Having mentioned Thomas Sheppard in the previous blog I initially wondered if any of his publications would be listed here. Foolish idea as Thomas was only 9 years old when this ‘Catalogue’ was printed; he left the elementary school four years later, all his qualifications and credits being gained in manhood. Staying on this theme a moment, the Wikipedia info. on Thomas is relatively short but very informative and with good further research sources, particularly an article by M.R.D. Seaward published in the journal Humberside Geologist in 2008 entitled ‘The Amazing Mr Sheppard’; it is a cataloguing of all his writings, positions held , qualifications awarded etc. Thomas Sheppard died in 1945, just four years after an enemy bombing raid, and resultant fire, destroyed most of the municipal museum and its exhibits.

The Municipal Library Catalogue of 1885 cost 50p. from the ‘no longer needed’ shelf at Hull History Centre. The central coat of arms shows the three crowns/coronets in the shield and the outer words read ‘Bibliotheca Municipali, Kingston Super Hull’. The list includes some familiar titles, e.g. Poulson, George History and Antiquities of the Seigniory of Holderness, 2vols, 1840-’41, Frost, Charles Notices of Town and Port of Hull, 1827. Also, Sheahan, J.J. History of the Town and Port of Kingston-upon-Hull.

The Catalogue is up to date for its time listing 24 story books by Sir Walter Scott (The Waverley Novels).

Equally interesting as the list are the terms and conditions of lending as listed on the first three pages. In fact it lists nine such rules, of which here are just three:

‘All works borrowed must be returned within seven days’

‘Each renewal may be for three days’

‘Only one work shall be lent to the same person at the same time’.

On page one it implies that books are being lent to ‘Members of the Corporation’, while on page two on page two it refers to ‘Every person borrowing a book …’.

Even without television, and given that the borrower (always referred to as ‘he’) had to earn a living, getting through any one of these in a week was good going.

No cost is mentioned except if the book was damaged or lost.

Above is the cover page of a reprinted book first published in 1912. The author ‘Tom’ Sheppard was the first curator of Hull Museums located on Albion Street in a large building, never rebuilt after being bombed in 1943. A large volume of the exhibits were also destroyed, for example the long log dug-out canoe, thought to be Neolithic or earlier, found in the anaerobic muds of the River Ancholme in the early 20th century (maybe 1890s).

The occasion of the public talk I went to hear today was the annual Chris. Ketchell Memorial Lecture, given in the nave of Hull Minster (Holy Trinity) by Mike Horne F.G.S. Honorary Research Fellow, University of Hull. The presentation was about Thomas Sheppard with particular reference to Sheppard’s geological studies in East Yorkshire and resulting publications. Th presentation was thoroughly illustrated and very informative. One of the angles of Mr. Horne’s presentation was Sheppard’s dubious reputation as a collector/thief(!) of artifacts found elsewhere for display in Hull Museum, particularly in north Lincolnshire, then the county of Lindsey. There is ample evidence (I words, not Mr. Horne’s) of Tom often crossing the Humber on the steam ferries to New Holland, visiting sites of interest, particularly archaeological digs, and arranging for the transport of items back to Hull. He knew the region well having been brought up in modest circumstances in South Ferriby. Having left the village school (surviving) at the age of 13 he progressed in life by developing his interests and working at a number of jobs. He was clearly not slow in coming forward.

To be fair, in the 1920s I don’t think there were proper museums in Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Barton or Brigg, and anyway these were in the ‘thirding’ of Lincolnshire called Lindsey with its hq in Lincoln, a place far away and loath to spend public money on all but the bare essentials.

Sheppard published many papers while Curator of Hull Museum and a few books including the one shown above. His critics claim that even here he may have been plagiarising an earlier unpublished work. If this earlier work was George Poulson’s ‘History and Antiquities of Holderness’, published 1840, and he must surely have had copies, then he was using the researches of others without crediting them, arguably a form of plagiarism.

The above photo shows just inside the park gates at Pickering Park (s.p.b.). The main carriage gates seem to be permanently shut these days, the side pedestrian gates open. Mr. Pickering was quite happy, it seems , for the main carriageway to be used as a way-through between Pickering Road (not then so named) and Hessle Road; but this would then (1914) have been for horse drawn farm carts or private horse drawn carriages. Priory Farm was sited just across Hessle Road from the Park gates until well after the Second World War and had been one of the out-village (post-enclosure) farms of Hessle Common; emphasising the fact yet again that municipal parks and cemeteries had to be initially located beyond the City itself, later to be surrounded by suburban development.

The house seen in the photo was completed by 1911 (I think), in that year a job application was advertised for a ‘Park Foreman’ (defined elsewhere as ‘Park Keeper’). Later that year a man was appointed, plus three gardeners and six labourers. The ‘Superintendent’s’ house (a later phrase) was a fine detached house with at least three bedrooms and in a simple Arts and Crafts design then fashionable. It cost the Corporation a considerable sum to build and the Superintendent and his family got it rent free – so long as he kept the job. The house helped attract quality candidates, generally experienced in park organisation and often from various parts of the country.

In 1912 the councillor members of the Parks and Burial Committee of the City Corporation add Pickering Park to their annual park inspection, now four in number : Pearson Park (by then 50 years old), East and West Parks (by then 20 years old and, now also, Pickering Park. They were generally well pleased, but on this occasion their conclusions were not recorded in the Committee minutes.

The troublesome image above is of a postcard dated July 13th, 1911 and was reproduced in a copy of the Hull Daily Mail on December 5th, 2008. It shows the main entrance gates to Pickering Park off Hessle High Road when they were first made and installed in 1909. The businessman Christopher Pickering (shown top-left) apparently paid £1000 for them. Over 100 years later they survive intact, albeit rusty and weather-worn in places.

The next of this year’s parks and cemeteries guided walks on Saturday 11th April is at Pickering Park, meeting at these gates at 10am.

The photo taken in 1909 serves to show how indebted we are to our predecessors who initiated such public facilities, especially so as they only saw then in there very early stages, whereas we see the full fruits of their labours and expenditures.

Christopher Pickering only had 10 years to live after donating the 50 acres of his land to the City Council as celebrated in the above photo. Having been born just four years after Queen Victoria’s inauguration in modest circumstances he spent all his working life building-up various businesses related to Hull’s fishing industry, latterly owning over one hundred steam driven trawlers.

The detailed development of Pickering Park was delayed by the Great War and as the very elderly Mr. Pickering lived in Hornsea he did not see the full development of this project.

One line of thought on Saturday will be to draw similarities between C. Pickering and Pickering Park and T. Ferens and East Park. Another focus will be the original lakes.

Recent photo above shows a section of the completed Humber/Marina Dock side upgrading. It should be stated straightway that the new surface does not include the coloured bricks which previously outlined the course of the medieval town walls, which to my mind is a loss; what there is now is a single slab opposite the end of Humber Street giving the location of Hessle gate, the southern-most of the four medieval gates in the wall.

Some new flower-beds to compliment the existing trees and lots of modern seating. This is not far from the recently opened to the public Spurn Lightship, morred in the north-west corner of the Marina.

The similar ongoing work along the east side of Princes Dock is clearly not yet finished. Once finished, and once Queen’s Garden is finished there will be an elegant walk from Queen’s Gardens, alongside Princes Dock, over Murdock Connection, alongside the Marina, through Humber Street, under the A63, round to and through the Arcade then back to Queens Gardens via Land of Green Ginger.

It would be nice to see similar upgrading on the east side of Humber and Princes Dock, but, of course, the carbuncle of Princes Quay is in the way – demolish it.

The above photo shows a remarkable maple tree, originally planted in front of Lime Villa (demolished), Pearson Park, Hull. Part of Henson Villas is shown behind, these buildings now awaiting demolition. Also showing a Lombardy poplar on the far site of the site, this probably planted for Malvern House (demolished 1938). This tree is remarkable because it comes into leaf so early, late March this year, late February last year. It is an example of a tree that has not had to compete with nearby trees for sunlight, photosynthesis.

On the guided walk last Saturday to study the original East Park we discussed the avenues of trees, mostly horse chestnuts, planted in Hull parks and how far apart each was planted to give each trees a chance to flourish without too much competition, but still creating an overhanging avenue. We decided on about 40 feet.

This is reminiscent of hedge planting after parishes were enclosed by Parliamentary Enclosure c.1750-1850. Here often young deciduous hardwood trees were planted to give the landscape diversity and provide some shelter in pastureland. This planting in much of eastern England created a populist image of the countryside; now all but a few have gone, sacrificed to efficient modern farming. How far apart were these trees planted? Distances would have varied parish by parish, but the distances would have been greater than in the parks as no avenues were planned. However such hedgerow trees, like the one above, grew tall, sturdy and with a rounded canopy because they did not have nearby competition. Such a loss.