Friday, 28 January 2011

The wrong side of the tracks

Anlaby Road tower blocks seem to march off into the distance. 
These rail platforms are no longer used. They were specially built to take European emigrants from Hull to Liverpool whist separating them from the native population; they were kept out of sight. Many thousands passed through here in the search for a better life. I guess that, as they didn't stay in Hull, the chances are they found one. If they'd stayed their descendants might be living in these lovely "homes".


Thursday, 27 January 2011

For Sale May Rent

This is the Tower on Anlaby Road. It opened in 1914 as a cinema. In 1978 it closed and since then it has been a boxing venue, a roller disco and eventually as a night club and fun pub. It is currently for sale.
The Cinema Theatre Association wants someone to buy the place with a view to returning it to a cinema. All the original plaster work is still there. So with a bit of luck Hull might get another cinema.
You can read here about local memories of the place through the years.

Wednesday, 26 January 2011

Saving the planet ...

or just saving money?
Commuters park up their bikes at Beverley station before taking the train to Hull or better places.

Tuesday, 25 January 2011

Beverley Arms Hotel


The Beverley Arms Hotel opened in 1794 as a coaching inn. The advertisements on the web for this hotel state that the hotel had a connection with the highwayman Dick Turpin which is odd since he was executed in 1739.

The hotel has a website here.

Monday, 24 January 2011

Driffield Navigation in January

I posted a shot from this spot in June when all was green and leafy. It was so gloomy when I visited the other day that I thought why not a monchrome shot.

Sunday, 23 January 2011

A bend in the river

 The weather is stuck at the moment under a high pressure which means for the east of the UK we get good old anticyclonic gloom, day after day of cloudy skies drifting in off the North Sea. At least it stays dry so I can get out and about. Here's the River Hull taking one of its many twists and turns near the source at Driffield. The area around here is a protected site of scientific interest with many special plants and animals.

Saturday, 22 January 2011

Sarcophagus


The General Cemetery on Spring Bank was started in the 1840s and was a well laid and ordered place with well kept paths and cleared spaces. Now its filled with matured trees and it's just a place to walk the dog and for other less salubrious activities. You can still come across stunning examples of the Victorian near obsession with mourning and funerary monuments. It is difficult now to see quite what the purpose of this massive marble sarcophagus might be. Here it stands slowly eroding and being swallowed up by ivy.