The walling and un-walling of Hull

Hull's development owes much to the interest that Edward 1st, 2nd and 3rd showed in the early settlement of Wyke. In particular Edward 1st wanted to encourage the trade in new developing medieval towns and the early enterprises of Meaux Abbey, about seven miles to the north, were important for him in seeing the town develop. Its access to river(s) and sea made it a place through which the trading of goods could be developed along with tax revenues.

Left to right. Images of Edward 1st (1272-1307), 2nd (1307-1327) and 3rd (1327-1377) all of whom had an important input into Hull's development. (Images from Wikipedia)

In 1086 the hamlet of Myton at the junction of the River Hull and Humber estuary was based on a farm which was in fact a ‘berewick’ (piece of land not connected to a Manor) of the manor of North Ferriby. It was here the monks of Meux Abbey acquired some land in the 12th century. Land at this time was measured in ‘bovates’ (a bovate was about 20 acres) and the Camin family donated several bovates along with other rites to the Abbey. By about 1200 Meaux abbey had acquired about 10 bovates (about 200 acres) of land in the area but as was the case in much of the abbeys land dealings, litigation with neighbours was also always a problem. The name changed from Myton to Wyke and the River Hull was altered, part of the river becoming the docking place for ships, this area became known as The Haven.

Wyke attracted commercial interest mainly due to the activities of Meux Abbey and their trade in wool. In 1193 wool for the vast ransom demanded for King Richard I (The Lion Heart), then in the custody of Henry VI, was collected at Hull and from then to 1200 the trade in wool became more and more important to the area. The taxing of wool exports and its value lead to smuggling on both a large and small scales but also to the authorities creating laws in an attempt to reduce this activity. It was at this time that draining of what was known as the Cottingham Marsh started which allowed the development of more pasture and indeed several hundred years later to the development of the Avenues and the area of Newland. Edward 1st acquired the 'town' in 1293 from Meaux Abbey by the swapping land near Pocklington for 10 bovates of land at Wyke. On the map below 10 bovates at Myton are labelled 'later Kingsfee' which I would think alludes to this transaction. Edward 1st's charter of April 1st 1299 created Kingstown upon Hull from the original Wyke (or Wyk) and these changes indicated the importance that the King gave to the town and its development.

A 12th century sketch map of Myton/Wyk showing land measured in 'bovates'. It is suggested that 'Kingfees' (10 bovates) is the area which was involved in the acquisition of Hull by Edward 1st. (Map source Richard Clarke in 'Hull in the Beginning ---')

Part of the charter of 1299 bestowed by Edward 1st which conferred a number rights and the name Kingston upon Hull on the settlement of Wyke. Written in Latin on parchment. (Source. Part of frontice piece of Hull History Center, Hull)

Military action during the reign of Edward 1st was far removed from Hull and so the towns protection seemed less important. However, during the reign of Edward 2nd action against the Scots culminated in an English defeat at Banokburn (1314) and at Byland (1322). Following these defeats the emboldened Scots raided deep into England and it is said the residents of Hull could see the fires of the Scots camp fires on the Yorkshire Wolds when they camped at High Hunsley. This must have frightened Hulls population and, given Hulls strategic position as a supply point for military activity in the North, indicated that the town needed protection. The Scots army had ranged deep into England in 1318 and 1319 and so either by a request from Hull's population or the concerns of the King, a grant of murage (build a protective wall) and crenellate it was given to the town in July 1321, this being active for five years.

Here it may be helpful to explain that there were two separate walls around the town, a medieval wall and a later one, which I refer to as the Tudor/Stewart wall, which was built in a slightly different place to the early one. The word Tudor is used for convenience as although this wall was started just before Tudor times its full development would have crossed into this period. This later wall should not be confused with block houses and castle built by Henry VIII east of the River Hull. The original wall (medieval wall) round the town was sanctioned in 1322 by Edward 2nd

Map showing the medieval wall (lower red line small dashes and squares) and the Tudor/Stewart wall (top red line of long dashes). This later wall had to be removed when a dock and legal quay were built. At the east end of the medieval wall was the North Gate. (Source 'Historical Map of Kingston upon Hull', University of Hull and The Historic Towns Trust.)

The early (medieval) wall was topped with a wooden palisade with a ditch on the outside, although from its start, prior to any wall, Hull (or Wyke) always had had a ditch. There is no natural stone in the area but plenty of clay which is why Hull, along with Beverley, was known as 'a brick town' and why the eastern defences of Henry VIII where primarily of brick but infilled with rubble probably from the remains of Meaux Abbey. Besides the right to murage in 1327 Hull was given the right to 'crenulate' or fortify the wall mainly by the addition of castellations at the top of it.

