Thursday 7 February 2013

Lighting-up Time


Half an hour after sunset the street lights come on and if you're lucky the pavements have a patent leather shine. This is the building on the corner of Pier Street and Nelson Street that I showed a detail of back in December [ 1 ].

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Navigation


I mentioned a few day ago the difficulties of getting into the old harbour of Hull [ 1 ]. This barge skilfully managed the trick. It was coming upstream from the right of the picture but the current of the Humber meant that it had to go past the entrance to the river Hull on the right and the do a u-ey and let the current push it into the river. Turning a 55m tanker through 180 degrees in the Humber's current is no mean feat. This tanker is the Rix Eagle and plies from Immingham on the south bank carrying oil.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

City Hall


Here's the City Hall on a bright sunny day. The City Hall is not to be confused with the Guildhall which is the seat of local political shenanigans. No, the City Hall hosts concerts and other cultural events which may explain why there are so many police vans surrounding it.

Monday 4 February 2013

Wellington Street Rail Track


Wellington Street runs from Queen Street parallel to the Humber all the way down to the Albert Dock. It would at one time have had many warehouses and been busy with the trade from the Humber Dock A dockside railway ran along this street and around the docks. Now the line and the street are blocked at this point and you have to cross via the marina's lock gates. On the left in the distance is Number Two Humber Quays.

Below is a dated view eastwards from the same spot showing the rail tracks. The building on the left has since been demolished and was mentioned in a previous post.


Below more tracks this time from the western side of Wellington Street. The brick wall is clearly a recent thing.

Saturday 2 February 2013

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.




Friday 1 February 2013

The rain it raineth everyday ...


...Upon the just and unjust fella,
But more upon the just because
The unjust hath the just's umbrella.

Today's theme for the monthly City Daily Photo grouping is 'Umbrellas'. To see what others have made of this theme from gamps to parasols to wherever their imagination has wandered click here.

OK I admit I don't have a picture of any umbrellas whatsoever. Even this picture was taken by Margot Juby.