Watergate, how one thing leads to another.

I've walked down Humber Street a number of times but only today noticed this blue plaque; it's right next to that old dry dock that I posted a few weeks back. I suppose they put plaques high up so no-one will steal them still it defeats the purpose if you don't see them at all. Anyhow inspired by a sign to an old rubbish tip I looked up Hull's Watergate and found an old picture/map of Hull by Wenceslas Hollar (1607 -1677). I thought the top bit of the picture would make a good heading for the blog and while I was fiddling with that I changed the background colours as well and before I knew it the blog had a brand new look. If you're interested the Watergate is shown right in the middle of the picture.

Below is the full image, the date is unknown (thanks to Wikimedia Commons).

No longer in use

Some moths ago I showed the Maizecor tower an impressive concrete structure which is way off to the left of this picture. When the business started grain would be shipped up the river and offloaded into the large building on the right before crossing over Wincolmlee to the processing plant via this bridge. It's no longer in use as far as I know. Also no longer in use is the Scott Street bridge control building on the left.

Trident

If you're familiar with Hull you'll know where this is. If not it doesn't really matter. It's just a piece of Edwardian claptrap celebrating Empire and Majesty and all the crud that goes with it. Fitting then that it sits on top of the public convenience.

Punch Hotel

The Punch was originally built in the 1840's ( see old photo here ) but was demolished and rebuilt in grand style in 1896. The exterior is covered in ceramic tiling to give a highly decorative effect. It sits on the corner of Queen Victoria Square between the Ferens art gallery and Carr Lane's 20th century excrescences. 

Traffic Lights

OK what can I possibly say about this? In December 1868 the world's first traffic lights came into operation near Westminster Bridge in London. They were gas lit and unfortunately within a month had sprung a leak and blown up resulting in the policeman who was operating them suffering severe burns and, according to some sources, dying from his injuries. Things have moved on a bit and now there must be millions of these devices at junctions all across the world. There's a fair few here at the junction of Holderness Road and Mount Pleasant. There's precious little to say about this junction except that it's oft times busy and the sooner you can get away from it the better. I'm sorry I can't imagine what I was thinking taking such a dull picture and inflicting it on the world. 

If celebrating Australia Day (or Invasion Day if you wish) tickles your fancy then some City Daily Photo bloggers are posting about this here.

Clearance

Six months ago I posted that this block was due for demolition and it seems that half the job has been done. The remaining buildings are still trading with a pawnbrokers and a kebab shop carrying on as if nothing has happened.When they say they've levelled the site they mean it!

Cornmi ...

For reasons that need not detain you I ended up walking around the wilds of East Hull the other day. It seemed the place was either in the business of closing down or had already achieved that state of economic death. One particular cadaver stood out. At the junction of Mount (un)Pleasant and Holderness Road squats the rotting remains of the Cornmill Hotel. It's neatly embalmed and ready for sale, well good luck with that.