Saturday 27 October 2012

Barmston Drain


The Beverley and Barmston drain to give it its full name drains the land between Beverley and Driffield and runs to the west of the river Hull joining it just before the mouth of the river. The pictures here are from the stretch near Sculcotes Lane in Hull. It's pleasant enough now with a tarmac footpath, almost civilised, but when the gas works and electricty power station were operating up to the 1960s the drain was used for cooling the plant and waste hot water was pumped back into the drain making it steaming and polluted. Houses backed on to the drain it was all very Dickensian. Here's Philip Larkin in 1964 having a stroll by the drain while reading one of his more depressing verses.


Now the drain is crystal clear and well stocked with fish and there's abundant wildlife. Of course where there's drains there's rats.


3 comments:

  1. I am sure the rats are keeping something even more unpleasant at bay.

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  2. Why do all poets read their work in this deadly dull monotone?

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    Replies
    1. I suspect it's so you can't tell what tosh they're saying.

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