>Re-PHOTO

I’ve found a few old pictures which I had failed to add to Hull Photos earlier, and have now put these up with some brief descriptions on the site. I will also be updating the site with the comments on all the pictures I posted during last year, hopefully with the corrections made by a number of Hull people on Facebook. Feel free to keep making corrections or additions here if you know things I’ve got wrong or have not mentioned, either to any of the posts here or on my Facebook page.

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Here are the first 7 pictures in the ‘Old Town’ section of the site. I decided to include those from Humber Dock and Railway Dock (now Hull Marina) in this section rather than in the Docks section.

1v53: Pier, Island Wharf, 1973 – The Old Town

People fish on a foggy day from a pier to the west of Humber Dock Basin with the entrance to Albert Dock with its swing bridge in the right background, and two rows of dockside cranes.

6u12:Syke’s Head, Ryehill Growers and Pedersen & Co Ltd, Wellington St, 1975 – The Old Town

The Sykes’ Head at 2 Wellington St had been The Steam Packet pub from around 1813, but changed its name around 1840. More recently it was the premises of Ryehill Growers. This row of buildings was all demolished and the area became a car park, awaiting further development around 10 years ago, although it was mentioned in the 2005 Hull Council Conservation Area Character Appraisal as being “of historic townscape value“. Fruit, Vegetable & Potato Merchants Ryehill Growers still trade from other premises in Hull.Pedersen & Co Ltd Importers and Exporters proudly state above their doorway ‘Also at Billingsgate’ probably a reference to the Hull fishmarket rather than that in the City of London.

6u14: Humber dock looking across to Railway Dock, 1975 – The Old Town

In 1975 there were still two ranges of tall warehouses alongside Railway Dock, the smaller 3 days at the east which are still there and a rather fine range of seven that were sadly demolished shortly after I took this picture, The long railway goods shed alongside Railway St at the east side of Humber Dock was then occupied by Flying Dutchman Antiques. Much of the dock was silted up with mud from the Humber.

6u23: Humber Dock Basin, 1975 – The Old Town

Water washes over a vessel at the entrance to Humber Dock Basin at the end of the Minerva Pier. Above the entrance to the lock leading to Humber Dock can be seen the fine seven bays of warehouses by the west end of Railway Dock. The bridge leading to Island Wharf at the left has gone, but it can still be reached as a part of the Albert Channel (also known as Paraffin Creek) has been filled in.

12r21: Humber Dock, 1977 – The Old Town

Cobbles by the side of the dock, between it and the sheds around the dock, with a drain and the shadow of a post. Humber Dock was approved by an Act of Parliament in 1802 and completed and opened in 1809. It closed in 1968, re-opening in 1983 as the Hull Marina. The weeds had grown in the nine years after it was closed.

19s32: Bob Carver’s Fish Bar, Market Square, 1978 – The Old Town

Bob Carver’s Quality Fish Bar in front of Holy Trinity Church in the Market Square (the square is now Trinity Square, and the church is now Hull Minster) was a popular place, serving some of the best fish and chips in Hull. Bob Carver’s was established in 1888 and is still going, though not in this building, but a few yards away at 9 Trinity House Lane, part of the listed building which includes the Indoor Market. Some say the quality is now nothing like that from the Market Place stall.

19s34: Robinson Row, 1979 – The Old Town

Robinson Row is the most picturesque street in the Old Town, and in 1979 the dereliction added to its appeal – while now it is has been renovated and painted in rather naff pastel colours, but is still probably Hull’s most photographed street. Hull’s Old Hebrew Congregation, formed by uniting two congregations in 1826 had its first synagogue, in Robinson Row; it was consecratedin 1827, rebuilt and reconsecrated in 1852 and closed in1903. Earlier there were two chapels in the street, one dating from 1698. Paul Gibson in his Hull and East Yorkshire History site states that this street was originally called ‘Jesus Gate’ (other names included ‘Angel Gate’) and was ‘probably re-named after the family of saddler William Robinson c.1556 or a 17th Century sheriff of Hull, William Robinson.’

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Continue reading New ‘old’ pictures for Hull Photos

Although my year of daily posts throughout Hull’s year as City of Culture has ended, I will continue to add pictures to my Hull Photos site, just not one every day. I do have quite a few black and white images still to digitise and add, as well as some in colour. Instead of daily posts I will try to make roughly weekly posts of small groups of images – and will post about them here and put a link to these posts on my Facebook page.

This is the final digest of my daily posts during Hull2017 on Facebook, about the pictures added daily on the intro page at Hull Photos, and includes nine images to go to the end of 2017. Comments and corrections to the captions and texts about the pictures are always welcome here or on Facebook.

Hull Photos

23rd December

Victoria dock was something of a wasteland in 1985, fifteen years after it closed as a dock in 1970. It was bought by Hull Council in 1987 and development began in 1988, though it was slow to be completed. The new primary school was only completed in 1999 (the first PFI school in the country) and they have never really got around to building much in the way of shops etc in what is now called Victoria Dock Village (or the South Hull Estate.)

The KC Kingston Contractors Ltd truck has the address Galatea Buildings, South East Victoria Dock, Hull, and the building at right may well be a part of those buildings, though clearly it had seen better days. In Greek mythology, Galatea was a sea nymph or Nereid who the Cyclops Polyphemus fell in love with, but she spurned him as she loved Acis. When Polyphemus saw the two of them together he crushed Acis with a boulder. The distraught Galatea then transformed Acis into a stream. Galatea’s name means ‘goddess of calm seas’ and so has often been used as a name for ships.

85-10m-32: Victoria Dock, 1985 – Docks

24th December

Railway lines somewhere on Victoria Dock, which once had an incredibly extensive rail system serving its timber sheds and yards, all leading out to the LNER Victoria Dock Branch.

The shed in the distance is the one in the previous picture. It was probably taken in the afternoon looking roughly south west, with the sun just out of frame but giving the ray across the image

85-10m-35: Victoria Dock, 1985- Docks

25th December

This was taken just a few feet away from the the previous image (actually made after this one) but looking in the opposite direction, so the sun was now behind me.

The chimneys and house roofs are those of properties on of close to the Hedon Rd, with the block at the centre of the picture probably what is now Trinity Hotel more or less on the corner of Wyke St.

The fence with streetlights is Earle’s Road and the fence is the boundary of the Victoria Dock estate. The area with the open timber sheds and the other large buildings is now the Portside Business Park, though I think all the buildings have been replaced by more modern metal sheds. Where I was standing to take this is now roughly at the roundabout where South Bridge Road meets Corinthian Way on the Victoria Dock Estate.

85-10m-33: Victoria Dock, 1985- Docks

26th December

A tarmac road and a wooden fence, probably on one border of the dock with a rather temporary looking building behind. The fence looks like many of those along the edge of railway properties. This was taken on my way out of Victoria Dock on Earle’s Road.

85-10m-36: Earle’s Road, Victoria Dock, 1985 – Docks

27th December

Boat and industrial buildings on Victoria Docks. The name on the roof, Telstar was probably for Telstar Caravans Ltd. The name was popular after the launch of Telstar 1 in 1962, which was the first communications satellite for TV and telephone signals, and was used as the name for a chart-topping instrumental by the English band Joe Meek for the the Tornados.

These buildings were just south of South Bridge Road to the west of the Half Tide Basin.

85-10m-42: Victoria Dock, 1985 – Docks

28th December

The view taken from the north side of the Half Tide Basin looking towards the two entrance locks from the River Humber. The dock has silted up and is overgrown in parts with grass and reeds.

The structure just to the left of the Wilson building had the name of the dock on the side facing the Humber. To the left of the two locks (the one on the right a smaller lock to enable barges to leave at any state of the tide without a great loss of water) is the Watch House.

