Giving York a hug

This plaque is high up on what used to be Barclay's bank at the corner of Silver Street and Trinity House Lane. It probably goes unnoticed by the vast majority of folks. If they did notice it and were familiar with heraldic coats of arms they  might wonder why some misty eyed maid was hugging the shield of the city of York. The bank, as is the way of things these days, is now a public house named after a member of one of Hull's old banking families William Wilberforce.

Pilot Office

Though the port of  Hull made its fortune by trading with the  ports of Northern Europe actually getting in and out of the river Hull in a boat was and remains a perilous operation. The currents of the Humber constantly change with the shifting sandbanks. A 1693 British Sea Atlas giving directions for sailing into the Humber starts with the following warning: "To sail into the River Humber you must have a care of  the Dreadful-Sand which is but 6 and 7 feet at low water". So from the earliest days there was a form of pilotage run by the Hull Trinity House and which was given royal backing when Henry VIII witnessed a Scottish vessel trying and failing to enter the port. After that all ‘strangers’ (foreign vessels including Scottish ships) visiting the port (Old Harbour) had to be brought in by a brother of the Hull Trinity House. Over the years the system was further regulated to keep out rogue elements who might be tempted to plunder wrecked ships. In 1821 this imposing Pilot Office was built at the corner of Nelson Street and Queen Street. It remained the central office for the Humber pilots until 1998. The building was then sold off for redevelopment as flats. The system of Humber pilots being self-employed which had existed for centuries was broken by the Associated British Ports in 2002 after a bitter dispute. Pilots are now directly employed by the ABP.

There is a very full history of the Humber pilots here.

More monochrome blogs at The Weekend in Black & White.

Western Cemetery

The Western Cemetery is essentially an extension of the Spring Bank cemetery [1, 2] opened in 1889 and still in use. It is across the railway line from the site of Hull Fair which you can see in the background. Most of the early memorials are showing signs of aging except for this one to Zebedee Scaping. Who he? My searches show he was born in Eton then went to the Royal Hospital School which has connections with the Navy. Later he becomes the headmaster of Trinity House school in Hull, a position he held for fifty-five years and, as this monument says, is  known in "every port and on every sea". I've managed to find a photo of him here , he's the one with the beard. The memorial was restored and regilded a few years ago and looks as it must have done when new.

Zeb married Georgiana Harriette Fury in Dublin in 1859, his occupation as that time is described as "Esquire", those were the days, eh!. From census records I found they had a son, also called Zebedee, well it would have been a shame to lose such a fine name.

If you like wandering round cemeteries why not wander over to Taphophile Tragics and see what others have posted.

Building schools for the future

Hull's Trinity House school is moving out of these old buildings on Princes Dock Street into  new buildings on the former University of Lincoln site. The school is also doubling in size to 600 pupils. This is all part of a concerted effort by local and central government to improve the school buildings in Hull. Hundreds of millions are being spent on the largest regeneration project in Hull and nineteen "new, world-class schools" should open by the end of 2014. All this is very laudable but if a similar investment isn't made on the teaching side Hull's unenviable record of poor educational performance will continue.

Salvage

This sign is on the doors of the old Trinity House Boathouse on Tower Street ( here ).

Trinity

It's a public house, a place where intoxicating liquors may be sold for consumption on or off the premises. Oh, and it's on Trinity House Lane, hence the name, either that or there's a religious connection and I can't quite see that somehow.

Spes Super Sydera

Hope above the stars, in case you were wondering; the motto of Trinity House School. So what is this rather ornate crest doing on a decrepit old building that is slowly sinking into the river? A bit of research reveals that this is the old buoy shed used by Trinity House who are responsible for navigation and lighthouses around the coast of the UK. It's a grade 2 listed (listing?) building put up in 1901 now used appropriately, given its precarious position, by a diving company. The swan-necked crane was presumably used for lifting old buoys out of the river.

Vicar Lane

Did the vicar actually live down Vicar Lane? I don't suppose I'll ever know. This narrow lane runs from Holy Trinity Church to Castle Street near to Burnett House which I showed you two or three days ago.

Trinity House Lane, Hull

 Trinity House Lane runs from Trinity Square to Whitefriargate. The building on the left is Trinity House, the organisation runs the lighthouses around Britain's shores as well as other nautical affairs. In Hull there is a Trinity House School associated with this building. The pub in the centre is the Kingston, here showing the flags of England's less than exciting World Cup effort. The tower on the left is the indoor market, quite why it needed a tower I don't know. The market is becoming more run down as stallholders can't make a living. This picture was taken from what used to be Hull's open market place, sadly Hull no longer has an open market. The development of Princes Quay and more recently the St Stephen's Mall means that fewer people come to this older part of town, you can see it's hardly crowded out.