Before getting underway I have to admit to not having much knowledge of the topic for Grimsby, although I have some, and I can only repeat what many say that the historic heart of the town was all but destroyed when the Freshney shopping centre was created, a classic example of the ‘brave new (post-war) world’ gone wrong. That said I have found Freshney Centre to be clean and a good area for shopping – not that I’m an expert as they don’t let in dogs. That is not to downgrade the rest of Grimsby, particularly People’s Park, the housing around and the proximity to Cleethorpes.
If someone travelling through north Humberside in 1900 were to return today and try to repeat the journey they would surely be astonished at the changed road system, at the physical expansion of Hull and Beverley (to a lesser extent the seaside resorts) and at changes in industrial location. They might also be surprised at how little the rail system had changed or, indeed, ceased to exist. They would be astonished surely at the changes in the vehicles seen on the roads with 1900 being typified by more children playing in the streets than cars, the opposite now the case (hoe errie it is to see old photos of streets in the early 20th century with no motorised vehicles whatsoever).
How different, or similar, the built environment would look would depend on where they were standing, but they would, I think, be surprised at the standardisation of 20th century building materials (it is surprising to me how little progress has been made in the prefabrication of buildings, given that the science has existed now for almost a century).
The picture above is of two mud-stud and thatch cottages surviving in Immingham into the 1930s.