A Wander through. Sculcoates...

Transcription

1 A Wander through Sculcoates... Part of the project, 2007.

2 !Sculcoates Lan" Wandering down Sculcoates Lane, toward the northern boundaries of the district of Sculcoates, two sites either side of the road show the intertwining the new and the old that de!nes much of the area. St Mary"s Anglican Church, having moved several times but being present in several forms since In its present location, it contains a 150 year old organ and the Chapel of St. Francis features woodwork by Thompson of Kilburn along with wood panels by famous Hull sculptor, Thomas Earle. Needlers Way, named after the factory which stood on the same site #world famous for the production of Needlers chocolates and confectionary$, now houses an extremely modern and on%going housing development called Urban Sensation. The development was designed as a &pioneering project for a pioneering city', which was a joint venture between Wright Homes and Horncastle Group PLC and was built predominantly with local labour, which helped to form a striking and bold residential area.

3 !Holmes Ha#s Tanners, Air Street & the British Gas Light sit" Holmes Halls Tanners has been established in Sculcoates since John Holmes came to work there in 1803, and at its height the site employed over 500 people. The nature of working with animal hides means that there are often noxious smells around this area, Air Street then appears to be very sarcastic, however it apparently garnered its name from the times before industry had taken root in the area, when it was an &open and airy situation'. Further up Bankside, on Clough Road, the site of the old British Gas Light Company, was where Sculcoates residents from 1824 onwards would come for their gas and coal for a great many years until the advent of piped home gas supplies and the decline of domestic coal!res. The river that runs through this part of Sculcoates was a major factor in why industrial sites were located here, the Hull Hydraulic Power Company and Sculcoates Power Station along with British Gas Light Company chose this part of Hull, since the waterway made it easier to move the bulky fuel which these sites required.

4 !Wincolmlee, Wilmington Bridge and the River Hu# The Wilmington Bridge was built as an opening bridge over the busy and navigable River Hull, to carry the North Eastern Railway and was opened on 10th of May 1907, to replace the older, single track bridge from The bridge is one of several opening bridges over these navigable stretches of the River Hull. As Sculcoates and Hull overall grew and thrived, shipbuilding,!shing, whaling as well as!sh and whale processing played a large part in the economics of the area. The region"s waterways and the rail links in the area grew out of the need to move these bulky goods in and out of Sculcoates before and after being processed, alongside with the heavy goods for the Hull Hydraulic Power Company et al. This has left its mark on the Sculcoates area to this day.

5 !Savi#e Street, Dock Street, Bridge Street and George S$ These four streets are at the heart of what today is Hull city centre, however when Sculcoates grew from the sheep farm of a Danish settler called Skuli #cote is an old word for an enclosure for cattle or sheep, thus the area got its name$, to become a parish which included the hamlets of Wilmington and Stepney at the edges of the burgeoning town that would eventually become the city of Kingston%Upon%Hull, these streets marked the southern edges of Sculcoates, near to Queens Dock. By 1906 Sculcoates would be almost entirely absorbed by Hull, its borders to the west, Spring Bank and Princes Avenue up as far as Queens road in the north, were by then!rmly part of the greater city. The area that we would now recognise as Sculcoates, is and has always been bisected by the Beverley Road, which grew from a sixty feet wide track in 1305, to what you see today. Similarly, the River Hull along with the Beverley Road, which are two of Hull"s more important transport arteries, run throughout the intertwined development of Sculcoates and Kingston%Upon%Hull.

6 !Beverley Road, Sculcoates Union Workhouse, Endeavour High School and The National Picture Theatr" The location of the newly built Endeavour High School was the former site of the Kingston General Hospital, and before that the site of the Sculcoates Union Workhouse from 1844 to A workhouse was the last resort for the poor who could not a(ord to feed, clothe or home themselves and was a place that many paupers never escaped. It had become a very much more hopeful place by 1948, when it became Kingston General Hospital. Just down the Beverley Road from the re%developed site of Endeavour High, is the now ramshackle and run down National Picture Theatre. Designed by architects Runton and Barry, the then elegant building was opened in 1914 as a cinema, however, by 18th of March, 1941, it was closed down after being bombed by the German Luftwa(e, just after showing a Chaplin satire of Adolf Hitler called &The Great Dictator'.

7 !Stepney Lane Primary, Beverley Road Baths and Pearson Par% Stepney Lane Primary, is one of the few schools that has not completely disappeared that children who grew up in Sculcoates may remember. A grand old building on Beverley Road, next door to Beverley Road Baths, originally designed by William Botterill and had the motto of )Labour to learn before you grow old, for learning"s more precious than silver or gold'. The school was originally called Beverley Road School and was renamed in 1969 and is now in the top ten percent of primary schools in the UK. Pearson park, with its glass house gardens, duck pond and open grass is a pleasant area that local people can escape to. Wedged between Beverley Road and Princes Avenue in the north%western corner of Sculcoates is a beautiful bit of open parkland that contrasts with the industry and terraced housing that characterises much of Sculcoates.

8 Photograph points! Sculcoates Lane Air Street Wincolmlee/Bankside Beverley Road "Stepney Lane School# Pearson Park Beverley Road "Endeavour High School $ and National Picture Theatre# George Street

9 Associated with the following... Please visit the accompanying website a$ Acknowledgments... Lucy Jackson and the &Your Heritage, Your Future' project, The Hull and District Local History Research Group and their publication &A Breath of Sculcoates'. Created by... Slate512, please contact me at or visit and also make sure to visit for more information on the project behind this publication. We aim to be a catalyst to affect change - we work with people to make it happen The Community Development Company Limited.! Company Registration No ! Registered office th Avenue, Hull, HU6 9LE.! Registered as a charity in the United Kingdom, Charity No