream, and smoothly-shaven banks; besides, any rock worth seeing would swallow up this water. In the next place here are some urns, an ornament, when properly disposed, of great efficacy; but close, shaded and sequestered spots, whereon the eye falls by accident, as it were, are the places for urns, and not open lawns, full in view, and to be walked around. It is surprizing, that the ideas of imitating nature, in rejecting a strait line for the water, and giving its banks the wave of a real stream, should not be extended to hiding the conclusion, by winding it among the wood where it could not be followed; and it would have been a great improvement, to have given the stream in one place a much greater wave, so as to have enlarged it to four times its present width; this would have added much to the variety of the scene. Lastly, I might remark, that the circular bason near the end of the river has a very bad effect; any water so very artificial, should not be seen with the same eye that views the imitation of a real stream."

Winding House and Slipway

When ships needed repairing they were often hauled up a slipway to get them onto dry land. This building housed the engine and winch mechanism to pull boats out of the Humber. The Slipway now is part duckpond and part reed bed. I showed you the engine in a previous post here. There are plans to do up this building and reinstall the engine. For those interested in Victorian Docks and stuff like that there's a trail signposted running around the old Victoria Dock that starts at this very spot.

The Deep End

I've shown Hull's oversized fish tank many times before so what's my excuse this time? Well it seems it has won an award for the elevator! Seems the elevator in the Deep is one of the top ten in the world according USA Today. That's something I guess, not quite sure what but it's certainly something.

Part of the rationale for building the Deep was that it would act as encouragement for other concerns to redevelop the waterfront area. Well the Deep opened ten years ago and there's nothing going on apart from a bridge that leads to nowhere ( and still isn't open ) and an abandoned housing scheme called the Boom which we must now, I suppose, call the Bust.

We cannot make our sun stand still

Here's the sun setting once again over the tide of Humber and who am I to complain?

Keep Out

When you're trying out new technology the last  thing you want is a visit from inquisitive ne'er-do-wells. So stout defences are in order. Here's the approach to the tidal power station I showed some time back. Works for me.

More monochrome madness at The Weekend in Black & White.

Lecture Theatre

 

It's thirty or more years since I sat in one of these things, frantically taking notes while some lecturer prattled on about biochemical pathways or some such. It seemed interesting at the time but now I can't see what the attraction was. This nicely geometrical building squats at the back of Hull University.

Progress report

An update on the progress of the new houses being built on the Cleminson Hall site in Cottingham. Two show houses have been completed and there's a road of sorts. The hall itself is gradually falling into even more disrepair and you don't want to know what's happened to the tennis court.

All that glisters is not gold

The gold phone box? Not been touched by some latter day Midas, no, it's something to do with a recent sporting event [ 1 ], some chap gets a gold medal so we get a gold phone box. Anyway it'll soon be forgotten in the ongoing economic gloom. Still may as well photograph it before some 'accident'  befalls it.

Today the unemployment figures for Yorkshire showed a rise of 25,000 making 266,000 people out of work, a 10.3% rise in the last three months. The Council have threatened to shed some 200 further jobs. Here on the Market Place the Jobcentre was as busy as usual. I just love the irony of this image.

A strange old place

So this is Mark Kirby's Free School, hmm. First I've heard of it and indeed that's a brand spanking new sign. So a trip to the land of Google and Wikipedia informs me that Mr Kirby left an endowment in 1712 to support the village school near the churchyard and the school was to be renamed as you see. All well and good you might say except that to the right of the door is the sign you see below saying Richard Burton (who, if he'd read them, clearly did not heed the words of Matthew 6:3) gifted the land and the parishioners paid to build the house in 1729.  The wording "to the use of the poor of Cottingham for ever" implies a workhouse was built here a far cry from a school. So, anyway, you're thinking this is a house built in 1729, well not quite. Further delving into the arcane depths of Cottingham's history reveals that this building was modified when the church hall next to it was built in the 1850s. I'm finding what no doubt many have before that the past is a strange old place.

After all that you'll be wanting to see the building. Here it is with the church hall in the foreground. The building is now a coffee shop run by the church.

A full churchyard

This is the churchyard of St Mary's in Cottingham. As you can see it's pretty full not just with graves but trees.  You might think that because the church is old these trees are of a similar age but you'd be wrong. They've all sprouted up in the last century or so. You can see how it looked in 1885 if you click here. When that was taken the churchyard was still in use and so there's no trees. It closed for burials in 1889 and seems to have been subject to reafforestation. It's a little haven for wildlife with squirrels and birds even some exotics.

If  you have an interest in graves and graveyards pop over to Taphophile Tragics.

Flower Show

Here's the Railway pub again this time shaming the world with its fine window boxes and hanging baskets. Window boxes seem to have gone out of fashion in these parts with only public houses putting on any sort of a display. 

It's good to see the Railway doing well as this time last year it closed due to the landlords going bust.

Digging up my street

They're digging up my street. It's like a slow creeping road eating creature.  A trench is dug and whatever it is they're laying (electricity cables, I think) is placed in, covered with rubble then tarmac and the whole exercise lifts up and consumes another stretch of road. So far they done about 300 yards in 6 or 7 weeks.  Now it gets tricky, the first bit ran alongside a field with no houses, when they reach the houses and  side roads and have to let traffic in and out it will slow things down. I reckon it'll take 'til Christmas to finish  the job.

The machinery is tightly secured overnight and at weekends. Wouldn't do to have it 'wander off'.