85-10m-43: Half Tide Basin, Victoria Dock, 1985 – Docks

29th December

This bridge took South Bridge Road and the railway lines across the entrance look from the Half Tide Basin to Victoria Dock.

It seems a shame that only a single building (a pumping house at the top of the patent slip a little to the west of this bridge, currently being converted into expensive flats) was retained when the docks were converted to a housing estate. Substantial building such as this brick structure would have retained some of the character of the area and its history, and could almost certainly have been converted to some new use without damaging its appearance. From the vehicles parked further along the road the building appears still to have been in use.

The swing bridge was built in 1849 for the opening of the dock by Beecroft, Butler & Co., of Kirkstall Forge, Leeds, and the Haigh Foundry Co. of Wigan and was fortunately still there to be listed in 1994, nine years after I photographed it.

85-10m-45: Bridge across Victoria Dock Entrance from Half Tide Basin, 1985 – Docks

30th December

The view from the swing bridge looking towards the entrance locks from the Humber, showing the heavily silted Half Tide Basin. The tidal flow in and out of the Humber brings in mud, which settles in the still water.

When in use the Half Tide Basin will have required constant dredging, and after it closed it quickly silted up. When neighbouring Alexandra Dock was built this took a water supply from the Holderness Drain to reduce silting. The Half Tide Basin was dug out or dredged as a part of the development of the area, and the entrance from the Humber sealed off to prevent it filling up again. There were plans to redevelop it as a marina, but they was found to be too expensive. The basin was used for some theatrical performances during Hull’s year as UK City of Culture.

85-10m-46: Half Tide Basin, from swing bridge across Victoria Dock Entrance, 1985 – Docks

31st December

These lights, or rather their very similar modern replacement are still there on Sammy’s Point where the River Hull flows into the Humber, though the area around them has changed completely. The grass has been replace by a paved walkway with railings at a slightly higher level which now leads around the bulk of The Deep, and there are a series of boxes around the base of the light, and a lower array of cross-shaped lights. The two upper lights can show a red or green light and the lowest is either red of white.

Signs pointing both left and right now indicate rather pointlessy that you are on the Trans Pennine trail – your only other option being to jump into the river, and by the side of the rather more neat fence are floodlights for The Deep.

Sammy’s point gets its name from the shipyard set up here by Martin Samuelson in 1857 and was said to be the largest shipbuilder in the country a couple of years later, with 97 vessels, mainly steamships, being built in the yard by the time he sold the works to the Humber Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company.

85-10m-51: Sammy’s Point light, 1985 – Humber

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The above image, posted on December 31st, 2017 completes my year of daily posts for Hull2017 to Hull Photos, with my short comments on Facebook.

Comments and corrections to the captions of any images on the site are still welcome on the posts here or to me on Facebook.

Although the year-long project has ended Hull Photos will continue to grow and I will make occasional posts about the new images added here and on Facebook.
Continue reading Hull Photos: 23/12/17 – 31/12/17

Another digest of my daily posts during Hull2017 on Facebook, about the pictures added daily on the intro page at Hull Photos. Comments and corrections to the captions and texts about the pictures are always welcome here or on Facebook.

Hull Photos

16th December

In the distance are the raised Drypool Bridge, apparently under repair and on the left the Clarence Flour Mills. On the left the moored dredger, Burcom Sand, with a barge moored alongside. Under the bridge can be seen the Trinity House Buoy Shed and immediately to its right an old warehouse. Below this is the entrance to a dry dock and then to the right one of two sheds belonging to the Yorkshire Dry Dock Co Ltd, Shipbuilders ship repairers – as it helpfully states on the second shed at far right. Between the shed is the entrance to Queen’s Dock Basin, converted to use by the company as a dry dock at some time after Queen’s Dock was filled in during the 1930s.

A large crane towers over the shipyard, and another just intrudes at the top left. Clearly there was building work going on on both sides of the River Hull, though not actually on its banks.

