Hull - the full story - with some pictures

I've just got back from the trip of a lifetime. And it was to Hull. I went looking for history, and I found it round every corner. I went looking for architecture and it hit me from every direction. But it was not those memories I came away with at the end of the day, but the friendly attitude of the people there. And I did it all in six hours.

From arriving at Hull station at 10.30 a.m. to leaving it at 4.30 p.m. I managed to discover the answers to questions I had asked my self about Hull for a long time. I also learned a lot more about it.
It was just a matter of time.

I went there because I kept asking myself "What is it about Hull?" By this I meant, why does that city have such an independent spirit. Why does it have its own train service? Why does it have its own communications company? How did it produce such a character as Wilberforce who thought so differently to most people of his generation?

Finding my way around was difficult at first because I could not see a signpost outside the station. But thank God for the internet. I got out my map downloaded from Google and decided the city centre must be that way, and it was.

From then on it was pretty plain sailing, as things should be in a major port. This was because I kept seeing huge buildings which were landmarks. The first one was the maritime museum with its three domes.

What a magnificent structure, built to impress and it did. It was there I first came across the friendliness of the natives. The receptionist had no idea what I was talking about when I asked about Hull having a trade treaty with the Baltic, but she pointed me upstairs and let me take pictures. Here's one of the grand staircase.

I soon found what I was looking for. The city was part of the Hanseatic Treaty in the 13th century. This meant they could trade on good terms with towns in Scandanavia, the Baltic and the Low Countries. I soon took this in and was ready to head off again when a passing glass cabinet caught my eye. It contained part of a ship used in those parts in 1500 BC. And it contained a hull.
But that loaded me with another question: why are the bottom of ships called the hull? Is it named after this town? Pondering this I headed off to the next thing.

This was a walk around the place, following my nose and looking in every nook and cranny at what Hull was like. The bridges over the River Hull caught my attention. Huge half cylinders rear back on themselves to lift the bridges high to let vessels through.

Then I found the Wilberforce Monument, right in front of Hull College. I had my lunch in front of it in Queen’s Garden’s, gazing up at the figure of the diminutive Wilberforce atop his column. He looks like a terracotta warrior up there.


So they stand, Wilberforce in Hull, Nelson in London and Wellington in Liverpool. The other two had won their battles at Trafalgar and Waterloo and but Wilberforce had won his over the hearts and minds of the people at the same time. His name on the base was surrounded by a victor’s wreath just to make sure the reader understood this fact.


Then I discovered the Guild Hall. It is a magnificent structure. I walked right round it, admiring the stones and sculptures. Huge stone sculptures flourish on the roof. Then I went inside and the friendly (of course) receptionist let me have a booklet explaining the inside. From this I learned that the roof sculptures represent Maritime and Strength. This was the splendour of Hull writ large.


After walking down an avenue of busts showing the great and the good of Hull from yesteryear, I came across King Edward 1 at the bottom of the staircase. He was the monarch who granted Hull it’s borough status in 1299.

The great and the good were all men, of course, until I found the likeness of a lady. Unlike the others she did not have great letters describing her life on the plinth, but I could just make out who she was as it was written on the statue itself. Here she is.


Turning round I saw a long corridor of doors leading off left and right. Then I was up the stairs to see a display cabinet almost as glittering as Manchester United’s trophy cabinet, but not quite.

Then I went into a room of magnificent proportions and design which had been set out for a talk. Here a security man got talking to me and took me all round the building showing me things and explaining them. This was the friendliness of Hull writ large.
We went into the Council Chamber and the corridor containing coats of arms from visiting ships. The Mayor is Admiral of Hull and has the right to visit any ship in port. Then, as a meeting was ending, we could look into the Mayor’s Dining Room. Just to see the great and the good in paintings could have been enough, but to also admire the stained glass windows was something else. I shook the security man warmly by the hand when we parted.

Then it was back to the centre and the Tourist Information Centre. I had given this a wide berth to start with, as I like to discover things on my own. But I thought there was to be a walk round the Old Town at 2.00 p.m. But I was told they don’t start until after Easter. But the friendly (of course) tourist assistant sold me a guided walk based on finding fish carved into the pavement on the way. Well after a while I forgot the pavement fish but I enjoyed looking at the sites at eye level and above.

I started off just next door at the City Hall. The friendly (of course) receptionist let me in to hear the fag end of an organ recital in the magnificent concert hall which reminded me a bit of Leeds Town Hall. How fortunate we are that the riches of the Industrial Revolution has left us with such a legacy of magnificent buildings, without and within.


Leaving the City Hall I immediately lost my way on the fish walk but stumbled across Kingston Communications (KC). This company has been in existence as a private telephone company for over 100 years. Its history was one of the things which attracted me to Hull. So I enquired of the friendly (of course) receptionist if there was any booklet on the history of the company. She went out of her way to help me. She rang upstairs to enquire and went and got me the booklet. What service!

As soon as I’d got my KC booklet I miraculously understood the directions of the fish walk and started off again. I noticed that the outside of the City Hall is festooned with the likenesses and names of famous artists. But the ones on the North side are much more weather beaten than the ones on the South side.

I hadn’t gone very far when I came across the place which the city claims was the birthplace of the Civil War. This rather dubious claim in based on the fact that the then Warden of Hull would not let King Charles 1 enter the city in April 1642 on orders from Parliament.

Using my knowledge of history I would say that although this event definitely took place, the claim that Hull was the birthplace of the Civil War is a bit tenuous. There were lots of other conditions and events that led up to it. Nevertheless here was yet anther example of Hull’s uniqueness.

Another one was soon to come on the horizon in the shape of Holy Trinity Church. It is the largest Parish Church in England. I went inside and the friendly (of course) volunteer told me they were closing in 20 minutes but I could wander around and take photos as much as I wanted. That galvanised me into action.

I meandered around looking at plaques on the walls and taking snaps of any that interested me. A couple of them were comparatively new, only ten or twenty years old. I was the last one out at closing time (of course).


My next steps took me to the statue of Andrew Marvell. He was born in Hull, was educated at the Grammar School which stands behind him now, and went on to be the MP and a poet.
A line from his most famous poem, To a Coy Mistress, was quoted on the plinth.

Then it was on to the Humber and another statue, that of ?Edward de la Pole, the first mayor of Hull. He lived up to his name by being surrounded by poles with flags of many different nations fluttering in the breeze.

On again, past the river surge barrier to find the Museum Quarter and Wiberforce House Museum. The friendly (of course) receptionist explained where I could find what, but the lack of time meant that I worked my way round the exhibition about the life and work of Wilberforce in about 20 minutes, and then I was off again, making my way back to the station.

When nearly reached it I came across the War Memorial. Well, two memorials actually. The first one was to those locals who had perished in the Boer Wars at the end of the 19th century and the other of course was to those who died in the llater World Wars.


This got me thinking (again) - was it not in Hull that people first began putting up memorials to those who were fighting and then to those who had been killed in the First World War?

What, not another claim to uniqueness and independence? Yes indeed and rightly so. As I was coming away on the train at the end of a day walking the streets I wondered if the reason for Hull’s being so unique and independent is its remoteness.

Hull is out on a limb. It's miles from anywhere and yet it has been a borough for over 700 years. It has looked Eastward to the sea for its income and not Westward to the land. It is cosmopolitan in that it has had influences from Scandinavia, the Baltic and the Low Countries. It has had an influence far greater than one would have thought. What a unique, independent and very friendly place Hull is.