Wonderful Wildlife

Wonderful Wildlife in May

This is the month when a big transformation takes place.  We don’t have to do anything though – just stroll around and enjoy the wonderful wildlife in May!

May started with plenty of sunny weather although it was colder than usual for this time of the year.  Towards the end of the month there was plenty of steady and much-needed rain and that transformation is almost complete.  April’s small green shoots are well on the way to becoming fully-fledged leaves. Wonderful Wildlife

Birds

The big news is that the Tawny Owls have raised two babies (known as Owlets, pictured above)!  I only saw them both together on three consecutive days at the beginning of the month and they proved very popular with visitors to the cemetery.  The last day I saw them one was perched at the entrance to the nest box and the other was sitting on the roof.  I saw them stretching their well-developed wings ready for fledging and I hope they have now done this successfully.

There is at least one family of recently-fledged Long-tailed Tits in the cemetery as I recently saw an empty nest in the centre of some Brambles. I caught up with this family just outside the boundary in Western Cemetery and counted at least ten of them in a Cherry tree.

Long-Tailed Tits

Butterflies and other insects

Four species of white butterfly were seen in the cemetery with Large White, Small White, Green-veined White and Orange-tip flying in decent numbers whenever the sun was out.  This was the dominant butterfly colour in May.  Several Speckled Wood and one or two Peacock, Brimstone and Holly Blue were also seen.

Orange-Tip female

                                                

Ladybirds have now emerged from hibernation and are plentiful and varied.  The UK actually has a dozen or so native species with the 7-Spot being the most common.  You should therefore never assume a strange-looking Ladybird is a non-native Harlequin!

                                             

 

Flowers

The Bluebells were in full bloom growing in beautiful carpets throughout the cemetery. Many of them are the cultivated Spanish variety, having quite upright stems and conical bell-shaped flowers.  They have blue pollen and no scent.

Bluebells in the Cemetery

Native Bluebells on the other hand have curved, drooping stems and narrower bell-shaped flowers with rolled back tips.  They are also scented.  Only Bluebells that have ALL these characteristics are true native ones.  Those with only some are hybrids of the native and Spanish varieties.  The ones in the Orange-tip photo are most probably native ones although it wasn’t possible to smell them to confirm this!

The Wild Garlic (also known as Ramsons) is now in full flower in several places and you can catch its distinctive smell as you walk by.  These along with many other plants seen this Spring have flowered slightly later than usual.

                      Wild Garlic field

                                Close up of Ransom flowerhead

Another white flower that can now be seen inside the cemetery and on the Spring Bank West verge is Cow Parsley.  Its lush growth lines the footpaths and covers the areas further back in the centre.  It provides a valuable source of nectar for butterflies and many other small insects.  Most visitors to the cemetery in May, even after an absence of only a week or so, will notice the transformation straight away.  This is completely natural and does not make the area ‘’overgrown’’.  The sight lasts for a few weeks and then the plants start to die back, leaving seed heads that provide more food for the birds.

Cow Parsley

A similar-looking plant is the native Hogweed.  It is sturdier and slightly taller than Cow Parsley and has large flat leaves.  It also has large clusters of white flowers although the buds are dark pink on the outside.

Hogweed

There are still a few Celandines in flower.  Quite remarkable considering the first flowers appeared back in January!  Buttercups are now in flower and there is Hawks-beard and Common Vetch on the Spring Bank West verge.

Several plants have tiny flowers and many of these tend to get overlooked or simply dismissed as weeds. But once you know their names they stop being weeds and become wildflowers.  Some of those smaller ones that can be seen at the moment are Hedge Mustard (not to be confused with Garlic Mustard, which I talked about last month),  Shepherds-purse and Herb-Robert.

                                                  Herb Robert

Mushrooms

A new sub-heading to reflect some excellent specimens that were found this month!  Mushrooms and fungi can be seen at any time of the year on fallen logs and on living trees.

Dryad's Saddle fungi

Mushrooms can be quite difficult to identify and can vary quite a lot between specimens. Some, like this Glistening Inkcap, deliquesce very quickly – these two photos were taken just 24 hours apart.

                                            Fungi

 

May has been a month of changeable weather and rapid transformation.  The wonderful wildlife that lives in the cemetery has continued to thrive and new lives are being nurtured in peace and security all over the site.  I hope to talk about these in the next newsletter.

 

 

Wonderful Wildlife

2021: The story so far

January got off to a great start.  The volunteers and visitors to the cemetery enjoyed some good and frequent views of a Buzzard. They’re not very common in and around Hull so to have one in the cemetery was an unexpected pleasure.  It’s not known whether it’s male or female though, but it is still being sighted occasionally.  February was a month of contrasts, with a week of snow and sub-zero temperatures at the start of the month.  It ended with a week of sunshine and higher than usual temperatures.  There was plenty of warm sunshine in March too.

Flowers

This winter was a bumper one for Snowdrops, with at least 3 different types in flower all over the site.  The sunshine and higher than average temperatures during that last week of February gave the Lesser Celandines flowering in the grass verge on Spring Bank West a welcome boost.  These low-growing bright yellow flowers open up in the sunshine and typically have between 8 and 10 petals although they can sometimes have as many as 12 or 13.

