Category Archives: Kingston-Upon-Hull

Is Hull Really a ‘Crap’ Town? – Pt 4 Minsters, Museums and Mayhem

29 Replies

Is Hull Really a 'Crap' Town? - Pt 4 Minsters, Museums and Mayhem

Christmas came early for the Tigers yesterday because the Robins didn’t turn up until the match was all but lost. Fans who travel a long way to see their team play at least deserve to see the players try their best even if it’s not good enough, especially when the weather makes it difficult for travelling. There were quite a number of fans from Bristol who didn’t make it in time for the start of the match, and some didn’t make it at all – but at least they didn’t miss much.

I hope those who did make it got home ok because it was snowing when we went to bed last night, and the forecast wasn’t looking that great for our final day here either. As it was the week leading up to Christmas, I thought we could try and get into the Christmas spirit and take the short train ride to the historic market town of Beverley which has always appealed to me, and I probably won’t get another chance.

The good news was that we didn’t have much more snow after we went to bed, but the not so good news was that the temperatures had plummeted again, and it was decidedly dodgy underfoot as we clambered into the taxi that took us to Paragon station. It was the same when we arrived at Beverley, but it was a bit warmer as there was a lot more cloud around.

At the station there was a machine that sold maps for a pound, a practice that had been introduced in lots of places, but it’s like putting your money into an amusement arcade slot machine. Sometimes you win but most of the time you lose, and after trying my luck, we headed off towards Wednesday Market a quid lighter – and no map.

Continue reading →

Originally posted 2023-10-22 09:35:56.

Is Hull Really a ‘Crap’ Town? – Pt 3 Getting to Grips with Hull’s Maritime History

46 Replies

Is Hull Really a 'Crap' Town? - Pt 3 Getting to Grips with Hull's Maritime History

In Pt 2, we saw how the monks of Meaux Abbey created a port on the River Hull enabling them to export their wool to places like Belgium and The Netherlands, and even though King Edward I later acquired it for military purposes, the port of Kingston-upon-Hull also benefitted from the improved transport connections that were needed for his campaigns against the Scots. Since those early beginnings, Hull’s fortunes became inextricably linked to those of the port, and in this post I want to show how important the maritime trade was to this enigmatic city.

The late Middle Ages saw Hull’s trade expand beyond the Low Countries as cloth took over from wool as the main export. In return, fish was brought in from Iceland and Scandinavia, and materials needed for the local shipbuilding industry, such as flax, hemp, timber and pitch, were imported from the Baltic. What all this meant, was that by the late 17th century, Hull had become the third busiest port in the country after London and Bristol.

The 18th century saw the town grow rapidly as the Industrial Revolution created a surge in exports: The steelworks of South Yorkshire were providing the raw ingredients for production of high quality cutlery in Sheffield, and the increased output from the woollen mills of Yorkshire and cotton mills of Lancashire meant that the wharves on the River Hull were being stretched to their limit. Something needed to be done, and the answer came in the form of a series of docks that became known as the Town Docks.

Below is a map showing the city before the building of the Town Docks. On the western side of the River Hull is the medieval wall protecting the city, and on the eastern side is the castle and curtain wall protecting the port.

Continue reading →

Originally posted 2023-10-11 15:34:07.

Is Hull Really a ‘Crap’ Town? – Pt 2 The River Hull and How the Town Began

38 Replies

Is Hull Really a 'Crap' Town? - Pt 2 The River Hull and How the Town Began

Thanks to the person who couldn’t wait to have their Benson & Hedges fix this morning, it meant that the hour I thought I’d gained, had now been lost. Thankfully, other than a bit of stitch, I was none the worse for wear as we stepped out into the bitterly cold, but bright Yorkshire morning air – which this time didn’t include any flashing blue lights to hurry us along.

From the hotel, we walked up the ramp onto the Myton Swing Bridge where there were some great views of the River Hull below, not that I had any chance to take any photos of it, because Kay couldn’t care less how good the views were, she was definitely not hanging around in the cold waiting for me to take pictures. As she marched off without a clue where she was going, I had no option but to put the camera away and just console myself with the fact that the tide was out anyway.

The source of the River Hull is in the Wolds, not far from Driffield: It then weaves its way for around twenty five miles or so down to the Humber, which is where the majority of Yorkshire’s rivers end up. The map below gives a broad outline as to how at least eight of those rivers drain Yorkshire’s higher ground to join the River Ouse. At Trent Falls near Faxfleet, the Ouse is met from the south by the River Trent, and this is where it becomes the Humber. Although the Humber is often referred to as a river, it is in actual fact an estuary, but whatever you want to call it, the Humber has, over the centuries, been both an asset and a barrier to this part of England.

Continue reading →

Originally posted 2023-09-20 11:38:21.

Is Hull Really a ‘Crap’ Town? – Pt 1 The Ride to Hell

34 Replies

Is Hull Really a 'Crap' Town? - Pt 1 The Ride to Hell

In 2003, a book was published called Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places To Live In The UK. It wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, just a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the places that people regarded as dire. They weren’t all depressing run-down places that were still recovering from industrial decline either, because alongside them were boring Middle-England towns that had been in a state of slumber for so many years that they weren’t even considered for filming Midsomer Murders. It goes without saying that this book was right up my street, and it doesn’t take somebody with the brains of Stephen Hawking to work out that the town at the top the book’s list was Hull – or to give the town its correct name, Kingston-Upon-Hull.

So why isn’t it called Kingston-Upon-Humber? After all, it sits on the River Humber doesn’t it? Well, yes it does, but the settlement started out on the banks of the River Hull which flows into the Humber, and in the map below you can see the proximity of the city centre to the Rivers Hull and Humber. The featured image at the top of the page shows the River Hull just before it discharges into the Humber.

Continue reading →

Originally posted 2023-09-10 08:33:43.