North Bridge 1870
The old North Bridge was given a nice send off in the Souvenir Programme of the new North Bridge on 10th August 1931, it read:
“The existing North Bridge over the River Hull is on the main artery of communication from West Hull to East Hull and Holderness. It is supplemented by the bridges at Clarence Street, Scott Street, Sculcoates and Stoneferry. The three latter bridges are not on the main artery. Clarence Street is advantageously placed to relieve the congestion at North Bridge, but it has been obvious for some years that a much wider North Bridge was required to cope with the increasing volume of traffic. The development of motor transport has also brought a great increase in the weight of individual vehicles.
Parliamentary powers were therefore sought and finally obtained in 1926 for the construction of a new four track bridge on the straight line of a new street from Charlotte Street to Witham.
The old bridge, erected in 1870 to the design of the late Martin Samuelson, is an interesting type. It is a horizontal drawbridge. A pair of vertical hydraulic rams lift the bridge bodily about 2 ft. 3 in. to give clearance over the roadway, and the bridge is then run back horizontally on travelling wheels, by means of cables operated by hydraulic power. The bridge has been in use for sixty years, a remarkable record, especially when the increase in size of road vehicles is considered. Of late years frequent repairs have been a source of considerable expense.
From a census taken in June, 1924, the existing bridge was opened 191 times in one month; 838 vessels passed through while the bridge was open, and it was estimated that about 4,000 vessels passed under the bridge. This makes the total monthly traffic about 4,800 vessels or about 58,000 per annum”.
We have discovered (so far) one original photographic glass plate from about 1900 of the old bridge and the Holderness Road and Saville Street tram crossing, that we think warrants a page by itself.
The photograph, carefully restored to its original condition is below, along with an aerial photograph courtesy of Britain from Above showing the Clarence Mills, Kingston upon Hull, in 1925 but with the old North Bridge in the distance.
Sheme ‘D’ shows a map of the bridge in 1925 with the position of the proposed replacement bridge, pencilled in to the north.
There is also an artists impression of the earlier bridge from the cover of the Saturday Magazine published on 19th April 1834 and an evocative photograph looking north and taken from the bridge in the late nineteenth century, with accompanying maps reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.
North Bridge and the Holderness Road and Saville Street Tram circa 1900
The Clarence Mills in 1925 from Britain from Above showing the old North Bridge on Charlotte Street at the top of the photo
New North Bridge 1925 Sheme “D”
North Bridge over the River Hull and Sugar House Bridge over the Foredyke Stream 1856 reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
The view north from the Old North Bridge in the late 19th Century with Sugar House Wharf on the right
By 1892 Sugar House Bridge had been renamed Lime Street Bridge but the Accomodation Warehouse just north of the Foredyke Stream is now Sugar House Wharf. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
The old, old North Bridge, on the right and with the lockpit gates entrance to ‘the Dock’ on the left – an artists impression on the cover of the Saturday Magazine, April 19th 1834
For more information there is a fascinating article by Hull History Centre’s Project Officer Neil Chadwick – North Bridge: Hull’s oldest bridge? at this link https://hullhistorycentre.blogspot.com/2020/08/north-bridge-hulls-oldest-bridge.html
Rich and Lou Duffy-Howard
If you’ve enjoyed the post, we’d be delighted if you’d subscribe to our blog. It’s free and you can do so by entering your email below: