Thank you to everyone who has responded to our call out and joined our memory sharing sessions at Hull Maritime Museum, or on board the barges. All summer we have been listening to people’s fascinating stories of living and working on the River Hull over the years. We have been filming and recording so that the memories are not lost, but are there for that future generations to find out about this remarkable, and often overlooked part of Hull, it’s history and culture. We have been lucky enough to acquire some superb photographs of the River including a collection from the Hull Daily Mail. But it is the real stories from the people that bring them to life. We are now digitising the photos, transcribing the audio, editing the films and preparing the stories for a book, film and exhibition. In the meantime here is a collection of some enchanting stories. Scroll down the page and click on the text under a picture below to visit the story page. The header photograph above is by photographer David Morris from his 1971 collection The River We Once Knew.
The chemical works at Saltend is flanked by Old Fleet to the north and Hedon Haven to the south. The last chapter of the journey starts at Burstwick drain and Hedon Haven then continues south to Paull and then south east along the Holderness coast. From Cherry Cob Sands we head to Stoney Creek and … Continue reading 9. Hedon Haven and Holderness Hessle Haven, River Hull, Holderness Drain and Old Fleet In this chapter, we explore the Humber from Hessle Haven’s Fleet Beck to Old Fleet that forms part of Hull’s border with Holderness to the East. The gallery below starts at Hessle Haven and moves down the Humber, east to the River Hull and beyond to … Continue reading 8. Hessle Haven, River Hull, Holderness Drain and Old Fleet At the beginning – or end – of the Humber sits Whitton Sand hiding a channel to Weighton Lock and the Market Weighton Canal. To the north the River Foulness joins the Market Weighton Canal somewhere between North America and The Land of Nod. Up the Foulness lies Hasholme and the site of the discovery … Continue reading 7. The Market Weighton Canal, River Foulness and Crabley Creek The River Ouse meets the River Trent at Trent Falls, this confluence is where the Humber begins and ends. We’ve explored the Ouse and it’s confluences from barge, train and aeroplane and this chapter goes some way to explain why What Makes the Humber is an on-going project. This chapter covers the rivers Ouse, Aire, … Continue reading 6. The River Ouse and it’s Confluences Whitton and Alkborough mark centuries of occupation from Roman villas and Anglo-Saxon cemteries to the mystical Julian’s Bower turf maze on The Cliff that overlooks Alkborough Flats. The Nev Cole Way runs along The Cliff to it’s beginning – St Andrews church at Burton on Stather. This is where we discovered the Nev Cole Way … Continue reading 5. The Nev Cole Way – Whitton, Alkborough, River Trent and Burton Stather Leaving Barton and up onto the Humber Bridge with the Humber tide low exposing the shoreline and the path – the Nev Cole Way – we follow the Humber to Chowder Ness and beyond, to the New River Ancholme and South Ferriby, this chapter’s destination, Whitton Ness. The Far Ings is a renowned bird watchers … Continue reading 4. The Nev Cole Way – The Far Ings to Whitton Ness Walking west on the Nev Cole Way, New Holland’s terminal still retains the railway that took ferry passengers from Hull to explore the south bank. On this journey there are so many detours that could be taken inland to investigate the wealth of history on this side of the Humber. From the motte and bailey … Continue reading 3. The Nev Cole Way – New Holland, Barrow and Barton The Nev Cole Way is a 57 mile walk, starting at Burton-on-Stather (on the Trent) which finishes at Nettleton in Lincolnshire. The path joins the coast at North Killingholme and we picked it up there and headed north-west rounding Skitter Ness and east along the Humber to Whitton turning south along The Cliff above Alkborough … Continue reading 2. The Nev Cole Way – North Killingholme to Goxhill Haven Our journey starts on the south bank of the Humber at it’s most western point. We’re going to head west, along the Nev Cole Way to the Trent and up the Ouse and then back east down the north bank of the Humber to Holderness. We arrived at the canalised River Lud, now Louth Canal … Continue reading 1. The River Lud, Buck Beck and River Freshney 
9. Hedon Haven and Holderness
8. Hessle Haven, River Hull, Holderness Drain and Old Fleet
7. The Market Weighton Canal, River Foulness and Crabley Creek
6. The River Ouse and it’s Confluences
5. The Nev Cole Way – Whitton, Alkborough, River Trent and Burton Stather
4. The Nev Cole Way – The Far Ings to Whitton Ness
3. The Nev Cole Way – New Holland, Barrow and Barton
2. The Nev Cole Way – North Killingholme to Goxhill Haven
1. The River Lud, Buck Beck and River Freshney
The idea for A River Full Of Stories came about when many of the 2000 visitors to the Open Bridges exhibition inside Scale Lane Bridge told us fascinating tales of their lives working on and around the river. A River Full Of Stories captures memories and stories to share with future generations through film, exhibition, website and a book for each library and museum in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire. We’ve been collecting stories throughout July – October 2018 and are now preparing the River Full Of Stories film, exhibition and book. Click on the pictures to read the first stories…
Thank you to the River Full Of Stories team, Russ Litten, Phil Codd and Humber Film, Andy Richardson and to Beverley Barge Preservation Society, Historic Motor and Sail, Hull Maritime Museum and the Beverley Treasure House.
Open Bridges is an independent Hull/East Yorkshire based project.
Rich & Lou Duffy-Howard