85-10l-65: River Hull from North Bridge, 1985 – River Hull

17th December

Studio Ann Carlton was started in 1969 when Anne Finestein made a unique chess set for her husband and other chess players wanted copies. Soon the business outgrew her garden shed and she moved into a former fish smoking house on Flinton St. The company was acquired by Clayhithe Plc in the early 1980s who built a modern factory on the site. This closed after the company was bought by Traditional Games who closed the factory and moved production to China. In 2014 the rights to SAC were bought by Ancestors’ of Dover Ltd and the expensive (and to my mind rather ugly) chess and backgammon sets are now produced in Folkestone.

The building is still there, though now the roof is blue rather than the red-brown when I took this picture (not that this shows in the black and white image.) The nearer buildings on the left have been replaced, but further down the road the premised of Batty Joiners are still in use.

Batty Joinery was established in 1919 as a bespoke joinery manufacturers and is still crafting high-end traditional joinery products, employing around 30 skilled workers. It became part of the Hall Group in the 1960s, but fortunately returned to independence and so was not affected when the Hall Group went into administration in January 2017.

85-10m-01: Studio Anne Carlton, West Dock Ave & Flinton St, 1985 – Hessle Rd

18th December

Maconochie Seafoods were incorporated as a private Limited Company in 1969 and apparently ceased trading around 1991.

F Smales & Son (Fish Merchants) Limited, ‘Famous for Fish Since 1937’ are now based in a more modern and rather larger building on West Dock Street, as well as a giant shed on Gillett St and Witty St. Their activities are stated at Companies House as: Processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs and Wholesale of other food, including fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Started by Tim Smales on the Hull Fish dock it is still a family firm, operating in three main industry sectors, fish and chips, food service, all based around fish and seafood.

The distant view down the road appears to be of the docks, but I am unsure of the precise location. It was the next picture on the film after that taken on the corner of Flinton St and West Dock Avenue. I think all of the buildings in the picture have probably been demolished, with much of the area covered by more modern shed-like buildings.

85-10m-02 Maconochie Seafoods and F Smales & Son, Flinton St area, 1985 – Hessle Rd

19th December

Scaflon Marine Ltd were on Earles Rd, at the north east edge of Victoria Dock, off the Hedon Rd. The company which repaired ships and containers was incorporated as a private limited company in 1981 and went into liquidation in 1998.

It looked as if what had perhaps previously been an open timber shed had been rather crudely enclosed using sheets of plywood, the wood grain of its outer veneer clearly showing.

Perhaps because this building was on the side one of Hull’s few hills, coming up from Victoria Dock, my attempts at levelling and squaring up the image were even less successful than usual. That could have been corrected either in the darkroom or now on computer, but I have left it exactly as taken.

85-10m-21: Scaflon Ltd, Earles Rd, 1985 – East Hull

20th December

Another picture of Scaflon Ltd, and one of the few hills in Hull, coming up from the dock.

Earle’s Road led to the shipbuilding company started on the bank of the Humber by brothers Charles and William Earle in 1845 and saved from extinction when bought by Charles Wilson of the Wilson Line in 1900. In 1932 it was taken over by the National Shipbuilders Securities (NSS), a government sponsored scheme to rationalise the shipbuilding industry by selling most of it off. They sold off Earle’s machinery and tools, mainly to Kowloon in Hong Kong, and set a restrictive covenant on the site which forbade any shipbuilding there for the next 60 years.

85-10m-22-: Scaflon Ltd, Earles Rd, 1985 – East Hull

21st December

A picture taken on my way back from Victoria Dock to the City Centre. There appear to be two lanes on the road, so this was Hedon Rd, largely replaced by a new A63 after the opening of the Myton Bridge a few years earlier.

Although the building in the middle of this image is boarded up, there is a lit fluorescent tube visible in the window at the extreme left, showing it still to be in use.

Many of the buildings along Hedon Road were saw mills, as Victoria Dock was a major timber dock for the UK, bringing in timber from Scandinavia and the Baltic.

85-10m-23: Buildings on Hedon Rd, 1985 – East Hull

22nd December

The right half of this image shows the Victoria And Continental Coffee Club, on the south-east corner of Great Union St and Clarence St. Gamebore Cartridges are still in business and using the same buidling, formerly a part of Rank’s flour mill immediately to the north of Drypool Bridge.

The Coffee club site is now part of the Travis Perkins yard, piled with building materials. I’m told it was a notorious Hull nightspot, open after the pubs had shut at 11pm, and although officially the only drink was coffee, others were available under the counter, including some toxic home-brew whisky. It was a part of Hull’s red light district its southern dockside edge, and allegedly this and the ‘Monkey House’, the Victoria pub a short distance along the Hedon Road, were popular places to find prostitutes.

The Club was still open when I took this picture, but closed down some time around 2000, and a few years later burnt down in a mysterious fire, a fate rather common in Hull.

85-10m-25: Great Union St and Clarence St looking north, 1985 – East Hull

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Earlier today I published the final image in my daily posts for Hull2017 to Hull Photos, with my short comments on Facebook.

Comments and corrections to the captions of any images on the site are still welcome on the posts here or to me on Facebook.

Although the year-long project has ended I will still be putting more pictures on the site, but just not one every day – probably in occasional batches. I’ll try to remember to post about these here and on Facebook.
Continue reading Hull Photos: 16/12/17 – 22/12/17

Another digest of daily posts during Hull2017 on Facebook, about the pictures added daily on the intro page at Hull Photos. Comments and corrections to the captions and texts about the pictures are always welcome here or on Facebook.

Hull Photos

9th December

On top of the container is the same boat as in a previous image, but seen from the opposite side. Above the container are warehouses (converted into flats) on the opposite bank of the River Hull, a crane on the Northern Divers site and the raised Drypool Bridge. I was particularly attracted by the drawing of the diving helmet on the side of the container.

85-10l-46: Northern Divers, Tower St, 1985 – River Hull

10th December

Drypool bridge was raised through the whole series of pictures I made on this day, and I think must have been undergoing repair. This view is from a short distance above the bridge looking towards the mouth of the river. Above the tank and pipe at the left are the buildings of Rank’s flour mills. Only the buildings at left remain, now used by Shotwell for cartridge making. The further building, the prominent local landmark of the Clarence Mill, was sadly demolished recently, a terrible loss to the city’s heritage.

The vessel at right is the Burcom Sand, a grab hopper dredger. A further vessel is visible beyond it, but I can’t quite make out its name, but I think was probably another dredger.

85-10l-51: River Hull from the east bank, 1985 – River Hull

11th December

This picture was taken from an identical viewpoint as the previous image and I clearly intended the two to be viewed together, possibly joined as a single panoramic image (though this was very tricky before it became possible to use computer software on digital files) but more likely as a diptych. The shed in the centre of the image is on the opposite bank of the River Hull and was a part of the Yorkshire Dry Dock’s premises. Above a roof near the right edge you can see the cupola on the Old Dock Offices on Dock Office Row and next to it the top of the Guildhall.

The two images do merge perfectly in software to form a wider view, but cropping to give a rectangular format results in the loss of some of the peripheral subject matter and I prefer to show them as separate images.

85-10l-52: River Hull from the east bank, 1985 – River Hull

Here is the joined image:

(as with all images in these posts, right-clicking and selecting ‘Open image in new tab will give you a larger version.)

12th December

This view is looking upstream from the east bank of the River Hull. The industrial premises at left have been replaced by a new block of apartments and the warehouse on the opposite side of the road is now waste ground used for parking and Napoleons Casino. The flats further back are still there, at the north end of Trippet St.

85-10l-53: North Bridge and River Hull, 1985 – River Hull

13th December

I think I took this picture as a mystery, and its one I was unable to solve. The lettering on the sign was almost lost and the only parts which are clear are those that are obvious, the ‘&Co…Ltd’ and on the lower line ‘WAREHOUSE’. Between the Co and the Ltd is a year, probably 1928, which could well be when this shed was erected.

I puzzled at some length over the name, which is hardly clearer on the full size image than on the small web version. It certainly seems to have a B and a T, perhaps and initial and ‘ABBOTT.

Thanks to Mike Patterson for giving me the answer on Facebook that this was Garbutt and Co on Great Union St. I still wonder what the word before WAREHOUSE was. The BU is pretty clear but I can’t make out the rest.

The Garbutts are an old Hull family, but I can’t find anything about this business on-line. A William Garbutt was one of Hull’s early Quakers around 1660, and later at the start of the 19th century Robert Garbutt was a Methodist, and the Garbutts were apparently a leading Primitive Methodist family in the area. William Parkinson Garbutt lived on Anlaby Rd, as did David Parkinson Garbutt his son, who was the developer of the Avenues area off Princes Rd; his brother William had a ship building business.

85-10l-54: Garbutt and Co Warehouse, Great Union St, 1985 – East Hull

14th December

The sign on the top of the building I think reads ‘Official Agents For Wingate Plant Building Machinery‘, and although much changed, to my surprise all the buildings in this picture were still standing earlier this year when I walked briefly down Coelus St, off Great Union St. The foreground building has lost all its doors and windows and was just white plaster with no visible signage, but the large shed was BSR Body Style Refinishers ‘For All Your Body Work Needs‘. Later this year there was a report in the Hull Daily Mail of a fire in their premises.

Coelus (or Caelus) was the main Roman god of the sky and also used to mean the sky or heaven – as in ‘Regina Coeli’: though few would now confuse this street with heaven it seems to most likely derivation for the name. It is also the name of a whole genus of tropical plants (coming from the ancient Greek for sheath) and a family of beetles, and could be a rather unusual family name, perhaps a variant of Cole. But I can find no information about the origin of the name of this street, now best known as the address of one of Hull’s several dance schools on the opposite side of the road.

85-10l-55: Coelus St, 1985 – East Hull

15th December

Surprisingly this picture on Hedon Rd could more or less be taken today, and the scene is slightly brighter than when I photographed it, with the Victoria pub having been done up and reopened as the Victoria Hotel Monkey House. The pub, built around 1850, is a Grade II listed building and used to be a popular dockers’ pub – and they gave it the nickname which is now a part of its official name. Like other pubs along Hull’s dockland fringes it also had a reputation as a part of Hull’s red light area.

N R Burnett is a timber company founded in Hull in 1935 by Norman Rutherford Burnett and became a private limited company in 1941. During the war it was based in York, but returned to Hull in 1945, and was based at the Albert Mill her in Popple St until 1960 when it moved to larger premises in Great Union St. It was one of the first suppliers for caravan builders. They still operate from sites in Sutton Fields Industrial Estate, Hull and Ossett as an importer and merchant of panel products, softwood and hardwood timbers.

85-10l-56: Hedon Road and Popple St, 1985 – East Hull

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You can see the new pictures added each day at Hull Photos, and I post them with the short comments above on Facebook.
Comments and corrections to captions are welcome here or on Facebook.
Continue reading Hull Photos: 9/12/17 – 15/12/17

Another digest of daily posts during Hull2017 on Facebook, about the pictures added daily on the intro page at Hull Photos. Comments and corrections to the captions and texts about the pictures are always welcome here or on Facebook. This daily posting will end on 31st December 2017, though more pictures will be added to the site.

Hull Photos

2nd December

The sand and gravel cleaning plant at Tower Street Wharf is seen in many pictures taken from the opposite bank of the River Hull, including a number of my images, but this was the first time I had taken a closer view.

