Following on from the last post (blog, s.p.b.) today’s picture shows two old postcards showing scenes in Pearson Park, Hull, both showing what was known as ‘The Ruins’. The top picture is an artist’s (unknown) impression and, as such, its location in relation to the current Park is unclear. The lower one is a photo showing a location with a backdrop of large deciduous trees, but again its situation is unclear. It is also unclear whether the two pictures are showing the same ‘Ruins’, but as the two views are from different angles maybe they are the same structure; the transitional archway being common to both. I have been told that the ‘Ruins were sited where the cupola from Hull’s first purpose-built town hall now is sited. Indeed this is on a grassy mound next to the children’s playground and written records confirm that the sides of the mound were once flowerbeds (see photo) and a rockery.
The problem with this opinion is that it is recorded that the cupola was moved to Pearson Park when the replacement town hall (current Guildhall) was built in the early 20th century and the photo above is more recent than that. Maybe the cupola is not in its original location?
The ‘Ruins’ no longer exist in the Park and have not done so for decades. So what are they ruins of and where did they come from?
By the early 20th century historic artifacts were becoming a regular feature of municipal parks, these having, like the named trees and flowers, an educational purpose, to stimulate in the minds of the general public that things had not always been as they were then. To stimulate imagination and enquiry.
(to be continued)