Hull supposedly about 1350 showing the wall initiated by Edward 2nd in 1320. It would seem the wall illustrated is probably a development of the first wall. The chain guarding the Haven, Hull's anchorage, can be seen stretched across the entrance to the River Hull. (Map source: Kingston upon Hull City Libraries 1973)

This early medieval wall ran round the south, west and north side of the town, the east side seemingly being protected by the River Hull and a chain. In the fourteenth century Hull had a population of about 3,500 which was considered large at the time. What space there was was slowly built over in the ensuing centuries and houses and shops encroached over pavements increasing the unsanitary aspects of the place. Not only was it still unsafe to live outside the walls but much of the land was undrained making travel and rural enterprises more difficult. However, the boggy nature of the land did form a protective land ring for the town. During the late 1300s on wards, the medieval wall was slowly replaced by a more substantial one but slightly further out. Certainly by 1640 (Hollers map) the medieval wall had been replaced by a substantial brick wall. This development involved the filling in of the original ditch and digging another narrower ditch outside the newer wall. The only part where the Medieval and Tudor walls ran along the same line was on the southern edge of the town along what later became Humber Street but at the time was known as The Ropery, so called because no doubt ropes that were made there.

Hollar's map 1640 of 'Kyngeston upon Hull'. Unusually this is drawn looking from the west rather than the south. The Henry Vllls fortifications can be seen on the east of the River Hull. The Haven anchorage is obvious as is a north bridge. At the top right is the coat of arms of Hull. The origin of the three ducal crowns on the coat of arms is obscure but date from the 15th century. (Map source: Kingston upon Hull City Libraries 1973)

The medieval wall round Hull (Kingstown upon Hull as was then known following its charter) was the earliest wall round the town. Several gates pierced this wall, some barbican (fortified) and some postern, these being narrow pedestrian gates through which only two people could pass side by side and sometimes too narrow for two. The barbican North Gate in this wall was at its north eastern end essentially where the Old Dock Offices now stands at the north end of High Street. This wall followed the short road, now called North Walls, and then ran along what is now Guildhall Road.

North wall is a small road which leads from High Street to the south side of Queens Gardens (the original Old Dock). The original North Gate stood on this corner. (Photo Chris Coulson 2018)

The medieval town wall ran just to the right of this pavement of Guildhall Road. When the The Dock (Queens Dock) was first built this road was known as Legal Quay. Queens Dock became Queens Gardens, to the left, in 1930-34 when the dock was closed. (Photo Chris Coulson 2018)

At the western end the wall it bent south to the Beverley Gate and the line of the wall is marked by bricking in the pavement. The remains of the gate have been excavated and can be viewed.

From Guildhall Road the wall turned south to the Beverley Gate. Bricking marks its position. (Photo Chris Coulson 2019)

The Beverley Gate was excavated in 1986. In its first exhibition, shown in this photograph of 2009, the remains of the stanchions of the Monument Bridge were left exposed. In its second rebuild display these stanchions (see below) were covered over and can no longer be seen. (Photo Chris Coulson Feb 2010)

A stanchion of the old monument bridge, now buried again. (Photo Chris Coulson 2009)

The medieval wall then ran south along the western edge of what is now called Princess Dock Street, again marked by bricking and shows the towers and a Postern Gate at the end of the street bearing the same name.

Bricking shows where the medieval wall ran. The Beverley Gate is the other side of the red brick building. Two domes of the most recent Dock Office are seen on the left. To the left is Princes' Dock, originally Junction Dock. (Photo Chris Coulson 2019).

This wall continued south and followed the western side of what is now Humber Dock Street.

Looking north along Prince's Dock Street with the line of the medieval wall picked out in red brick. The square marks the the Postern Gate entry. The next entry, a main one to the south, was Myton Gate. (Photos Chris Coulson)

The three ducal crown of Hull's coat of arms can be seen at the top of the plaque but their origins are not established. (Photo Chris Coulson)

At the south end of this the wall turned east along the southern edge of Humber Street then called the Ropery which was the southern edge of the town and adjacent to the banks of the Humber. The medieval wall had a moat out side it but judging by the fact that planks spanned it at the gates it must have been narrow in places.

The Medieval wall was altered over the years but between 1330 and 1406 seems to have been removed and by 1640, if not before, it had not only been rebuilt in brick but rebuilt in a different position to the earlier wall. The building of this wall involved filling in the medieval moat. The new moat was pushed out around the five substantial towers in the new wall. This Tudor/Stewart brick wall had four main gates and three postern gates. The Beverley Gate in this wall is the gate at which Charles 1st was refused admission to the town essentially precipitating the first English Civil War. By my calculations the wall in 1640 contained a town of some 92.3 acres. Smaller than the 133 acres which we now consider the Old Town to be but the town in 1640 had not been extended south into the Humber and neither did the docks exist.

In 1542, under the orders of Henry VIII, the eastern side of the town was to be protected by north and south block houses with a curtain wall joining them with a 'castle' in between. The construction of this massive fortification with 15-19 foot thick walls was not without it’s problems. The King had allowed Michael Stanhope, who over saw the work, £18,000 for its construction but by 1543 most of this had been spent and another £5,000 at least would be required. Budget over run is not new! The southern block house was excavated for a second time in 2019 to investigate more of the lower part of the wall. Unfortunately the funds did not allow the remains to be treated and left exposed.

