Green Wickets & Piped TV

Cottingham at the beginning of the 19th century was "a favourite place of residence for the more opulent portion of the merchants of Hull, ... [with] ..many handsome country houses, gardens and pleasure-grounds". One of those country houses was this one, Green Wickets on Thwaite Street. It was built about 1780 for one Michael Metcalfe. Originally called the Sycamores it has been added to and fiddled with over the years and is now a Grade2 listed building. 

I've passed this building many times little knowing the role it played in the spread of television in the area. Rediffusion  was an early system of transmitting sound and later TV by cable from a central aerial. It was very popular in Hull and the central mast was in the grounds of this house. I seem to remember the system was known as piped TV. Anyhow, Rediffusion is long gone, replaced by satellite and digital advances but the house is still there and looks good for a few more years yet and is still, no doubt, owned by a merchant from Hull.

Watch Where You're Going

What all this then? HGVs going down Kingtree Avenue? Weren't they looking? And were there so many the council had to put up a sign? If drivers of heavy goods vehicles are really so thick and unobservant as to follow a stupid sat nav down a narrow residential street in Cottingham what chance is there that they will even notice this sign? That's enough from me, you have reached your destination.

Whan that April with his showres soote ...

Photo by Margot K Juby

...then longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,...

Er, not quite. This palmer is none other than your man himself on the path to Beverley. There are modern ways of getting from Cottingham to Beverley by car, bus or train journeys of a few minutes duration; this is the old bridle path that winds its way around field edges for three and half miles and, due to dawdling and admiring the view and so on, took over two hours. Even then it was more by accident than design as having got to where yesterday's picture was taken from and seeing the minster in the distance it was a case of returning were as tedious as go o'er. At least we had Zephyrus (with his sweete breeth) on our backs all the way.

Drought in Hull and Hereabouts

On my way to Cottingham down Snuff Mill Lane and came across the land on fire! Months of low rainfall have parched this land which should be a damp marsh with pools of water. It's an area rich in wildlife. The Easter holidays have provided the idle hands for the devil to find work and we have this ugly sight. It's no raging inferno and the firebrigade will have put it out in no time but if the land is this dry in April what will it be like after Summer? As I write it has started to rain but we need lots and lots of the wet stuff. 

You see the world turned upside down

"Yet let's be content and the times lament, 

You see the world turned upside down."

I'm posting this picture upside down because, in line with just about everything this year, it looks better that way.

Margot took this while standing on her head in Cottingham.

The weekend in black and white could possibly be here.

Red Sky at Night

Ever had an afternoon hunting for the unobtainable in the shops, well I've just had one of those. I took this as I wended my weary way home this evening. Those old plane trees on Cottingham Road make impressive silhouettes now they've finally lost their leaves. Oh and forget that saying about a red sky at night being a shepherd's delight because the forecast for tomorrow is wet and windy. 

Callooh! Callay! It's Cottingham Day!

A part of me thinks they hold this in July just celebrate the students having gone home for the Summer but I must banish such thoughts. This isn't just some local day for local people. Everyone's welcome except maybe the riff-raff from Orchard Park. So make a note in your hectic social diary ...

Over at City Daily Photo they are 'Celebrating Summer' for some reason and not without cries of foul from those south of the Equator who are relishing their Winter, lucky them. You can see what 'Celebrating Summer' looks like here.

Priory Cottage

What does word 'cottage' conjur up for you? A small, thatched affair maybe or perhaps some artisan's dwelling; certainly not, I suspect, something like this substantial five bedroomed quasi-mansion that sits on Northgate in Cottingham. Built around 1854 it comes with very large gardens. It's for sale and should you be tempted  the asking price is just a shade under £400,000, but you get a lot of 'cottage' for all that.

T is for pylon

Near Creyke Beck, Cottingham

A recent competition to design a new pylon has come up with a T-shaped thing that is so boring that it instantly appealed to all the judges from the Department of Energy & Climate Change, National Grid, and the Royal Institute of British Architects. Say what you like about these old giants that have been bestriding and despoiling the countryside for eighty years but they ain't dull.

Parallax

There are people who find beauty in pylons; who am I to argue? This was taken from a moving train just north of Cottingham .

