Last Tuesday attended the most recent of Hull History Centre’s monthly lectures. Given by Ken Steedman of Humber Field Archaeology it was a resume of digs and finds along the east bank of the lower River Hull, opposite the Old Town. The earliest fortification defending the eastern approach to Hull, apart from the River itself, comprised three forts and a connecting wall built in the parish of Drypool in the late 16th century and commissioned by Henry VIII during his two visits to Hull in 1541. They were shown clearly in Wenceslas Hollar’s angled bird’s-eye ‘map’ of Hull dated 1641 (see above). See also article on Suffolk Palace in Publications/Articles – work on Henry VIII’s Northern Progress of 1541 not yet uploaded to website.
The talk prompted me on the following day to contact Humber Field Archaeology to get some clarity on the archaeological set-up in Hull and the East Riding these days. Although, unusually for this day-and-age, Humber Field Archaeology is an organisation attached to the two local authorities it has to fund its existence through charging for commissions undertaken and is in that sense like a commercial enterprise. Despite its name, Humber Field Archaeology only undertake limited work on the ‘south bank’ with North Lincs. Council and North East Lincs. Council generally commissioning the services of commercial archaeological firms in Lincolnshire.
Humber Field Archaeology are based at ‘the Old School’, Northumberland Av., Hull, a site where Hull’s Historic Environment Record can be accessed and studied. Incidentally, in March 2017 Hull’s ‘Old Town’ was awarded Heritage Action Zone status by Historic England, one of the first areas so defined the designation lasts for five years and is designed to incentivise local initiatives to promote local heritage. Mr. Steedman hopes that the excavations of the southern ‘blockhouse’ (see Hollar’s map above) and the later ‘Citadel’ built across the same site will lead to some display of the excavated site. I am grateful to Mr. Steedman for clarifying the current situation to me – if I have misrepresented his information it is entirely my error.
(To be continued).