Lesser Celandines can also be found inside the Cemetery and these are now starting to flower, although being in partial shade they’re a little behind the ones on the grass verge and the stems of their flowers are noticeably longer as they reach for the sun.

The Blackthorn is already in flower – its white blossoms appear before the leaves do, unlike the Hawthorn which flowers slightly later in the Spring after its leaves have opened.

 

Butterflies and other insects

The Lesser Celandines provided a valuable source of nectar for some early butterflies emerging in late February.  I counted 8 Small Tortoiseshells one day, plus a Peacock.  Both species overwinter as adults in sheltered vegetation and will no doubt have been tempted out by the warm sun.

Small tortoiseshells

Butterfly sightings continued throughout March whenever it was sunny, with some more Small Tortoiseshells and 2 more Peacocks seen on the grass verge just before the Spring Equinox.

 

A Comma, another butterfly that overwinters as an adult, was seen later in March, again on the grass verge.  It gets its name from a distinctive white comma-shaped mark on the underside of its wings.

Comma butterfly on celadine

There were lots of other insects buzzing around the grass verge in late March too including a Bee-fly, the first time I’ve seen one there.  This small fluffy fly is harmless to humans and uses its long proboscis to get nectar from flowers.  When hovering its wings seemingly disappear in a blur of movement.

Bee-fly at rest

 

Birds

There are several Wood Pigeons living in the cemetery and these can be seen every day pecking around on the ground or flying noisily in and out of the trees.

There is also a pair of resident Stock Doves and these are usually seen together, sometimes with the Wood Pigeons.  Stock Doves are around the same size as feral Pigeons and sometimes hang around with them too.

The Stock Dove is on the left of the photo – its band of blue/green feathers is larger and more noticeable than on the Wood Pigeon and it lacks the white patch.  The Wood Pigeon is the larger of the two species although this is not apparent from the photo.

Pigeons and Doves

 

The smaller birds have started to pair up and look for suitable nesting sites, but I’ll say more about them in the next newsletter.

Overall a very good start to the year, and with many of the trees and shrubs already showing small green shoots there is the promise of much more wonderful wildlife to come!

Postscript: Helen Bovill

Helen Bovill is a member of the FOHGC. She is a gifted naturalist and photographer. Her photographs have graced the FOHGC Facebook site for a while now. It’s with great pleasure that we now have the chance to share in her knowledge and expertise here. Helen has kindly consented to write an article every month on the broad subject of nature for the website newsletter. This is the first of what I hope will be many such articles. So sit back and enjoy.

Next Month

Next month it’s hoped to bring you the story of the Eleanor Crosses that grace the Hull General Cemetery. A sad tale of loss in one case and perhaps an expression of guilt in another.

I’m hopeful of also beginning the tale of how Hull gained the cemetery which I’d hoped to bring you this month but Charlie Collinson took longer than I thought. I thought i should show him the same kind of respect that some of the other, more respectable or should I say richer – people get.

There will be more nature notes from Helena and more fabulous photographs.

Plus any news regarding the Cemetery that comes my way. Any activities by the FOHGC that are fit to print, and, of course, the monthly anniversary post.

Your comments are always welcome. I can’t reply via this website but I try to reply via email if the email wants a reply.

 

The work done by the FOHGC during early spring

The work done by the FOHGC during early spring has continued during the present lock-down period. Obviously the bird nesting season has begun during this particular period so the FOHGC has taken this factor into account in their planned work. The volunteers have been keeping their social distance and taking additional precautions. The work done by the FOHGC during early spring is noted below.  The further work that took place in March follows on.

Summary of activities in February

Hull City Council Planning Department have advised us that we do not require planning permission for the storage cabin. The cabin will be ordered in the near future.

The buzzard appeared to have left the site. This was not the case however, and it has since been sighted several times.

The Facebook site continues to grow under the management of Barbara Lowden, and we now over 1000 members!

Pete Lowden continues to add various new facilities onto our website, including past research, news updates etc. This seems to be very popular. Pete is also trying to get guest ‘specialist’ writers to contribute.

The photographic record and the digitising of the burial records

The Photographic Record Project is now complete and transferred onto Access Database. This is complete with a ‘name’ index on Excel Spreadsheet, although the volunteers seem to be finding even more unrecorded stones! Several more previously unrecorded graves have been uncovered by the volunteers. These have been photographed and placed on the database and highlighted as a new find.

Kevin Rudeforth will try to upload the database to the Website. A copy will be available to East Yorkshire Family History Society, the Carnegie Trust and the Hull History Centre.

Eva La Pensee, secretary of the FOHGC, has contacted Philip Hampel, Principal Conservation Officer. Philip’s area of responsibility lies mainly in terms of heritage. He thanked the FOHGC for their work in HGC and said that the digitising of the burial records will be a great resource.

The digitising of the records is ongoing so it is difficult to give a precise figure of how much has been done. The work was divided into five yearly periods. Each volunteer went away with their ‘period’. The entire 20th century is now digitised. The project, although no end date was put forward, will likely be completed early next year. Our partners mentioned above, in terms of the photographic record, will receive a copy of the work.

An example of the burial registers.The first 10 burials recorded in HGC

The snowdrops have had a great show this month and the daffodils are now coming into full bloom. Eva La Pensee donated a large number of hawthorn, blackthorn and buckthorn plants. They have all now been planted alongside the Workhouse Area path. All appear to be healthy and well established now.

Meetings

Subsequent to the Zoom meeting, Karen Towner, Helen Bovill and William Longbone met up with Andrew Gibson of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, the notes of which were circulated.

Jennifer Woollin has emailed copies of the digitized Tree Survey which were circulated.

Karen Towner, Helen Bovill and William Longbone met with Jennifer Woollin on the 2/3/2021. This was to look at the tree survey plans and discuss the planting regimes. I will circulate my notes over the next couple of days.

Two more nesting boxes have been made by volunteer Andy Lister, depicting the names of  WW1 and WW2 fallen.  These were erected in the central wild flower meadow.

Insurance cover

We understand that the Hull Civic Society have decided not to include FOHGC on their future insurance policy. This is disappointing, as we have had no formal notification or reason from the them for its decision. We will now arrange our own cover by for the coming year.

Vine wires have been fixed on the rear of a building near the demolished chapel. Honeysuckle and ivy have been planted there. It is hope they will  conceal the wall.

We are still awaiting the chippings from Hull City Council. The chippings will enable the volunteers to maintain the pathways.

One of the descendants of the cooper on the whaling ship ‘Diana’ has adopted Gravill’s monument and planted it with snowdrops.

Ground ivy

The FOHGC have obtained permission from Jennifer Woollin to remove ground ivy from the wild garlic sites and other localized areas. This includes any gravestones. The wild flower meadow can now be made ready for planting.  We are advised this should not adversely affect nesting birds.

We haven’t yet received the accounts, but there have been no outgoings this month, except for the £10 subscription to the National Association of Cemetery Friends.

There is an area at the rear of the cemetery near the wildflower meadow. Many damaged kerb stones have been left there and this area has long been used as a ‘dumping’ ground.  It has now has now been tidied and planted with wild flower seeds. The kerbs have been checked for any numbers/inscriptions and recorded.

volunteers tree planting

The work done by the FOHGC in March

The volunteers have been extremely busy during the March lock-down period, with the volunteers keeping their social distance and taking additional precautions.

Summary of activities in March

 The storage cabin was ordered, delivered and erected in its agreed position at the rear of the Princes Ave shops. Thanks were given to Mike Tindall and Andrew Wilson for their support in obtaining the facility.

It has been fitted with storage and tool racking.

Further donation and more trees

A donation of £250 was received from Messrs Donaldson Filters to enable the group to purchase trees and plants. A further £20 was received from Stuart Johnson.

A flowering cherry was purchased and planted on the SBW verge, it is now in full blossom. In addition, an English oak, 2 silver birch and an alder have been purchased and planted.

We have been notified by the Woodland Trust that the 15 saplings awarded to us will be delivered in the next 3 weeks.

Nature

The snowdrops continued to have a great show this month, the daffodils are in full bloom and the bluebells and wild garlic are now awaiting their turn!

The hawthorn, blackthorn and buckthorn plants donated by Eva, and planted alongside the Workhouse Area all seem to be in bud and flourishing.

Several species of butterflies have been noted in the cemetery by Helen Bovill, particularly on the Spring Bank West frontage.

Many bird species, including blue tits, great tits, tree creepers, chaffinch and goldcrest have been seen in the cemetery this month.

There have been several sightings of the buzzard. We long to see a mate for him / her.

Visit from council officers

Jennifer Woollin and Adam Sivel-Thompson visited the site this month. They agreed that the trees that were adversely affecting the Thomas Stratten tomb and nearby grave can be removed by the volunteers. There are no nesting birds in them.

As agreed with Jennifer Woollin, environmental officer for the council, the volunteers have begun to prepare the wild flower meadow for planting. This should not adversely affect any nesting birds. We have many wildflower seedlings including sunflowers, cornflowers, cowslip etc ready for planting.

Jennifer  and Adam Sivel-Thomson, one of Jennifer’s colleagues, were delighted to be shown the Giant Puffballs and Scarlet Elf Cup fungus. They said this fungus was particularly rare, especially in an urban environment.

Scarlet Elf Cup fungi

Website and Facebook

Pete Lowden continues to add various new facilities onto our website, including past research, news updates etc. This is very informative and seems to be very popular, Helen Bovill has agreed to submit a monthly ‘nature’ post to the website. Pete is endeavouring to get guest ‘specialist’ writers to contribute.

The Photographic Record Project is now complete and transferred onto Access Database. The volunteers have found several additional headstones. These have been added to the database. Kevin is going to try and upload the database to the Website. A copy will be available to EYFHS, Carnegie Heritage Centre and the Hull History Centre.

The Facebook site continues to grow under the management of Barbara Lowden. We now have over 1070 members!

More discoveries

Captain William Cape died in the Crimea. The previously unknown plaque recording this has recently been unearthed.  A frame made to keep it together has been assembled.