Sunday, go to church

Here I present the beauty that is St Mary the Virgin,Cottingham.
Picture postcard perfect.
It's been here since the early 13th century; that's before France had borders, Germany was a country and well before the USA was a stain on humanity.
It's main problems are caused by the insistence of English Heritage that the roof be made of lead. This has led to many thefts of lead from the roof; and damage to the the fabric of the building. If a suitable replacement were allowed the church would be saved many thousands of pounds in restoration costs.

Three heads are better than one

This curious carving is on Cottingham's church. I'm guessing it had deep meaning when originally carved possibly something theological (the old three-in-one trick) or perhaps it symbolises some mediaeval merchant banker capable of saying three conflicting statements while looking out for number one. Hmmm.

The Tradesman's Entrance

This post is just an excuse to show again a favourite tree in Cottingham. (It's been seven or more years so you won't remember.) It sits at the junction of Snuff Mill Lane and Newgate Street in the grounds of what is now a care home but originally must have belonged to someone with higher than average income shall we say. It's splendid all year round but in spring the red leaves are just superb.

Liddell Street: then and now

Close to the burnt out school I showed the other day is a patch of grass with a few trees and bushes growing on it. They can't build houses on this land on account of the Cottingham Drain running right underneath it. Twenty or so years ago when I used to live in these parts the place was a scruffy dumping ground for fly-tippers and you'd see the occasional wino making his peace with the world. There was a strange bridge that didn't cross anything since the drain had been culverted decades earlier. There'd be weird tyre tracks where joy riders had obviously been having fun. Oh and every November fifth there'd be an almighty bonfire, often two or three leaving scorch marks that didn't really heal 'til the next November. Anyhow now it's become a play area with goalposts for football (that's posh!) and so on and proper seats for the winos and druggies so they don't get their trousers dirty .... and tolerated graffiti. The strange bridge has finally gone. The posts you can see are to stop twockers using the place as a short cut (spoilsports). Oh and the fly-tipping is still a local hazard.

Finkle Streets

There are lots of Finkle Streets scattered among towns in the north of England. No-one is quite sure what 'finkle' means but the current best guess is a corner, bend or elbow; Finkle Streets tending to have an bend in them at some point. I know it sounds a bit tenuous but I don't make the rules. There's always an exception and Finkle Street in Cottingham is as straight as a Roman road. This Finkle Street runs or rather ran from old Mytongate (now the Castle Street/A63 dual carriageway) to Blanket Row and beyond where it bent round to the Humber. It's now nothing at all really and you wouldn't know it was there; there's no street sign or buildings or anything to let you know it existed. I only stumbled upon it and its history by reading an excellent little article by a local historian.

Leaf Fall

A little seasonal colour here on Cottingham Road, near the University.

Jack Kaye Walk

Jack Kaye Walk connects Ella Street and Goddard Avenue. If this bridge or tunnel looks a bit odd for a footpath that's because originally the Cottingham Drain ran through here until it was culverted and turned into a  path. This place used to attract the graffiti artists and that was frowned upon now it's been 'decorated' by a 'community' group and that's OK. Jack Kaye ran a shop on Ella Street that has since been pulled down and is now housing. There's a plaque that reads "Jack Kaye, Epicurean Grocer served the Avenues area 365 days a year from this shop here 1947 to 1998" seems a bit OTT for a corner shop proprietor but maybe he was special.

Cold in the earth-and the deep snow piled above thee Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!

Thank you for that, Emily. Here's one for the psychrophilic taphophiles amongst us, snowy tombstones in Cottingham churchyard.

The street with the hall

Hmm maybe the signwriter who came up with this didn't understand that 'Hallgate' is not the gate of a hall but the street with the hall on it, in this case Cottingham castle, long gone. Or then maybe she/he did and could'nt give a monkey's either way; it's not important in the grand scheme of things I must admit. And don't be misled into thinking this is some ancient watering hole. I remember it was Hallgate bookshop not so many years ago; books to beer is progress of a sort...

After I'd written the above I realised I've posted this pub's sign before some five years ago, it was looking a tad tired then. I think I prefer the new one. The cameras are still there, keeping us safe from whatever.

All mod cons ...

Cor there's posh! Most Hull folk still have to wander down to the corner pump with a bucket ... Cottingham houses have their own private wells.