A priceless collection of old buildings and fittings
a piece of creative art which must be seen to be believed…
(HDM, 24 Jul 1935, p. 4)
The Hull “Old Times” Museum was the brainchild of the Director of Hull Museums, Thomas Sheppard. It was heralded at the time as a one of a kind, there would be, “Nothing like it in the country when complete”. (HDM, 24 Jul 1935, p.4)
Of course, there had been many short-term historical street exhibitions which were popularised over the previous 50 years, but these were all outdoor affairs. Creating a historical street that was enclosed was something very new. The impetus for Hull’s new museum came from Sheppard’s desire to save aspects of a city that were vanishing with little trace, he lamented that:
For more years than I care to remember, I have watched the demolition of old properties, the changes in the streets and roadways, in the methods of transport, lighting, and engineering…in the march of progress. (L.069, Hull’s “Old Time Street”, Hull History Centre)
While much was removed from his surroundings, Sheppard had, since his appointment as Curator in 1904, managed to save various pieces here and there. He housed many items in cellars, empty rooms and warehouses around the city. When the Wilberforce Buildings were acquired by the Hull Corporation in 1903, the large yard and warehouse at the rear, also known as “Wilberforce Warehouse”, was used as income generation for the museum through its use as a grain store. In October 1931 the current tenant of the warehouse decided not to continue the lease, and it was suggested that the building be pulled down due to its upkeep costs. Sheppard however, had another idea, and suggested that recent donations, along with items already in store would enable them to reconstruct a Hull street from a few centuries ago. (C TCM/2/45/2, Hull History Centre)
He would go on to list several buildings that would make up the interior, suggesting that he had been thinking about the project for some time. The warehouse itself almost abutted Wilberforce House and ran back to the River Hull. It was 36 metres long by 12 metres wide and four stories high, it would be an ideal setting to house Sheppard’s 9th museum.
 |
| Image: The land and property acquired by the Hull Corporation in 1903, included Wilberforce House and its warehouse. (C TLA/2119, Hull History Centre) |
 |
| Image: View of Drypool Bridge from the River Hull. On the left above the second barge funnel is Wilberforce Warehouse, c. 1930s. (C TDP/2/1/28, Hull History Centre. © Yorkshire Post. Not to be reproduced without permission) |
Sheppard’s new construction would take up the first two floors of the warehouse and by 1935, the museum had a dozen shops and buildings. From a tavern to an undertakers, their contents come from as far afield as Northumberland and Sussex.
The exhibits ran down both sides of the warehouse and the floor was paved in slabs and cobbles in keeping with the period, they had been removed from recently developed areas in Hull. Down the centre of the street, ran a gully paved with “petrified kidneys” like the Hull streets of old. The following is a list of the buildings and some of their contents in Sheppard’s “Old Times” Street:
Tavern: A small-scale replica of an old public house in Hull. Its frontage came from the Talbot Hotel in Scale Lane, with fittings and features from the Greenland Fisheries and the Crown Hotel in Hull.
Chemist: The frontage came from Ware, Hertfordshire whilst the entrance way hosted two impressive golden serpents of Aesculapius that came from an old chemist’s shop in Market Place, Howden. Above this was a board from Hall’s Chemists shop on the corner of Spring Bank and Beverley Road. The shop housed leech jars, bleeding instruments, mortars and pestles and other paraphernalia.
 |
| Image: Chemists shop, complete with serpents, mortar and pestle above the doorway and large glass chemists jars in the window, c. 1935. (L.069, Hull’s “Old Time Street”, Hull History Centre) |
Tobacconist: With a window from York and the upper constructed in a half-timbered style the shop’s fittings came from Mr Pickering’s tobacco shop in Bond Street. Above the doorway was a statue of a boy with ostrich feathers and an original 1660s style tobacco pipe which was purchased from the Battersby’s Museum at Paull. Inside were kilns, moulds and a large stone trough, used by Messrs Stonehouse, the last Hull tobacco pipe makers situate in Marlborough Terrace.
 |
| Image: Tobacconist shop, complete with 17th century statue and clay pipe above the window. You can also see the chemists and tavern entrance, c. 1935. (L.069, Hull’s “Old Time Street”, Hull History Centre) |
Gunsmith: The exterior showcased a large gilded gun smith sign from Robin Hood’s Bay, inside were, harpoons, pistols and other guns manufactured by George Wallis, the Hull gun maker. Including a gilded Blunderbuss and a double flint-lock whaling gun from the Hull whaler Volunteer.
Woodturner: Signposted by an original carved wooden sign reading “Architectural, Ornamental and Antique Carver” from an old Hull shop, it housed various wood carving and clog makers tools, as well as jet polishing and turning tools from Whitby. Also inside the building were furnishings from buildings in Hull and Beverley from the Elizabethan to the Georgian period. The shop was also functional, with a working 18th century wood turning machine.
Blacksmith: This shop was largely the whole of Mr Moore’s shop on Holderness Road, a well-known craftsman of Hull at the time. It included a good sample of tools and horseshoes.
 |
| Image: Chemists with serpents, tobacconist with carved statue, gunsmiths with gilded sign, blacksmith is out of view on the corner with the King’s Head Inn, housing the plumbers, c. 1935. (Copyright: Hull Museums & Galleries) |
Plumbers: Housed from a semi reconstructed frontage of Hull’s oldest building, the King’s Head Inn, which was pulled down from the High Street in 1905 and parts salvaged by Sheppard. The doorway, its carved oak spandrels and oak beams were used alongside a window from Edwin Davis’s old drapery in Bond Street and another from Sutton. Inside were huge, elm trunks which had been bored for main water pipes, as well as some of the old pumps from Scale Lane. A large table, used to cast the lead for Beverley Minster, along with plumbing pieces from monasteries and early lead pipes from Hull. Cast iron window frames from the former Citadel could also be seen.
 |
| Image: Plumbers’ shop in the “Old Times” Street, formerly part of the Kings Head Inn, High Street, c. 1935. (L.069, Hull’s “Old Time Street”, Hull History Centre) |
Hotel: Starting on the opposite side of the street were part of the frontage of the White Lion Hotel, formerly in Collier Street, which was pulled down in 1930. It was transported almost entirely including bottles and fittings and rebuilt inside the warehouse. Inside could be seen the original dart board, false coins nailed to the counter and scales for weighing four.
 |
| Image: Interior of the White Lion Hotel, reproduced exactly in Sheppard’s warehouse. (Copyright: Hull Museums & Galleries) |
Mercers: Housing, spinning wheels, tools for winding wool, a printing machine, old type, copper plates and lithographs, it was an example of a general merchant’s shop. It also held an early printing machine, theatre bills and books illustrating the art of printing in Hull from 1642.
Antique Shop: The catchall shop, within which many of the objects not suitable for the other buildings were housed.
Undertakers: This shop housed an elaborately carved Gothic hearse, the first made by Annison’s the Hull funerary parlour. It too housed cinerary urns and other funerary ephemera.
Organ Builders/Music Shop: Inside this building was an old Gothic organ from Hedon Church alongside a collection of historical music instruments from Hull and other makers.
The last few buildings in the warehouse were a Hatters, and a Bootmakers but little is known about these buildings. One of the larger pieces secured for the street was a 6 windowed Georgian shop front acquired from Lewes.
 |
| Image: The Georgian shop front prior to its removal from Sussex which was rebuilt inside the “Old Times” Street, c. 1930s. (L.069, Hull’s “Old Time Street”, Hull History Centre) |
Down the middle of the street between the shops were vehicles, such as, an early 18th century stagecoach from Exeter, a horse drawn carriage, an early motor car and a Driffield subscription fire engine built in 1840. The street itself was lit with whale oil lamps that came from Queens Dock and was adorned with an early Hull milestone, gallows and stocks. It housed everything one might wish to see in a historic street exhibit.
The museum was originally accessed via an old flagged yard which would not have suited as an entrance to a museum. This was resolved by moving back some of the adjacent buildings to create a more pleasant entrance, with the work being funded by the Reckitt family. (HDM, 01 Aug 1935, p.6)
 |
| Image: Drawing of the new entry way to Hulls “Old Times” Street, c. 1930s. (Museums Journal, Oct 1935, p. 251) |
The new museum was set to open in March 1939. On the first week of opening the shops were to be staffed by people in period costume, a real blacksmith at work and beer being produced from the re-created inns. However, Sheppard was still awaiting approval from the Property and Bridges Committee in May 1940. By this point there had been no bombing raids in Hull, but this soon changed, and over the following 12 months there would be 44 raids and the 45th would change the city forever. It was during this raid that Sheppard’s “Old Times” Street was severely damaged.
On the night of the 8/9th May 1941, the city was subjected to a heavy bombing which resulted in numerous fires breaking out across the city. Several of these were in High Street, where the streets are narrow and buildings several storeys high. John Colletta a volunteer firemen was credited with saving Wilberforce House and was awarded the George Medal, however, there was another that acted equally as heroically and went un-recognised.
The fire watchman at the museum, James Anthony, was first on the scene. He recalled that:
at Wilberforce House they dropped 5 incendiaries [he got to work to put them out] …After that they dropped a H.E. Bomb and it knocked me into the Doll’s House. I picked myself up and…started playing on the fire to keep it under control…[and] stop it breaking in at the top floor. (Ref: C TYG/1, Hull History Centre)
 |
| Image: Account by James Anthony of the Raid on the 8/9 May 1941 that almost destroyed Wilberforce House. (C TYG/1, Hull History Centre) |
Just after mid-night when the firemen finally arrived, Anthony had been working on the fire for hours. The firemen found that 5 warehouses were ablaze, 3 on the west of High Street and 2 on the east. The latter were directly behind, and adjoining Wilberforce House, which Anthony was trying to put out alone. Colletta, arrived around 12.30 and began attacking the fire at Ware’s warehouse in front of the museum, he soon found himself and Wilberforce House surrounded in flames.
He remained there, amidst the falling debris…with utter disregard for his own safety. There was no cover for him (Ref: HO 250/43/1671, TNA)
With fires still raging Coletta moved to fight the raging inferno that was overtaking the warehouse behind Wilberforce House.
separated by a distance of only six feet from the wall of the blazing…warehouse…Colletta insisted on remaining in the narrow alley…the building was expected to fall at any moment. In this place the heat was terrific (Ibid)
The firemen were called away at 2am due to further fires elsewhere but Anthony continued alone, until nearly 9am by which point the fire which was subsiding began to take hold again. Anthony recalled that:
It was one large furnace all around. I have been in France but nothing like the night I went through. (Ref: C TYG/1, Hull History Centre)
Although Wilberforce House was saved, the museum was gone. In his report, Sheppard stated that:
Our warehouse at the back, which contained the various shops and their contents, forming the “Old Street”, as well as the exhibits stored on the upper floors, was entirely burnt out, and practically everything destroyed, though we may retrieve a few objects from the debris. The roofless four walls are standing, and the 29…cast iron pillars supporting the floors are still erect…The wharf on the harbour side adjoining the warehouse, is burnt through, and cannot be used…. (Ref: C TCR/1/10/1, Hull History Centre)
 | ||
| Image: View of the war damaged warehouses behind Wilberforce House. The “Old Times” Street was housed in the building directly behind the barge funnel, c.May 1941-Sep 1942. (C TDP/2/9/1/10, Hull History Centre)
|
Sheppard retired in October 1941, as was the Corporations policy. The warehouse, however, remained a bomb site. The cast iron pillars were unsupported and at risk of falling into Wilberforce House. By April the following year work started on clearing the site, as seen above. Very few exhibits had been recovered from the wreckage and by July 1944, the remnants of the warehouse and surrounding buildings had been pulled down and approval was given for the area, which was Hulls “Old Times” Street to be turned into gardens for Wilberforce House. (HDM, 31 July 1944, p. 4) In late 1949 the work had almost been completed. Using period bricks from bombed properties in High Street the garden was to be in a Georgian ornamental style and was described in 1950 when it opened as:
arise[ing] from the former waste of bomb damage…it will be entirely in keeping with the historic house…Already the lawn and the fan shaped ornamental trees and climbers…look thoroughly established… [It is] a green oasis in the Old Town. (HDM, 15 Apr 1950, p. 4)
 |
| Image: The new Wilberforce Garden, replacing Hulls “Old Times” Street, c. 1950. (L(SLA).069.538, Hull History Centre) |
Sheppard’s last museum took almost a decade to complete and although its tragic loss means it was never seen by the public at large you can find examples of an early streets at the Streetlife Museum in Hull, the York Castle Museum and Kirkstall Abbey Museum. Or if you would like to get up close and personal with history you can also visit Hull’s Hand's on History Museum.