The Alder family’s unrecorded grave has been unearthed. This has a stylized Alder tree carved on it. The Friends have purchased an alder tree. In agreement with Jennifer Woollin and Adam Sivel-Thompson, it has now been planted adjacent to the Alder grave.

Insurance and chippings

The Civic Society have decided not to include FOHGC on their future insurance policy. The FOHGC still have had no formal notification or reason from the Civic Society for its decision. Quotations for a new policy to cover the volunteers activities and the cabin/tools etc have been received. The new premium will be approximately £250. Once we have agreement to proceed from the members Bill will organize the policy.

We are still awaiting chippings from HCC to enable the volunteers to maintain the pathways.

The cylindrical ‘granite’ off cuts, donated by Steve Griffin of Odlings Ltd, have been laid into the path near the Main Gate by Pete Lowden. When we receive another delivery, the other side of the path will be completed.

Awaiting accounts and bank statements

We haven’t yet received the accounts from Natasha, nor the bank statement from John Scotney, chair of the FOHGC. There has been quite a lot of expenditure this month with the cabin, trees etc. Bill Longbone has laid out the money and anticipates a cheque from Natasha in the near future.

Miscellaneous

The back of the princes avenue shop

After reporting the issue of dumped furniture in the yard of the rear of Princes Ave shops, most of it has now been removed. The volunteers will re-erect the broken fence to secure the property when it has all been cleared

The back of the Princes Avenue shops after some rubbish has been removed

Three signs advising that there is CCTV in the cemetery have been mounted. One is at the Thoresby St edible garden. The Princes Avenue shops has one. Another is near the laurel ‘drug den’.

Jennifer and Adam have confirmed that the volunteers can cut back the laurels as there are no birds nesting in there.

One of the members of the Facebook site purchased four further signs regarding littering. These were affixed prominently in the Thoresby Street cut through. Thank you Eloina.

Don't be a tosser notice

Bill Longbone 26/3/2021

 

Meeting with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

Follow up meeting

On the 17th February Andrew Gibson of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust met with the more active volunteers of the FOHGC. These included Bill Longbone, Karen Towner, Russell Moore, George and Chris Wilson.

The meeting was called by Andrew to follow up on the items discussed at the recent Zoom meeting. It was felt by both sides that clarification was needed and that an actual site visit would provide that.

Here are the minutes of that site visit.

Minutes

Meeting in Hull General Cemetery with Andrew Gibson YWT 17 Feb 2021

 

Reason for meeting: Follow up meeting from ‘Zoom’ meeting, as suggested by AG

Those Present:     Karen Towner, WL  (Russell Moore, Geoge and Chris Wilson part time)

Meeting:

The group took an anti clockwise, circular walk around the cemetery to identify any conflicts of interest between FoHGC and YWT, and obtain guidance.

The area behind the Princes Ave shops to be allowed to rest, establish bramble/thicket area around fox den. Maintain clearance around immediate areas of monuments as features. Possibly plant 3 or 4 of the saplings from the Woodland Trust to conceal shop area, not too close to premises. AG noted the HCC proposal to fell the 2 ash trees and will pursue separately.

Cut back some of the dense laurel ‘drug den’ area to expose the south frontage and block off access from the western side.

Keep ground ivy in the majority of the central areas, with no cutting back.

Keep the area wild where the white poplar tree was pollarded by the council, let trunk decay naturally, trim laurel around base of poplar, as trunk is also probably decayed.

Possibly plant ivy on rear breeze block wall near old chapel to cover unsightly graffiti covered wall.

Leave Dixon & other ‘soldiers’ area at rear of cemetery ‘as is’ allowing access.

Cut the green dogwood back at rear adjacent to path.

Generally leave ivy on the trees unless it is new growth on ‘specimen’ trees.

Contact council to cut back 4 or 5 established ash saplings to rear of bungalows on Welbeck St, as they could become a problem to the building fabric.

Wildflower meadow

Maintain wildflower meadow in centre, add some butterfly loving plants, as this is one of the few sunny areas in the cemetery. Extend the cutting of the brambles at the NE side and stack cuttings behind to decay naturally.

Cut back brambles near Thompson, Sahlgreen and Kemp monuments to form feature (in autumn). Stack cuttings at rear for wilding.

Dahlgreen and Thompson

Possibly adopt the ‘old original path to the west side which is currently a walkway but could be kept as a ‘soft’ winding path.

Plant a few shrubs such as buddleia in eastern side of Butterfly area, and let nettles re-establish, as this area is still shady and mossy. Plant up butterfly loving plants with plug plants and seeds as proposed by Friends. Possibly plant ivy to grow up wall.

Workhouse area

Keep workhouse area as is, ensure the recently planted buckthorn, hawthorn and blackthorn are kept in check when they grow. Possibly plant holly/yew tree on hillock in workhouse area. Ensure that the brambles are not cut back too much, and place any cuttings to infill gaps as we are currently doing

Trim the raised bank on the pathway leading past workhouse section from Western Cemetery.

Clear area around specimen graves near the old horse chestnut tree, but create wild areas at rear to compensate.

Advise HCC of diseased horse chestnut near roadside near Quakers. Possible potential hazard of falling branches.

