Humber

The Humber Bridge spans the Humber estuary just outside this year's City of Culture, Hull. To mark the city's place as a centre of culture a number of its structures have been given listed building status - including the bridge, which is now officially Grade I.

At the time of its construction, (it opened in June 1981) it was the longest bridge of its kind in the world. As a measure of architectural development it now stands at only eighth. It's a significant landmark and recognised for miles around. It has come to symbolise the city, appearing on many of its publicity materials.

Before its construction the route from bank to bank across the estuary went via Goole and passed across a rather smaller swing bridge. The leading roads had high accident rates and often faced difficulties in poor weather.

The view from the deck

The central span is 1,410 metres (4,626 feet - or around 200 yards short of a mile) and is suspended between two towers 155.5 metres (510 feet) tall. although both towers are vertical they are further apart at the top than the bottom, owing to the curvature of the earth.

Oh, and everyone locally remembers the summer of 1976 when the area around the bridge (and much of the rest of East Yorkshire) suffered a plague of ladybirds. The insects settled on the bridge, wriggling into small crevices and setting work back weeks while constructors cleared them away from sensitive parts of the structure!

Historic Hull

Holy Trinity Church, Hull reflected in nearby buildings

The city of Hull has a long and fascinating history and there's much more to it than an out-of-the-way town on "an unfashionable arm of the Humber" (to misquote Douglas Adams). Let's start with the name, for example. It's widely known as Hull but in fact the Hull is a river; a tributary of the Humber. The city is properly called Kingston Upon Hull. The port was officially established by Royal Charter under the instructions of Edward I in 1296 - hence King's Town, or Kingston. The Charter also allowed the town to hold two markets a week and one fair a year. Hull Fair is still known as a major event in East Yorkshire today.

One of Old Hull's cobbled streets

At the town's heart was Holy Trinity Church, a magnificent medieval structure now recognised as the biggest parish church in England. It still has many of its original carved benches and is home to a splendid collection of green man faces and mythical beasts.

Hull was one of the towns in the Hanseatic League, a group of ports around the Baltic and North Sea who traded as an alliance, ensuring prosperity and success for their merchants. The League mainly traded timber, furs, resin (or tar), flax, honey, wheat, and rye from the east to Flanders and England. Cloth and manufactured goods went the other way. Metal ores, particularly copper and iron, and herring came southwards from Sweden. (Thank you Wikipedia!)

As part of the League, Hull continued to grow and its merchants became very rich. Warehouses and trading centres can still be identified among the winding, cobbled streets of its old town.

In 1369 a religious guild was set up in association with Holy Trinity Church, which soon became a Seamen's Guild, dedicated to the welfare and safety of mariners. It still exists today, in the form of Trinity House, the body responsible for maintenance of the UK's lighthouses.

By the late 16th century Hull was a major whaling port as well as  a key point of entry and egress for goods from all over the world. Then, 50 years later, Hull became a significant place in the English Civil War when, in 1642, the city governor Sir John Hotham refused entry to the city to King Charles I.

Hull Marina today

Hull Dock Company, the first statutory dock company in Britain, was founded in 1773 by the Corporation. It remained in action until 1963, when the central dock closed and was converted to the present day Marina. The town is still a major port, with cargo ships and passenger ferries sailing daily.

Fish in the floor

Hull gained city status in 1897 and continued to thrive as a major port. In fact its significance was recognised by Germany in WWII and it was a target for German bombers throughout the war. Between 1939 and 1945 more than 95% of Hull's housing was damaged by air raids, making it the worst-hit city after London.

For many years Hull was a major fishing port although the Icelandic cod wars put an end to the trade. It is still commemorated by an art trail around the streets with life-size images of fishes to be found in strange places: at any point looking down you might find yourself among a shoal of mackerel, whitebait or anchovies carved into the paving stones.

Of course, Hull's latest claim to fame is that it has been named as 2017 City of Culture.

Some famous Hull folk

Philip Larkin statue: Hull rail interchange

Over the years many famous people have called Hull home, either born there or moving in, and details of hundreds can be found on the walls of the covered market.  But here's a few:

• There's anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce, of course. 
• The poet Andrew Marvel, born here 1621.
• Mathematician John Venn, responsible for the Venn diagram, born in Hull in 1834. 
• Philip Larkin, Coventry-born poet, lived in Hull for the majority of his life as the resident librarian at Hull University.
• Sir Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate.
• Stevie Smith, poet and novelist best known for her poem "Not Waving but Drowning".
• J. Arthur Rank. (Yes, THAT one.)
• Arthur Lucan aka Old Mother Riley.
• Amy Johnson, first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia.
• Actor Ian Carmichael.
• Comedienne Maureen Lipman. 
• Actor John Alderton grew up in Hull and attended Kingston High School.
• John Godber, playwright; Artistic Director of the Hull Truck Theatre Company.
• Mick Ronson, guitarist.
• Basil Brush's Mr Roy - Roy North. 
• Norman Cook (also known as Fatboy Slim), moved to Hull in the 1980s.
• Archaeologist Paul Bahn. 

William Wilberforce 1759 - 1833

Wilberforce House museum

Chances are you've never actually heard of Wilberforce.In spite of a successful political career few people have, even though he was one of the most important figures in bringing about an end to slavery in Britain.

Wilberforce was born in Kingston Upon Hull in 1759, the son of a wealthy merchant, and became MP for Yorkshire in 1784. A year later he converted to Evangelical Christianity and his religious beliefs led to a fervent support for philanthropy, in particular the plight of African slaves. His stance  made him the target of many who believed he should have concentrated more on raising the standard of living for the poor at home in Britain.

He was one of the main driving forces behind the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which banned slavery on British soil. However, the practice continued overseas in the British Empire, so Wilberforce's campaign continued until 1833 when the Slavery Abolition Act was passed. Wilberforce lived just long enough to see his dreams come to fruition. Just three days after the Act passed through Parliament, he died.

A museum in his old home in Hull tells his life story, as well as focusing on the slavery that still exists in the world today. It has horrific tales of how slaves were treated. They were not seen as human by their owners, and before the passage of abolition laws were legally defined as property, not people. There are readings taken from contemporary sources such as slave ship captains, and the slaves themselves, some of whom managed to gain freedom. The descriptions of life on plantations, and during the long sea voyages that carried them from Africa to the West Indies are harrowing. Nevertheless, the topic is an important one and cannot be ignored.

Among the chains and shackles, whips and other instruments of torture that were used against the enslaved people are less unpleasant items from the time. For example, potter Josiah Wedgwood produced a medallion for the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787. It shows a chained, kneeling man and has the caption "Am I not a man and a brother?" Almost as an aside, the museum also informs us that Wilberforce was a founder member of the organisation that eventually became the RSPCA.

Wherever you go in Hull it's hard to miss the city's pride in its son. There's a Wilberforce pub, and a Wilberforce Drive. Some local schools have named one of their houses after him. And there's a huge column outside Hull College with a statue of him on top of it.

If you'd like an easily digested version of his life story, can I recommend the film Amazing Grace, starring Ioan Gruffudd and Benedict Cumberbatch, which I found on Netflix, but I think it's also on YouTube.