This view shows the north end of the plant, and I think was taken from Tower St, looking roughly south and clearly towards the sun, shining through into my lens, though I tried to hide it behind the conveyor. The image suffers considerably from the flaring of this direct light source and it was not really possible to get a usable print in the darkroom, but scanning the negative and digital processing gives an improved result.

85-10l-32: Tower St Sand and gravel wharf, Tower St, 1985 – River Hull

3rd December

Moving a little closer put the sun behind the structure but also meant I could not show its full height. Concentrating more on the back-lit water draining at the bottom of the plant creates a rather more powerful image – and this was one of a small group of pictures that won a prize from the Building Centre shortly after I took it.

85-10l-33: Tower St Sand and gravel wharf, Tower St, 1985 – River Hull

4th December

Looking upstream from the sand and gravel wharf, with the Humber Star making her way up-river past the moored Joyce Hawksley. In the distance, beyond the Pease Warehouses the Drypool Bridge is raised high in the air.

The Humber Star, a small 274 ton bunkering tanker built in 1969, had a slightly curious life, with her name changing from Wade Stone in 1977, and reverting to that in 2009. Soon after while an effluent carrier for Oran Environmental Services she sank at her moorings in Southampton, polluting the River Itchen with both fuel and effluent, but was refloated. In November 2011 the Wade Stone, then owned by Britannia Shipping Ltd but registered in Sierra Leone was detained as unseaworthy at Southampton for at least 3 months. In 2012 she again became the Humber Star but was renamed Kara in 2013, and was still working in Malta in 2014. I’ve found no record of her since that date.

The barge Joyce Hawksley was built at John Harker (Shipyards), Knottingley for Flixborough Shipping Co in 1964 and carried aggregate. Until a few years ago she could still be seen on the River Hull, but I don’t know if she is still there now.

85-10l-36: The Old Harbour from Garrison Side, 1985 – River Hull

5th December

Northern Divers was founded in Hull in 1963 and is still offering a wide range of diving-related services, though it moved to Oslo Rd in Sutton Fields around 2011. Their web site states:

“We specialise in underwater civil engineering, commercial diving to 50 meters, inland and coastal work (up to 12 miles offshore), harbour and dock maintenance, salvage, sluice / gate maintenance, structural inspections and repairs, windfarm operations, hydrographical surveys, bridge inspections and pipeline installations, to name but a few of our services.”

Their former home, a Grade II listed building, is still on Tower St, but most of the buildings and structures in this picture have gone.

85-10l-41: Northern Divers, Tower St, 1985 – River Hull

6th December

Another picture of Northern Divers. The building in the background is still there, and is the Grade II listed former Trinity House buoy shed, built in 1901.

Northern Divers put the site, which includes some derelict land around the building, up for sale in March 2017

85-10l-42: Northern Divers, Tower St, 1985 – River Hull
7th December
A pile of old timber, perhaps from a riverside mooring jetty and some industrial premises on Tower St, with a boat on one of the roofs of Northern Divers.

The building with three bays was the premises of Erdmann Engineering, and was I think built as a pumping station for the hydraulic power system used in Victoria Dock (and other Hull docks), with the tower behind being the accumulator tower.

85-10l-43: Tower St and accumulator tower, 1985 – River Hull

8th December

The sign on the front of the former hydraulic power station on Tower St is for Erdmann Engineering and the site appears to be still in use. This was a building of some distinction and a significant part of Hull’s heritage and it is perhaps surprising that it was not retained and repurposed in some way, rather than being replaced by the large and undistinguished shed of Hull City Royal Mail Delivery Office. The Royal Mail gives their address as St Peter St, but appears to be on what was and is still known as Tower St, to the south of the former Victoria Dock Drypool entrance.

85-10l-45: Erdmann Engineering, Tower St, 1985 – River Hull

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You can see the new pictures added each day at Hull Photos, and I post them with the short comments above on Facebook.
Comments and corrections to captions are welcome here or on Facebook.
Continue reading Hull Photos: 2/12/17 – 8/12/17