Blaydes Yard

Next door to the old Dock Office that I showed a couple of days back sits this old shipyard belonging, at one time, to the Blaydes family. It's main (if not sole) claim to fame is that a merchant ship named Bethia was built here in 1784. 'Bethia?', I hear you say, 'never heard of it'. Well if I you told that the good ship Bethia was bought by the Royal Navy and renamed Bounty, a few bells might start ringing. Yes breadfruit, Captain Bligh, Fletcher Christian,  mutiny, Pitcairn Island, Charles Laughton and Clark Gable all that started here in this silted up dump. A more enterprising city with all that history lurking in its backyard might have made something of it, some tourist trap perhaps, but this sleepy back water prefers to leave it to silt up and rust away.

Here's Blaydes House, just along the road from the ship yard. It was the Blaydes family home but now houses a department of Hull University.

Mr Toad meets Gandhi

Seems this toad has found its way across town, a short hop you might say, into the Transport Museum's gardens with convenient access to a suitably large pond. A much more tranquil site than next to the Arc building on Castle Street where I last saw it; and peace, as someone once said, is its own reward.. 

Take the Hull Train

It seems Hull is to have its very own land train. Here it is parked up just off High Street. This colourful addition to the city scene is to take people around the city from the Deep past the Marina and Old Town finishing off at Queen Victoria Square; the exact route has yet to be determined. Personally I'd rather walk but then I'd miss the alternative history of Hull that the enterprising owner promises he will be telling his passengers.

Danish Buildings

On High Street at the junction with Scale Lane Staithe, Danish Buildings was designed by William Botterill, a leading architect in Victorian Hull. I've no idea what its original purpose was, I could guess trade of some sort or other. Nowadays it has been split into units for the so-called creative industries.

Water rip-off

Once upon a  time, long, long ago, water was supplied by philanthropic means through public fountains and cattle troughs like this one on High Street [ 1 ]. Nowadays, thanks to the bounty that is 'free market capitalism' we pay on average £368 per year for water and nearly a third of that goes as profit to the private equity firm that has swallowed up the water business in Yorkshire.

High Street

I have posted several of the buildings on this street so it's about time for a wider view. This narrow little street was once the busy centre of the city of Hull before the docks were built. The river and old harbour lie behind the buildings on the left. It's always had a reputation as a lively place, in olden days with merchants, sailors, prostitutes and press gangs and nowadays with the Friday and Saturday night revellers who throng the many bars and pubs in the area.

The Avenues

Not Hull's better known Avenues, that collection of tree-lined Victorian streets to the west of Pearson Park, these avenues lack trees or even a road. This pair of 'avenues' are to be found on High Street and consist of an L-shaped properties that wrap around a  corner building. I supposed they were developed from the alley ways that pervade this area. The one above is near Bishop Lane while the one below is next to the Olde Black Boy on the corner of Scale Lane.

Maister House

Maister House on High Street is an 18th century merchants house. Built, or rather rebuilt, in 1743 after a fire. The rather plain facade is, I'm reliably informed, a typical feature of Palladian architecture. It is owned by the National Trust and you can go inside and look at the staircase and other bits and bobs should that be your desire. OK, I confess most of this comes from a neat little web page here which has more information including pictures of inside the building. One day I might step inside and see what's what.

Lion and Key

The Lion and Key first opened in in 1817 at the corner of Scale Lane and High Street. Until a few years ago however it was trading under the name of Durty Nelly's (sic). Not surprisingly that enterprise failed (what were they thinking of?) and the pub was bought up and given its original name back and is doing well unlike a lot of pubs not just in Hull but all across the country where twelve pubs are closing every week! The opening of the new swing bridge will no doubt pull in some passing trade.

A backyard off High Street

You could see St Mary's on Lowgate if it wasn't for the houses in between.

Dutch Courage

So here's a colourful sign I found in a snicket off High Street.  This is the consulate of our Dutch friends, well we haven't been at war for several centuries. Intrigued by the motto I find these words were supposedly uttered by William the Silent, Prince of Orange and Nassau, (perhaps that's all he ever said) in the seemingly never ending struggles of Holland to free itself from foreign occupation. I'll pass over the fact that the motto is in French as our royals also have a French motto. The French sensibly got rid of their royals. 

History of a museum

This imposing building on High Street now houses the Hull and East Riding Museum. It was originally the Customs House then in 1856 it became the Corn Exchange (not to be confused with Ye Olde Corn Exchange) before becoming a Museum of Commerce and Transport in 1923. Following WW2 when it was damaged by bombing it reopened as a Museum of Transport and Archaeology in 1957. It was renamed the Hull and East Riding Museum in 1983. 

Due to the narrowness of the street I couldn't get a full shot of the facade but if you click here you'll get an early drawing of the building.

The doorway still has the signs of the corn merchants and traders who worked from this building.

Old and newish and still to come

Here's another view from the site of the proposed 18 storey hotel (see yesterday) featuring Holy Trinity's tower and a 60/70s multi-storey car park It's not much of a view to boast about I agree but I think it's better than an oversized "fag packet" .

You can find more monochrome fun at the Weekend in Black and White here.

Permission denied

Well I've got say I'm surprised. That 18 storey hotel that was planned for High Street has just been refused planning permission by Hull City Council. One councillor even went so far as to forget the rules about stating the obvious and described the proposed building as looking like a "fag packet". The developer is needless to say less than happy having had an even bigger and uglier building granted permission earlier. I reckon my prediction for something much, much smaller is looking good.

Here's the site complete with rubble heap and crow.

Some kind soul handily removed a fence panel for me to take these photos.

Any day now ....

I've heard rumours, nothing more than whispers, that the new swing bridge will almost certainly definitely maybe perhaps open this very month or even sooner. You heard it here first.

Snell's Entry

When those who do these things decided to knock down parts of High Street to build a multistorey car park and other essentials of modern life it was decided to wall off the back of these buildings. The wall is punctuated with little arched gaps bearing the name of  whatever passage way or snicket stood there on High Street before time and the search for profit took its toll. So here we have Snell's Entry. A quick glance through an old trade directory reveals that a Thomas Snell was a baker and flour dealer on High Street back in 1823. I'm assuming this is named after him or his business. It can't have much of a place since I can't find it mentioned on old maps from the period. I did however find a reference that has a resonance to today's Hull. In 1875 Mary Dowd of Snell's Entry was fined 5 shillings (about a week's wages) for not sending her children to school. 

I suppose we must thank those who do the deciding because now we know there was a Nag's Head Entry, Barrick's Place, John's Place, King's Court, Breton's Place and not forgetting Grimsby Lane running off High Street; all sign posted now, probably better than when they thronged with life. I won't carp about the lack of apostrophes.

Once again there's more monochrome fun to be had at the Weekend in Black and White here.

In case of emergency

I don't know what sort response you'd get if you tried to use this antique device on High Street. It's outside what used to be the head office of Humberside Police Authority now up for sale since the 'election' last year of  a new Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside. He wants somewhere more modest in keeping, no doubt, with his modest mandate (90% didn't vote for him).  May I suggest a shed? The building was built in 1899 as a trading exchange for the corn, flour and seed crushing industries. It can be yours for a mere snip of £425,000.

Musical Arches

Taking some shelter from a snow shower the other day I stumbled across this passage off High Street leading to the river. The old warehouses are now home to Hull College's Performing Arts, Music and Media Department which would account for the music I heard while taking these shots.

You can find more monochrome images at the Weekend in Black & White .