Welcome to Hessle

A TOWN OF CHARACTER...
...that's Hessle.
The modern town reflects much of what has gone before, an ancient church and street names which recall more genteel times when farming was the main occupation.

Hessle has, however, a long history as being a home for the wealthy, a fact reflected in many of its fine houses which still stand.

Modern day Hessle is bustling and pleasant, a typical English town, but on the edge of a major city. Welcome to Hessle old and new...

TELL HULL WE'LL HALT 'EM AT ANY PRICE!

Once again Hull makes noises about taking over Hessle, Anlaby, Willerby, Kirk Ella, Hedon and now Bilton. It's been going on for years, but the city has yet again indicated that it believes we should all be a part of it.

As older residents know this is nothing new. Go back to the early Sixties and there was a very determined effort to claim our town as part of the growing city.

That was repulsed in a campaign led by the former Haltemprice Urban District Council, of which Hessle was part. The slogan - Halt 'em at any price. Hull's latest noises, however, have failed to impress Hessle councillors who say there are no proposals to alter the Hull-Hessle boundary.

The Town Council has told the Boundary Commission it wants Hessle to be all one ward giving the town three members of East Riding Council instead of two as at present. A third is shared with a quarter of Hessle linking with Swanland, North Ferriby and Welton.


TELL US ABOUT IT!
Got an event coming up in Hessle? Just e-mail us and we'll list it for you.

KNOW YOUR TOWN
Hessle was once known as Hase. One theory about the town's name is that it derives from the word Keisel, which means a flint.
Hessle parish once included the area now covered by much of Hull. Hessle Church was the mother church of Holy Trinity for over 350 years.

Floods swept across Hessle in 1256. Such incidents were not uncommon and one old record reported: "...in conveyancing the bodies of deceased persons from the chapel at Kingston to the parish church at Hessle for interment, it often happened that the bodies and attendants were all washed away by the water of the Humber...So dangerous did these floods render travelling between Hul and Anlaby that at the commencement of the 14th Century the road was raised six feet above its ordinary level the expenses of which were partly defrayed by the inhabitants of Hessle..."

King Edward 1 visited Hessle while on his way to Hull from Barton on May 26, 1300.

Shipbuilding was carried on at Hessle Cliff years ago. In 1698 an 80 gun man of war was built there and between 1747 and 1762 ships were built for the government.

According to a book on Hessle published in 1885: "Within the memory of the oldest inhabitants, Hessle principally consistes of farmsteads and cottages, long, low little houses with their farmyards close by, well stocked with cows, pigs and poultry which would doubtless be driven upon the commons through neighbouring lanes."

Hessle Church used to be surrounded by an old broken hedge. On the north side were the town stocks.

Hull Road was once known as Cow Lane.

Hesslewood Hall was once the home of members of the famous Hull Pease family. It was described in 1892 as being "in the true Georgian style of architecture and stands in a picturesque park of 130 acres situated near the Humber."

According to tradition, a "monster" fish said to be 20 yards long was caught at Hessle in 1553.

Prestongate was once regarded as Hessle's West Gate.. Swine Gate was named after the animals which once grazed there.

Before the arrival of the Hull and Selby railway a daily coach ran between Hull and Welton through Hessle. It started at the White Horse in Carr Lane at 4pm and returned from Welton the following morning - Sundays excepted!

The railway at Hessle opened on July 1 1840. Third class carriages were uncovered.

Hessle was first lit with gas in November 1861.

In the 1850's Hessle was plagued with robbers which led many of its wealthy people to line their doors with sheet iron.

A small earlier public house stood in Prestongate on the site of where The George is now. It was named the White Gate and had for its a sign... a small white gate which hung over the door.

Wagonettes took people for day trips from Hull to Hessle in the 1880s. Those who went in them could claim to be bona-fide travellers "entitled to demand that a publican should serve him with intoxicants during closing hours."

An Act of 1825 made Hessle Road and tolls were collected from travellers until 1873.

Written by The Editor - 06/05/2001 18:08:24

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