Jaz Cafe Bar, Lowgate, Hull

You might look at this and think that looks like bit like an old fashioned bank and you'd right it was once a bank but now it's a temporarily closed coffee bar. A quick check on the old Google shows that, as I thought, it's a listed building, the details are all here if you want 'em.

As he lived he died ...

"A handsome monument has been erected, by the congregation, in St Mary's church Hull, to the memory of the Rev. John Scott. It is in white marble, and built in the wall to the left of the organ. In the centre is a bold basso-relievo likeness of the deceased, encircled by palm branches; the likeness is exceedingly striking, although the only guide the sculptor had was a black profile, a small pencil drawing, and the suggestions of the friends of the deceased. The accessories are a crown of glory, unfolded by the removal of drapery, a book opened, and the communion vessels. Underneath is written the following inscription: "In memory of the Rev. John Scott, M.A. eighteen years minister of this parish, who died October 16,1834, aged 47 years, and is interred within the communion rails. His high endowments were devoted to the great object of making full proof of his ministry. 'Mighty in the Scriptures,' he declared ' the whole council of God' with singular judgment, energy, and simplicity. As he preached he lived— and as he lived he died. To perpetuate the remembrance of the fervent piety of their pastor and friend, an affectionate congregation have erected this monument." The sculptor is Mr. T. Loft, of London, a native of Hull.—The Committee for furthering the Subscriptions on behalf of the family of the Rev. Thomas Scott, the Commentator on the Scriptures, and father of the above, announced in July last, that the amount then received was somewhat less than 2800l. "This sum, though considerable in itself, will yet be admitted to be very inadequate to benefit no less than fifteen young persons, (the grand-children) more or less unprovided for."

                       Extract from The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle, 1835, Volume 158

It's nice to have someone write your stuff for you nearly two hundred years before you need it but then you find they've gotten his age wrong, he was 57 not 47, it seems journos can never be trusted. Also Johnny Scott may have been "mighty in the scriptures" but to leave fifteen children "more or less unprovided for" strikes me as being a tad too reliant on the Almighty not suffering the soul of the righteous to famish.

The weekend in black and white is here.

The Jube

Jube, Domine, benedicere

The church of St Mary on Lowgate has featured a few times in this electronic mishmash. I thought I'd posted stuff from inside but maybe it's hiding somewhere I can't find it. Here's the rood screen or jube which separates the paying customers and general riff-raff in the mosh pit or nave from the holy end with the brass and stuff. It supposedly adds to the mystery of what is little more than a two thousand year old confidence trick. This looks pretty old but in fact is from 1912 by one Temple Lushington Moore (you just don't get  names like that any more) as the craze for renovating old English churches was drawing to a close, the Great War would finish off that madness completely. The above is just a detail; it's really quite thing ...

Holy Mackerel

It's been a while since I posted anything piscine related to the Hull Fish Trail. To rectify that omission and as it's Friday here's part of a small shoal of mackerel lurking for a passing sprat no doubt. You can find them at the eastern end of Holy Trinity church where Lowgate turns imperceptibly into Market Place. They're carved out of sandstone and have been in the pavement and walked over by the passing throng since 1992 or thereabouts and are getting a bit worn out and easily missed.

The Weekend in Black and White is here.

et in Argos ego ...

This was for many years an Argos store until it shut a couple of years ago. Before that, I remember it was the Habitat store selling overpriced 1960/70s designed household furniture and lighting, clearly Hull wasn't quite the market for such goods as the store closed years ago. (Obviously this was before "Culture" came to the town.)

Argos is an odd kind of store where you chose your goods from a catalogue that runs to over 1000 pages with many, many thousands of products, write the product code on a slip of paper take it to the checkout, pay for it (declining the offer of buying a warranty, thank you, but I wasn't born yesterday), wait a short while and your stuff appears by magic from behind a counter. Do they make up your item as you order it? or is there the biggest warehouse in the world hiding in the back?

Now, of course, you can browse the catalogue and order/pay online; go to the shop and pick up your goods ... I think they even deliver (we live in wonderful times). Few folk take home their own copy of the Argos catalogue which used to be reprinted twice a year (I think). Hundreds of these thick glossy tomes would be stuffed in boxes outside the doors of each store. They made excellent door stops but mainly they made even better landfill. 

PS I now read that the Argos catalogue has in fact been withdrawn from many stores with a view to scrapping it completely ... which goes to show how much I know about anything.

At least the Weekend in Black and White is still here.

You don't know what you've got till it's gone ...

What you've never had, I suppose, you'll never miss. So future new visitors to Lowgate might wonder at older folks shaking their heads and sighing a little at the loss of the 1970s brown glazed façade of the block opposite Holy Trinity. Gone forever now the near perfect reflections that any and I guess every local photographer and tourist snapped up on their first trip around town ... I know old empty offices serve no purpose and folk need places to live and poor threatened landlords die such a painful death without income ...and all the rest... so anyway here are new apartments whose occupants will no doubt complain about old folk pointing their crooked fingers at their windows, shaking their heads and sighing.

Well, OK then just once more ...  for old times' (and old timers') sake ...

*Shakes head and sighs*

Lowgate Lion

Victorian and Edwardian buildings often have decorations that are frowned upon by the modern steel, glass and concrete builders of today. This fine lion is on the Old Custom House on Lowgate.

The weekend in black and white just finishing here.

From the top, one more time

Here's the law courts building once again, this time from the top of the bus heading out to Holderness Road.

76-78 Lowgate

Just round the corner from yesterday's doorway and within spitting distance of the old Queen's Dock this pair of buildings, now the Lowgate Centre, were built in the late 18th-century as merchants' houses complete with stables and warehouses. The medieval practice of merchants living over the shop, as it were, died out pretty soon after this date which led to the spread of Hull north of the dock into Baker Street, Albion Street and that area. 

