Marvell of Hull

 

Andrew Marvell, MP and poet, is here positioned in front of his old school in Trinity Square. The building is now the Hands on History Museum which had we but world enough, and time, is still not worth the effort of going round.

 In 1921 Hull celebrated the tercentenary of Andrew Marvell's birth with city-wide events; I wonder if they went to the same lengths as today's motley crew with the Larkinalia. Were the streets filled with gaudily painted coy mistresses? Sadly my information on this is lacking.

Old ferry pierhead

Before the Humber bridge was built ferries ran from here to New Holland on the Lincolnshire side of the Humber. In those days there was a proper Corporation Pier  but that's all long gone. The last surviving ferry, the PS Lincoln Castle, is currently being broken up in a Grimsby dock. Humber pilots used to board from the pier but I don't think they still do.

The other side of the pier has a ramp known locally as the 'oss wash, a place for cleaning horses.

In the background looms the iconic Deep.

Arc-boutant

Arcs-boutants also known as a flying buttresses; these devices transmit the force of the ceiling through the wall to a counterweight outside the building. It means the walls can be thinner and allows more space inside the building. They were extensively used in mediaeval ecclesiastical buildings. However the ones you see here, at St Mary's, Beverley, were put up in the 1850s in a restoration job by Augustus Welby Pugin, his son E Welby Pugin, and Sir Gilbert Scott.
They fit in well and do look pretty cool with the light shining through. 

A white pair

No visit to the park would be complete without some ducks in a pond. These are the whitest ducks I've ever seen.

Menagerie Collage

When East Park was renovated they built an animal compound with a large walk-through aviary to replace an older more ramshackle affair. There's a motley collection of animals, birds and fishes though the deer that used to be in the park seem to have gone. 

East Park Model Boat Pond

The pond was designed by borough engineer Joseph Fox Sharp and opened on 21st June 1887 (Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee day). I've not seen any children sailing boats on this pond so maybe the craze for doing so has been lost since I was a little 'un.

The boat pond is still used but by much older "children" with expensive radio controlled boats that must cost a small fortune.

Lift off