Clear area around Wilson’s/Rollits grave to form feature, but create wild area around.

Remove cuttings from around main gate area, maintain recent plantings. Keep watchful eye on recently planted Staghorn tree.

Create soft ‘grave interest’ sections along paths, but keep wild to rear.

Clear around Thos Stratten monument, request permission from HCC to remove tree that is damaging monument and has no ecological merit. Keep wild to rear.

Request permission to remove tree nr Kelly’s grave, cut back holly and soften area,

Plant established ‘defensive’ planting on SBW entrances to reduce number of access points.

Trim pyracanths ‘hard’ where over-growing pathways.

Remove rhododendrons near Gow grave.

Cut back brambles around Blundell monument and soften/wild area behind. Ensure ‘red’ dogwood and snowberry bushes are retained.

General Overview

Although Andrew stated that the only way to have a ‘true’ wildlife area is to keep humans out of the cemetery, he accepts that this is not an option. However, it is essential that there has to be a balance with the needs of historical and recreational groups.

AG used the analogy of a ‘swingometer’, whereby whenever the Friends are planning to carry out work in the cemetery we should question if we are doing it for wildlife or humans. If we find we are doing too much in either direction it can be redressed. The object is to ensure that we do things in a balanced manner.

It was agreed that we are now entering the nesting season, and the disturbing of nesting sites is not allowed. However, we can still work in the cemetery doing localized grave tending etc, with a constant concern for the wildlife implications

AG to chase chippings for paths, he also requested that we should ask HCC not to cut up logs when removing trees, leave as full trunk.

Subsequent to the meeting AG sent WL a link for plant sourcing.

Summary

It is accepted that there has to be a balance of wildlife requirements with the needs of historical and recreational groups.

We should always consider wildlife implications when carrying out any work, it is acknowledged that we can clear around graves to make ‘focus’ areas, but we should balance this by allowing the surrounding area to become a natural woodland.

Some areas can have further clearance, but it must be compensated elsewhere. Ground cover ivy and tree ivy is an important part of the woodland habitat, and should not be cleared, the majority of the monuments are now ivy free, and we can carry out maintenance of this work.

All pruning’s and cuttings should be put in large piles out of sight rather then leave them in smaller piles along the path.

WL agreed that he would prepare small ‘activity’ plan when working in specific areas, these maps would be correlated with the large ‘tree location/compartment’ map to provide overall plan.

WL 18 Feb 2021

Nature and heritage

This is the third and final article of the series that is loosely following the same theme. The theme is related to nature, and heritage, the concept of rewilding and the protection of the site. This section deals with the graves, and indeed, the bodies laid to rest in there.

This whole series was prompted by what I saw as the unfair criticism of the work that the volunteers had been doing in HGC. The argument has been made that the work has destroyed habitats of the wildlife in the site.

Hmmm, well, I would suggest that one loss of some habitat for one species is the creation of a habitat for another species. And of course, it’s arguable whether any habitat was destroyed. The work that appears to have ‘destroyed’ this habitat is obviously not of a permanent nature. Anyone who has ever tried to remove blackberry bushes from a garden or an allotment will know too well that they cling to life. The site may look bare but check back in the spring, that will be an entirely different story.

Bodies and graves

Now I would suggest that the natural aspect of the site is important. Unfortunately, it appears to me that perhaps too much emphasis upon this feature is to the detriment of the graves and bodies in there. In my view this approach is to weaken the protection of the site.

Without the presence of the bodies and graves lying within the site, I would argue that every habitat of every creature on the site would have gone a long time ago.

The graves and their inhabitants are often seen as also-rans in terms of importance in the site. Here’s why they are one of the most important reasons why the site was never built on or used in any other way.

Sanctuary

As Charles Laughton would have shouted from the tower of Notre Dame Cathedral in the movie, ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’. Surprisingly, the presence of the dead in HGC offers a similar protection to the site from developers. Not a fool proof one as we’ll see later.

Let’s face it, HGC is a good site for development. I can see the brochure now.

“Here’s your chance to buy on the new development of Necropolis Gardens. In the sought after Avenues / Princes Avenue area. Close to a good public school and a good primary Academy.

Excellent public transport links, only 10 minutes from the city centre. Close to the bars and cafes of the Princes Avenue area and a stone’s throw from two large municipal parks and the KCOM stadium.

Come and see the detached show house on Cholera Close and marvel at how we can fit 4 bedrooms (only 2 of which can accommodate a bed) into such a small space. Complete with integral garage.

Pick your own plot soon”.

I think I’m probably under-selling it.

Yes, I am having some fun here but behind it I am deadly serious. It is a good site. It does offer great potential for a serious investor with deep pockets. Especially to a local council who, as reported in the previous posts, has lost 50% of its funding over the last decade. If that investor undertook to take on the necessary legal expenses to ‘develop’ the site, undertook to pay a decent rate for the site, and then proceeded to build ‘executive’ houses on the site, I’m pretty certain that the developer would make a decent profit. The council, for its part, would get a site off their hands that they have no budget for and, apart from some woolly idea about a proposed nature reserve, have no plans for.