Post Office Red

When the grand old central post office up the road was closed a few years ago this less imposing but perhaps more viable post office opened up on Lowgate. Clearly it's had a recent repaint job and is looking all spick and span.

Exchange Court

Running off  Lowgate, behind the old court house, Exchange Court is evidence that the court house (now pub/club) was once a public exchange when it was built in 1866. This little alley is home to spiders and red motorbikes. The only business I could find down here was a wealth management company. Wealth? Now what would that be? Vaguely remember the word, but no, sorry, it's gone....do remind me.

Jobsworth

St Mary, Lowgate, Hull

jobsworth
ˈdʒɒbzwəːθ/
noun BRITISH informal
an official who upholds petty rules even at the expense of humanity or common sense.

Imagine how it might be then after feeding hot food to poor people who would otherwise be looking in dumpsters and bins for cast-offs, to be told that you cannot do this because of some regulation about food safety. So it was with St Mary's, Lowgate where the Council shot itself in the foot once again by denying a charitable organisation permission to serve hot meals to the homeless and poor because the food was prepared in unregistered homes and then brought to the church to be served. The vicar was threatened with prosecution for carrying out charitable works!

These days you cannot even give hot food away now without being registered by the Council no doubt with a fee to pay annually and with inspections. The so-called customers (no money is involved) might get food poisoning it is claimed, it goes without saying the Council does nothing about the hygiene of dumpsters. So it was to be sandwiches and cups of tea until proper facilities could be found which, given the flood of outrage this caused amongst the good folk of Hull, was not too long. A nearby café has offered the use of its kitchen so normal service has been resumed.
Meanwhile, and here the C of E really does not do irony, just a hundred yards or so down the road £4.5 million is being sought to build a restaurant in Holy Trinity church.

Ocean Chambers. Lowgate

Well the doorway was open so I did not resist the temptation to have a sneaky peak inside. This is Ocean Chambers on Lowgate built in 1900 in what is called a baroque revival style. It has some pretty fancy detailing including this cartouche with attending dolphins. I'm assuming from the name that it had some maritime/shipping connection originally, now it's the offices of a law firm.

A backyard off High Street

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

Britannia For Sale

How long have I lived in Hull? Thirty plus years and still I find something I've never seen before. Way up on top of a building at the corner of Bowlalley Lane and Lowgate I found this eroding Britannia peering down at me. The building is your run-of-the-mill Victorian office block turned (inevitably) into a public house. It must have had some importance for a whopping stone statue to be stuck on top but times have changed and now I wonder what Britannia makes of the Barracuda Bar.

 Just noticed the For Sale sign so here's yet another investment opportunity in Hull.

PS & Update: It seems I've come here with half a story. After a little bit of research and a friendly Tweet I find that this building was once a courthouse and before that a public exchange. Now being a law court would explain the Britannia statue. It's Grade 2 listed and details of its architecture can be found here.

Trouble brewing

On the right St Mary's, Lowgate part of the Church of England which increasingly becomes irrelevant and absurd. It likes to think it is important because the State likes to appear to have 'religion' but no-one takes them seriously and haven't for centuries. To the left the old central Post Office now apartments for those who like to live in converted offices. 

The decline of the C of E and the inevitable privatisation of the Royal Mail are insignificant to the events going on elsewhere. In the middle of the picture the Guildhall once the seat of local democracy is now a vehicle for this repressive Government's policies. Local government in this country has been a castrated beast for thirty years or more with powers being centralised to Whitehall. Now the beast is being asked to do the dirty work for this unmandated Government. Hull Council say they have to sack 600 workers due a cut in grants from central Government (you see how the beast was robbed of its power now, local Government cannot raise funds independently, no money no power). But there's more and worse,  much worse to come. From April benefit receivers who used to get full Council Tax relief will now have to pay a percentage of that tax. In Hull that's 8% but in East Riding  of Yorkshire, where I live, it's at least 25%! On top of that there's the introduction of the Bedroom Tax. Housing Benefit to social housing tenants will be cut if it is deemed that there are too many bedrooms. This means for many tenants that they can no longer afford to live in their homes, homes that they've occupied for years in many cases. People with disabilities are going to have to move out of properties that have been converted to accommodate their needs. And so and so on. You get the picture; it's a nightmare for these people and it's going to lead to unrest. The Government which no-one voted for and which has presided over the longest recession ever in this country's history is passing the bill for the crimes of the bankers onto the poorest in the land while giving tax cuts to the rich (Up to £100,000 for millionaires, we can't have them and their entrepreneurial talents leave the country now, can we? How would we manage without them?). Well we shall see who pays in the end. 

Silver Street

Here with its seasonal decoration dimly glittering in the late afternoon light is Silver Street. It continues eastwards from Whitefriargate to Lowgate in the distance. It has a mixture of businesses mainly connected with the legal and financial side of life. At each end there are former clearing banks, splendid buildings, that now are taken over with coffee bars and similar. Running off the street is Hepworth's Arcade on the right and a mediaeval passage way to Ye Olde White Hart pub on the left.

Old Church

This is St Mary's on Lowgate which I've shown bits of before( 1 & 2 ); here's the southern side.  The original church dates from early 14th century though it's been knocked about a bit by a local lord of the manor who thought it was spoiling his view. To me the tower looks to be out of proportion and it turns out it was added later and built across the pavement.

Courts of Law

If you get caught doing something you shouldn't then you might end up having to appear in this building to account for your actions. This is the Combined Court building on Lowgate housing the County and Crown courts. I wonder if there is a special court for designers of ugly modern buildings?

Time

View from the mediaeval churchyard of St Mary's Lowgate. 

This month's theme day topic is time. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants