Old Hull. A node

Historical Node. Hulls walls, the Blaydes, Samuel Pepys and Mutiny.

Recently exploring Hull for the Nth time I formed the idea of Historical Nodes. These are places where can stand and several pieces of Hull's history come to mind. They may be connected only because they are part of Hull's history.

Hull (Kingston upon--) has a complex history and place in the frame work of Britain's development. The street names (Cannon St, Spring Bank, Bond St, Waterhouse Lane, Bowlally Lane, Postern Gate (1) etc) to it's docks, to buildings, all speak to us of Hulls past.

1) Postern Gate

The Node Standing by the Old Dock Offices (2,), Dock Office Row, several things draw together.

2) Old Dock Office

The small street, North Walls, in front of the offices (3) it is on the alignment of Hull's northern wall (1300s). It ran through Queens gardens (4), but was demolished when the Town Dock was built in 1778. At that time the dock was the biggest dock in Britain.

3) This small Street is where the north wall of the city ran

4) The north town wall ran across here. It had to removed when the Town Dock was built in 1778.

A gate in the wall led to the old North Bridge over the River Hull, the origins of this river are in the Ice Ages. Blaydes, the ship builder, was fined for mooring a ship with it's bow sprit over the old North Bridge! The western stanchions of the old north bridge (5) can still be seen next to the mill.

5) The wooden remains of the old North Bridge

6) An aerial and interpreted view of Meaux Abbey. It lies east of Beverley

On the east bank was the northern Block House built by Henry VIII with stones robbed from Meaux Abbey (6).

7) The house of the Blayde's family. Important merchants and ship builders in Hull

The Blayde's house (7), now rescued from oblivion by the University for £1 (8), is just a little further south on High Street. It has a small window between the chimneys to watch for ships coming up the river.

8) The University of Hull paid £1 sterling to the Hull Civic Society for Blayde's House. It is now a maritime research centre.

The old Dock Office (1810) was the forerunner to the three towered one at the west end of Queens Gardens (1871) (9).

9) The last Dock Offices at the west end of Queens gardens. Now the Hull Maritime Museum.

The old Dock Office has a door (green) on the south end (10) where less important visitors entered. Behind the these Dock Offices the Bethia, later renamed the Bounty, of Capt Blye and mutiny fame, is thought to have been build by Blayde's (11).

10) The Old Dock Offices built 1810, with a side door (green) for less important visitors.

11) Old dock behind the Dock Office. The possible site for building the Bethia, later the Bounty

The Blaydes were an important merchant and shipping family who contracted with Samuel Pepys (of diary fame) to supply ships to the Royal Navy. On the north side of this building is the Dock Basin, with it's interesting yellow Scotch Derrick. The dock, now silted up, was a dry dock in the 1990's (12).

12) The dock basin which orinally lead to the Town Dock, now Queens Gardens.

From here ships could enter The Town Dock (now Queens Gardens) from the Haven (13), the area south of North Bridge of the River Hull. In 1778 the Town Dock was the biggest dock in Britain. The Hull College, with the moved Wilberforce monument in front, is built over the entry channel (14). In the middle ages a chain used to be stretched across the Haven entrance at night to protect Hull.

13) This part of the River Hull was called the Haven. It became too crowded with ships and so the Town Dock was built in 1778. It was entered via the Dock Basin where the derrick is on the extreme right of the photo.

The channel from the basin to the dock no lies under Hull College which has the monument to Wilberforce at its front.

14) Standing in what was the Town Dock, the connection from the River Hull ran under where Hull College, fronted by the Wilberforce monument.

The connections to what I'd like to call 'Hull's Historical Nodes' are endless and the above is just a very brief outline of what I 'see' from this one.