Enon Chapel

Dancing on the Dead

It wouldn’t be the first time that profit has overtaken reverence for the dead. The image above is that of Enon Chapel in London. Notorious for the disposal of the dead entrusted to the minister there. He provided a cheaper burial than the nearby burial grounds and thus attracted considerable customers. He was only caught in this practice because a new sewer was to be dug beneath the building.

As Catherine Arnold, in ‘Necropolis’ recounts, the minister, ‘had succeeded in burying around 12,000 bodies into a space measuring 59 foot by 12 foot’ (1) The depth was 6 foot. Some bodies were removed but the rest were allowed to remain in their basement graves.

The chapel site is now the site of the LSE and when it was being modernised in 1967 skeletons were still being unearthed. The chapel later became a place of pleasure, and dancing parties were organised for a sect of tee-totallers, who rented the property for this purpose. Locally they were known as ‘Dances with the Dead’. A far cry from the way we are led to believe the Victorians revered the sanctity of death.

But back at HGC, as I see it, the major reason these savvy developers haven’t moved in to ‘develop’ HGC is the presence of the dear departed dead. Definitely not because it is a place of natural beauty, home to birds, bats, foxes and other creatures. The presence of such creatures didn’t deter Trump from extending his Scottish golf course on to a site of Special Scientific Interest. The presence of ancient woodland (not the young stuff in HGC) and the creatures living there has not stopped HS2 from bulldozing its way through it.

No, as The Sun (yes, that one) would probably put it, “It’s the bodies that won it”. But let’s not get too carried away.

Progress

There are so many lessons we should heed from our own local history never mind London’s Enon Chapel. The sanctity of burial does not stand in the way of ‘progress’, nor it must be said, has it ever done.

Human remains were found during the digging of the Junction Dock, now Princes Dock, in 1827.

When development work took place in Whitefriargate, at around the same time, the discovery of skeletons did not hinder the completion of the work. The skeletons, presumably buried in what would have been the Carmelite Priory’s burial area that had stood on the site, were simply removed.

The finding of a skeleton under the Carmelite Friary that used to stand where Whitefriargate now stands 1

The above extract is taken from The Sun ( no, not that one) of the 7th August 1829. The extract below is from the Hull Packet of the 9th of the same month and year.

The finding of a skeleton under the Carmelite Friary that used to stand where Whitefriargate now stands 2

 

According to the Hull Advertiser, 12 skeletons were eventually unearthed. The skeletons were later reburied in St Charles’ crypt.

There is no evidence that the bodies that were buried in the western half of St Mary’s churchyard, now under Lowgate, were ever relocated when the street was laid out. They may well still be under the tarmac and pavement of this road.

The bodies that were buried in the Augustinian priory, where the Magistrates’ Court now stands, must have been continually disturbed by the building work that took place on that site during the 400 years after the priory’s dissolution. It was known that bodies were buried on this site as one was found there in the 19th century. The Hull Advertiser, in one instance, recorded the discovery of a skeleton under the cellars of the Cross Keys Inn in 1819.

It took until 1974 and work by archaeologists to give the buried of this site some respect and reburial.

When Beverley Railway Station was being built in 1846 a number of bodies were discovered. It was thought that these too were burials related to the local Friary in Beverley just a little to the south.

Beverley Station skeletons, September 1846

Drains and sewers

Drainage work appears to have been the major culprit in finding human remains in 19th century Hull as it expanded beyond the old walls.

In 1848 at the corner of Chariot Street and Carr Lane a discovery of human remains was made.

hull advertiser 1 sept 1848

A mere 8 months later, in March 1849, a similar discovery in Spring Street was reported.

Hull Advertiser 2 March 1849

And close by, in the August of 1856, a more interesting discovery took place.

Hull advertiser 9 Aug 1856

So, taking all of the above into account, I’m pretty sure that non-discovered human remains from the earlier periods of history are pretty common in our area, it’s just knowing where to look ….or not as the case may be. The conclusion that can be drawn from these extracts is that the burials of the past did not stop ‘progress’

More recently

Let’s look at more recent developments.

Air Street churchyard

These images are of St Mary’s church yard, or as it’s commonly called now, Air Street cemetery. It is one of the oldest burial places in Hull although it started its life in Sculcoates. It dates back to the mid-13th century. Older than The Minster’s churchyard and also St Mary’s in Lowgate. Its only rival in age is probably St Peter’s, Drypool. Burials have been discontinued here since 1855 although in truth the only burials after 1818 would have been in tombs and vaults already existing.

Another view of Air Street churchyard

It’s not great in terms of area, probably about a third of an acre in total. The church that stood on the site was taken down in 1916. The new one was consecrated in the June of that year a little further away, on a site Sculcoates Lane. For a long time the church tower was left standing forlornly until final demolition in the early 1960s.

What is not commonly known is that Hull City Council received enquiries about using this site for industrial purposes. The Council, after the war, and obviously wanting to boost local industry, encouraged this interest as can be seen by this letter.

Air Street church yard to be built on

I’m sure you’ll be glad to know that the Church Commissioners and the Diocese of York were opposed to such a move and the scheme went into abeyance. The costs would probably have been prohibitive to the Council at that time. However, if a developer dipped their hands into their pockets in the future….well, who knows?