The southern blockhouse of Henry VIII with the 'castle' to the right. This massive construction was made of bricks made locally. The gap between the inner and outer wall was filled with rubble. (Drawing by Wenceslass-Hollar 1600s)

The rapid growth of the town, its access to both inland water ways and the North Sea made Hull important. It’s early and flourishing wool trade generated money through the application of export duty but initially augments developed as to who could collect this, the Archbishops or the King, and this at a time when 20,000 to 30,000 sacks of wool were being exported annually. The change in direction of the River Hull in 1253 produced the Haven, the stretch of river between the Humber and the current North Bridge, the towns harbour. Because of the crowding of this area by ships much cargo was loaded or unloaded by lighter in the Humber. This situation allowed ships to be loaded with more wool than they had paid duty on. As well as this loophole ships could use the many creeks and havens dotted along the Humber for illegal loading and unloading being out of sight of the authorities. The value of wool made smuggling attractive and history tells of two men taking wool worth £40 to Flanders in a boat worth only £5. The regulations of 1343 sought to make illegal wool trade more difficult by regulating its warehouse storage, weighting and on board stowage of it. Houses having direct access to the River Hull were a problem and this was particularly so of the houses along High St which backed onto the River Hull. These had their own jetties and were in a prime position for landing non-customised cargo.

The problem of Hull and Customs duty became acute in the 1500s when during 1559, in the reign of Elizabeth 1st, an act came into being that towns like Hull should have a ‘legal quay’ where ships having dutiable goods should moor. Hull for some reason was exempted from this act, something that suited Hull traders. In 1674 a second ‘legal quay’ act was passed but again Hull was exempted, again suiting Hull. This matter came to a head when the Commissioners of Custom in 1774 threatened Hull by saying if the town didn’t build a dock with a legal quay it would divert shipping else where. Hull caved in and the result altered the town for ever.

This map (Hargrave 1791) shows The Dock opened in 1789 with the Legal Quay next to it. The town walls have been removed and the defences of Henry Vlll east of the River Hull have largley been incorporated into the Citadel. (Map source: Kingston upon Hull City Libraries 1973)

To create this legal quay the north wall of the town had to be removed and a dock built that opened into the Haven of the River Hull. This, the first of Hulls docks and at the time at 9.75 acres the biggest in England, opened in 1779 and became known as The Dock, later the Old Dock and after the visit of Queen Victoria in 1854, Queens Dock (now Queens Gardens). Parliament St (so called because an act of Parliament was necessary for its construction) joined the Legal Quay (now Guildhall Road) to the customs house which stood in Whitefriargate. A problem that developed with this single dock was that ships using it still had to enter and exit through the Haven which became a point of congestion. It was said by one Captain that it took longer to move through the Haven than the whole trip took from Scandinavia!

As Hull prospered but competition developed from other North East ports and the need for more docks became evident. So more docks on the west side of the town were built along the line of the western Tudor/Stewart wall, the land having been cleared for some time. The encircling docks were built from the Humber northwards. Humber dock (7.25 acres now the Marina) was opened in 1809 and Junction Dock (now Princes’ dock. 6 acres) in 1829. The Railway dock (2.75 acres) was built in 1846 as an offshoot of Humber dock. These docks joining, as they did, with the The Old Dock (Queens Dock), allowed ships to enter the encircling dock system from the either the Haven or Humber Dock. A bottle neck did occur at the bridge over the Whitefrairgate lock which joined Junction Dock (Princess Dock) and The Old Dock (Queens Dock). The bridge here became known after 1835 as Monument Bridge on account of the near by William Wilberforce monument. This bridge became a constriction for the road and pedestrian traffic in and out of the Old Town. Opening of all these docks was celebrated on June 1st 1829 by the passage of the Trinity House yacht round the town. Both the Medieval town wall and the second bigger one have now disappeared. A foot note to the building of some of these docks was the extension of the town southwards beyond Humber Street using the spoil from the docks construction.

Docks encompassed the Old Town. The system could be entered from the River Hull or Humber. Queen's Dock (originally The Dock) 1779: (H) Humber Dock 1809: (J) Junction Dock (Prince's Dock) 1829: (RW) Railway Dock 1846.

The removal of the north wall for the construction of the Dock and Legal Quay allowed the population of the town to expand northwards and westwards. Bounded by the River Hull on the west, the Fordyke Stream to the south and the Holderness drains to the east an area to the north became a tightly packed slum called the Groves whose population worked at the various mills which sprung up along the sides of the River Hull. The inhabitants here suffered poor health from the unsanitary conditions in which they lived. The western expansion of the city produced better living conditions for inhabitants who could afford the newly built houses there. Such developments on the western side of large British towns an cities is often seen and it is said is due to the predominately westerly winds blowing their pollution to the east.

Thus, in the 1700s the need to make Hull tow the line in terms of customs duty, a problem dating back to the 1300s wool trade, had the effect of opening the town up and allowing its expansion along the River Hull as well as both east and westwards. Removal of the north wall to build a dock with a legal quay or a customs quay was the catalyst for this.

Dr Chris Coulson

Jan 2020