Following yesterday’s consideration of Pickering’s Whaling and Fishing Museum the above photo shows part of the main gates to Pickering Park, these ornate wrought iron gates funded by Christopher Pickering himself.
Pickering Park was Hull’s fourth municipal park (Pearson, East and West Parks being the earlier three). In 1909 there were many discussions between Mr. Pickering and the Town Council and the land on which the Park was created was donated by Pickering. His idea was very progressive for the time, that being that two-thirds of the Park’s land should be a levelled and drained as a playing field to facilitate football, cricket and hockey pitches and with further green areas for bowling, tennis and croquet (thus far my research up to 1920 has provided no evidence of croquet or hockey actually being played there). The sports field was not to be crossed by footpaths and in 1911 two shelters/changing rooms were built for the benefit of players, the two surviving brick buildings beside Pickering Road are/were, I presume, original.
The ‘must have’ entertainment features of the Park were to be concentrated at its south end, behind the Museum and the alms-houses. These lay-out features are still reflected in the Park today.
Back then the new Park was beyond the built-up area of the town, the Gipsyville Estate east of the Park not being built until the 1920s-30s, and the problem for people wishing to visit the Park in its early days was that the trams travelling Hessle Road terminated at what is now Hessle Road flyover.
Pickering Park was officially opened by Mrs. Pickering on 13th July, 1911.
There followed much discussion about excavating a linear boating lake along the eastern and northern sides of the Park, this following the great success of the boating lake in East Park. The onset of the Great War brought a halt to this project.
(to be continued)