Earlier this millennium archaeologists were busy again. The churchyard, now known as Trinity Square, which in past times reached as far as King Street, was excavated by the Humberside Archaeology Unit in 2017. There were a number of bodies discovered, complete with coffin remains, most of them from the late 18th century.

It’s interesting, if a little morbid, to think that perhaps the patrons of Bob Carver’s stall were eating their fish and chips over the remains of their ancestors. The churchyard of Holy Trinity was cleared and paved over in the 1840s but obviously the clearance was not very thorough.

Bob Carver's

Bodies were also found during the development of the St Stephen’s Centre. These were the remains that had failed to be removed when the St Stephen’s churchyard was cleared after the bombed church was removed in 1960.

And how can anyone fail to notice that the Castle Street cemetery is suffering a truncation, which includes the removal of human remains? Evidence surely that the presence of human bodies does not give complete protection to sites when there is deemed to be a need for change. Or do I mean ‘progress’?

HGC is safe though, isn’t it?

I’d like to think so. After all it is in a conservation area. Strangely, so is Castle Street cemetery. Am I just splitting hairs by putting that in?

Hymers College is in the same conservation area that HGC is in, yet there has been a plethora of new buildings erected in its grounds since the conservation area status was granted. Yes, I’m sure, in this case, that everything is above board and the Council granted permission for this work. The point I’m making is that Conservation Area status does not exclude changes that the site owner deems necessary.

A conservation area does not confer immunity either. In much the same way that having a building or structure ‘listed’ does not stop it from being destroyed. We’ve all seen examples where some building was listed with one or other of the various bodies that supposedly care for such things.  Then, whoops, it has ‘inadvertently’ been reduced to rubble. To paraphrase myself from an earlier article, ‘nothing lasts, change is constant.’

In other words, nothing is really certain about the future of the HGC. Let me give you an example.

Dual carriageway

Back in 1977 we bought our first house. It was a small terraced house in Mayfield Street, just off Spring Bank. We had some difficulties in buying it. This was due to the fact that when our solicitor did some searches on the property it was deemed to be at risk of demolition. This demolition was going to take place because an orbital road was planned. A dual carriageway was proposed, running along the old Hornsea railway line until it reached Wincolmlee. This road would have demolished most of Louis Street, Middleton Street and Mayfield Street. The top of Mayfield Street is to the left of the photograph below.

Top of Mayfield Street

At the other end it would have joined onto Spring Bank West leading up towards the railway line crossing. This stretch would  have been ‘upgraded’. This upgrade would have been transforming the road as it is into a dual carriageway. Now how could that happen?

Simple, the plan was that a part of both of the cemeteries, HGC and Western, would have been taken for this road widening. As one letter writer to the Hull Daily Mail put it,

Hull Daily Mail, Road Widening of Spring Bank West 17th October 1979

By late 1979, this idea had been shelved. But this doesn’t mean that this idea cannot ever be resurrected. If someone, say Highways England,  came up with the money, as they did with the Castle Street development, who can say what would happen?

Council dual purpose in clearing headstones?

The other issue that needs to be borne in mind here is that the idea was actually brought to the then Humberside County Council and they deliberated on it. This was a definite project. Surveys were made, budgets were calculated. This project would have taken all of the pavement and at least another 50 yard strip of both cemeteries  from the railway crossing to Princes Avenue corner. This plan would not only widen the road but would then have to replace the pavement further back. I’m not even taking into account the excavation work for the sewerage, gulleys and drainage.

What a dismal prospect. It was discussed, debated and voted upon by Humberside County Council. What is hopefully coincidental is that this proposal occurred whilst Hull City Council were ‘developing’ HGC. Strangely almost all of the headstones that once stood close to the road were removed in the clearance. That would have been extremely helpful if the road widening took place. Yes, I’m sure it was a coincidence but sometimes you do have to wonder.

Firstly; the woodland

So, now I come to the grist of these articles. I’ve come to believe that HGC is precious. In essence it is a one-off in Hull in two ways.

Firstly, it is the closest one can get to a woodland in an urban setting. Unplanned by humans for the last 40 years it has happened as nature intended. Nature abhors a vacuum as they say. This isn’t to say that nature doesn’t need a helping hand.

Woodland in cemetery1

Left to its own devices the site would be a wilderness with no place for humans. And by that I mean that humans would not be able to enter it after a while. The paths would be impassable. The blackberry thickets would grow bigger every passing day, the rubbish would accumulate just as if by osmosis.

No, not a pretty sight. I believe that all such areas need managing. There are no areas of countryside that are not managed to a greater or lesser degree to meet the needs of the owner, consumer or visitor. And this management also assists the site and its wildlife inhabitants.

I’m pretty concerned when I hear people arguing against management of HGC. I’m sorry but we’ve seen where over 10 years of the policy of ‘managed neglect’ delivered HGC. A haunt for drug users, alcoholics and rough sleepers. A sex playground / brothel, rubbish dump and sometimes, sadly, a serious crime scene. When people talk about ‘wildlife’ I’m pretty certain they don’t mean that kind of wildlife. So management is key.

