City in East Yorkshire, England
Hull
Hull has its own cream telephone boxes, a bridge that was once the longest of its kind in the world, and a claim to have started the English Civil War.
Key information
- County
- East Yorkshire
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 267,000 (2021 Census)
- Known for
- The Humber Bridge, fishing heritage, William Wilberforce, UK City of Culture 2017, cream phone boxes
- What locals are called
- Hullensians
- Famous people
- William Wilberforce, Amy Johnson, Philip Larkin (librarian-poet), Tom Courtenay
About Hull
The city that said no to a king
In April 1642, Sir John Hotham, the governor of Hull, stood on the walls and refused to let Charles I into the town. The king was after the huge stock of weapons stored there. Shutting the gates in his face is often cited as the opening move of the English Civil War. Hull's royal connection runs deeper than that. The settlement began as Wyke on Hull, a port set up by the monks of Meaux Abbey. In 1293 Edward I bought it and renamed it Kingestoun, the king's town upon Hull. The name Kingston upon Hull has stuck ever since, though everyone just says Hull. The city's location explains the rest. It sits where the River Hull meets the Humber estuary, a natural gateway to the North Sea and the Baltic.
A bridge, a barrier and a very long span
When the Humber Bridge opened in 1981, its main span of 1,410 metres made it the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world. It held that record until 1998, when Japan's Akashi Kaikyō Bridge took over. It is still one of the longest of its type anywhere, and the views from the footpath across the estuary are among the best in the region. The water has also been a threat. Hull is low-lying, and the Hull Tidal Surge Barrier, completed in 1980, protects the city from tidal surges entering the River Hull from the Humber. Back in town, the Deep, a huge aquarium shaped like a shard of glass, juts out where the two rivers meet. It opened in 2002 and has become one of the city's best-known landmarks.
Cod, trawlers and the Hessle Road
For much of the twentieth century Hull was one of Britain's great deep-sea fishing ports, with trawlers heading for Icelandic and Arctic waters from St Andrew's Dock. Whole communities along Hessle Road were built around the trade. The cost was terrible. In early 1968 three Hull trawlers, the St Romanus, the Kingston Peridot and the Ross Cleveland, were lost within weeks of each other. The disaster killed 58 men and led to major improvements in trawler safety. The fishing fleet later faded after the Cod Wars with Iceland, but the memory remains strong in the city. Hull Maritime Museum's collections document the city's fishing heritage, which is also reflected in the Fish Trail through its streets. The docks have found a new purpose. Hull is now a centre for offshore wind. During its 2017 City of Culture programme, a 75-metre turbine blade was temporarily displayed in Queen Victoria Square as Nayan Kulkarni's artwork Blade; it was removed in March 2017.
The city with its own phone company and cream phone boxes
Hull's phone boxes are not red. They are cream. The city's phone system was run by the council from 1904, and the company later became Kingston Communications, now known as KCOM. It stayed independent while the rest of the country was served by the Post Office and then BT, and its cream boxes are a rare survivor of that independence. Other local quirks include the street name Land of Green Ginger, which sounds like something from a fairy tale. And in Hull a roll is a bread cake, while the classic local snack is a patty butty: a sage-flavoured potato patty in a bread cake, often with chips. Chip spice, a seasoning that few other places seem to have embraced, is another local favourite. Every October, Hull Fair takes over the city. It is one of the biggest travelling fairs in Europe, and its roots go back to a charter of 1278.
Wilberforce, Larkin and a long list of Hull voices
William Wilberforce was born in Hull in 1759, and his birthplace on the High Street is now a museum telling the story of the campaign to abolish the slave trade. A tall column in his honour stands in the city centre. Amy Johnson, the pioneering aviator who flew solo from England to Australia in 1930, was born here in 1903. The poet Philip Larkin lived in the city and worked as the university librarian from 1955 until his death in 1985. His statue stands at Paragon Station. Actor Tom Courtenay is another Hull native. The music scene has produced the Housemartins, whose Paul Heaton went on to form the Beautiful South. Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn of Everything but the Girl met at Hull University. Hull spent 2017 as UK City of Culture, and the programme left behind new venues and a new confidence. The Turner Prize was held in the city that year.
Two codes, two colours, one city
Hull is an unusually passionate sporting city. Hull City, the Tigers, were promoted to the Premier League in 2008 and reached the FA Cup final in 2014, where they lost to Arsenal after leading 2-0 early on. Rugby league is just as important. Hull FC play in black and white and Hull Kingston Rovers in red and white. Their derby divides families and streets, and the city has long been split into the two camps. Rugby league is the game for most Hullensians, and the two teams' meeting is an occasion unlike any other.