Last Monday night gave a talk to Hull Civic Society at the Royal Station Hotel (Mercure Hotel) entitled ‘The History of Hessle Common (South-west Hull)’. It was quite well received and included some welcome and informative comments and questions from the audience. One such recollection was of Priory Farm surviving well into the 1960s. Priory Farm (previously known as ‘The Priory’ although, it seems, for no good historical reason) was sited on the left of the above picture, now the exit of the Summergroves Road passing through the housing estate built in the 1990s, and opposite the entrance to Pickering Park which as opened in 1911. At that time Pickeing Park stood on the very western edge of the Hessle Road/Hessle High Road built-up area while The Priory opposite was one of Hessle Common’s five post-Enclosure model farms (none of which survive). Part of the talk focused on the range of buildings connected with each farm, evidence having been gleaned from the excellent map collection at the Hull History Centre.
A number of these maps show clearly the post-Enclosure rectangular field system existing for much of the 19th century between Hessle spring-line village and the traditional boundary between Hessle parish and Myton Manor, this re-defined in the 1830s as the border between Hull and Hessle and defined in the modern street-scape by the lines of Division Road, north of Hessle Road, and West Dock Avenue, south of Hessle Road. These post-Enclosure maps nevertheless retain local names for areas of the farmland that give evidence of the various areas of Hessle Common before Enclosure. Indeed the name ‘Summergroves’ (see above) reflects the area of Hessle Common once known as ‘Sommer Groves’, this, presumably being land suitable for shared Summer grazing but too wet for such in Winter.
(To be continued).