Kingston upon Hull
or Hull
City, port, and unitary authority situated where the River Hull
flows into the north bank of the Humber estuary, northeast England;
unitary authority area 71 sq km/27 sq mi; population (1996) 265,000;
. It is linked with the south bank of the estuary by the Humber
Bridge, the world's longest single-span suspension bridge. Industries
include fish processing, flour milling, sawmilling, marine engineering,
food processing, and the manufacture of electrical goods, vegetable
oils, paint, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, caravans, aircraft, and
paper. There are 11 km/7 mi of modern docks located on the Humber
estuary. The largest timber port in the UK, it also handles grain,
oilseeds, wool, and the export/import of manufactured goods.
Items of note are the 13th-century Holy Trinity Church; the
Town Docks Museum; the Ferens Art Gallery (1927), the University
of Hull (1954), and the University of Humberside (1992), formerly
Humberside Polytechnic. The humanitarian reformer William Wilberforce
was born here.
There are ferries to Rotterdam and Zeebrugge. Following the
building of the Queen Elizabeth Dock in 1971, the port's roll-on/roll-off
freight traffic expanded rapidly in the 1980s.
Features
Holy Trinity church, one of the largest parish churches in England,
has an Early English chancel which is said to be one of the oldest
brick buildings in England still in use for its original purpose.
The rest is of stone (mainly late Perpendicular). St Mary's church
dates from the early 14th century. Wilberforce House, an Elizabethan
manor and the birthplace of William Wilberforce, now houses a
museum and memorial to Wilberforce. The dockland area has been
restored.
History
The site of the present city was held at the end of the 12th century
by Cistercian monks. Their settlement, then known as Wyke, was
acquired by Edward I in 1293, and its name was changed to Kingston
upon Hull. In 1299 its first charter made the town a free borough,
and it grew into a flourishing seaport. New quays were built,
internal communications improved, a ferry to the southern shore
of the Humber established, and in 1322 the town was enclosed and
fortified. In 1440 a charter of Henry VI incorporated the town.
During the reign of Henry VIII new fortifications to protect the
harbour were built. They were largely devised by the king himself
and instructions in his handwriting are still extant. During the
Civil War the first forcible resistance to Charles I was the closing
of the gates of Hull against him in 1642, and the town sustained
two Royalist sieges. It continued to maintain its position as
a port and thriving commercial centre, and between 1774 and 1829
three docks were built to make a ring of water around the old
town. The largest dock in Hull, the King George, was opened by
George V in 1914. The town was made a city in 1897. During World
War II the central area of Hull was severely damaged in bombing
raids, and much reconstruction has taken place.
Charters
The city has a collection of royal charters and letters patent dating
from Edward I (1299) to George V (1914). Of 37 granted to the
town by various sovereigns, 32 are still preserved in the Guildhall.
The charter of 1661 became the charter under which the town was
governed until the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835.
Museums and Galleries
The city is home to several museums and galleries, including the Maritime
Museum, housed in the old Town Docks offices; Wilberforce House,
the former home of William Wilberforce; Streetlife, the Hull Museum
of Transport, which includes among its exhibits rare trams such
as the Ryde Pier and Kitson; and the Ferens Art Gallery, which
houses an eclectic collection dating from the 16th-century Dutch
masters to the present day. The old Grammar School has also been
converted into a museum and houses collections dedicated to Victorian
Britain and the history of Hull and its people.
Famous People
Kingston upon Hull was the birthplace of the aviator Amy Johnson and
of the poet Stevie Smith. From 1955 until his death in 1985, the
poet Philip Larkin was librarian at the University of Hull.
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