Secondly; the heritage

Secondly, it is the only private cemetery that ever existed in Hull. On that basis alone it is precious and irreplaceable. It is the last resting place of numerous Victorian and Edwardian people who died and were laid to rest in there. It is a vivid  representation of the social class structures that prevailed in Victorian society The class divisions of that society are frozen in time and made more tangible to us than any textbook could ever do. Those divisions are laid bare by such things as the burial area for the workhouse inhabitants and the massive monuments to the more privileged inhabitants. But this heritage needs as much protection as the nature in there.

Below is a photograph of some headstones in HGC completely covered in ivy, which is systematically destroying them.

Headstones covered in ivy

Here’s a headstone with the ivy removed and showing the damage done to the stone.

Damaged headstone

Some of the people buried in there wanted to be remembered, or perhaps their relatives wanted to memorialise them. In doing so they had erected some beautiful sculptures. Those sculptures are irreplaceable. More irreplaceable than blackberry bushes and sycamore saplings.

They are, like the cemetery itself, original and special, and as such also need our support. In fact they need it just as much as the wildlife.

A middle way

Taking all of the above into account, I would suggest that a middle course is the way forward. A way that does not put forward the claim that nature is more important than the heritage or vice versa. Both strands and elements of HGC are vital to each other’s self interest. Together the arguments against the site ever being lost to development are that much stronger combining nature and heritage. It really is a case of united we stand, divided we fall.

So perhaps, on this point, we should place the work of the FOHGC in context. The FOHGC attempts to take on board both of the two elements mentioned above, and works to accommodate both of them. It doesn’t favour one or other. It takes the hard road and seeks a balance between nature and heritage.

Try to remember that when you want to have a little moan about something that offends you. It just might be something that offends some of the people of the FOHGC but that’s the way it goes. The FOHGC have to try to get the balance between nature and heritage right. No one said getting that particular balance right is easy. No, what’s easy is criticising; the hard part is trying to do something positive.

 

  1. Catherine Arnold, Necropolis. Simon and Schuster, 2006. I do recommend this book as a good overview of burial through the ages. It obviously has a tendency to look at London more than anywhere else.
  2. It would be immodest of me to mention that A Short History of Burial in Kingston Upon Hull from the Medieval  to the Late Victorian Period by Lowden and Longbone deals with the subject more locally. Sadly out of print but copies are in the Hull History Centre.

 

 

Rewilding

This article follows on from the Nature v Nurture one. It involves the concept of rewilding and especially the rewilding of HGC. If you’ve read the previous article you’ll know that Bill Longbone and myself were congratulated by a young man on our efforts to tidy the cemetery of litter. He then said he supported rewilding of the HGC and then left us, leaving us both somewhat bemused. Were we doing that?

Neither of us were 100% certain that picking up the detritus of others was actually ‘rewilding’ except in its loosest sense. We both shrugged and carried on.

I’m also very sorry that this article is a bit technical and bolstered by footnotes and cited evidence. Unfortunately evidence must be used here as without it people make ludicrous claims without the slightest shred of evidence. For example ‘rewilding’.

History is bunk

I was thinking about the idea of the rewilding of HGC much later. Quite some time after I had met this young man. I thought how far fetched the concept of doing such a thing to the HGC site was. And this is where the historical aspect that I mentioned in the previous article comes to the fore.

I suppose I should say here what my problem with his statement was. I’m pretty sure that the young man’s idea of ‘rewilding’ went something like this. HGC is a cemetery but has been allowed to become a woodland. This should be encouraged by more trees being allowed to grow. If more trees grow the site becomes ‘wilder’ and therefore it encourages more wildlife.

Simple isn’t it?

Its a nice simple plan. I think I’ve addressed the problems you can have with simple plans in the previous article but I’m pretty sure that was the sum of his idea about ‘rewilding’ of HGC. So foresting is the way to go.  The more trees grown on the site will return the site to its pristine state before it became a cemetery. Great, let’s do it.

Well, its not quite that simple. Let’s have a closer look.

I’m pretty sure that most people who read stuff on this site have an interest in history. That interest may be small or large depending on the individual but it will be there. So what I’m going to say may be well known to some but not to others. For you antiquarian experts please be patient and let others catch up.

Fresh water

The history of Hull was shaped by many factors. Not least of them was the search for fresh water. Charles 1st laid siege to Hull in 1642 at the beginning of the Civil War. He thought that he could, if not starve the inhabitants into surrendering, he could bring them to heel by denying them fresh water. The vast majority of the fresh water that was drunk in Hull at that time came from Anlaby. Charles, in throwing a siege around the town, deliberately interrupted that source. We’ll discuss how this source came about later.

Charles, unfortunately for him, was told that his plan was stupid. Probably not as bluntly as that but just as clearly. Ex-Governor of Hull, Sir Thomas Glenham, said that the people of Hull need only dig down a little way for the hole to fill with fresh water. A little brackish, yes, but still drinkable. Charles was also told that at low tide the River Hull was a fresh water source and all the people needed to do was dip their buckets in it. Indeed Glenham went on to say that, ‘they cannot bury a corpse there but the grave drowns him ere it buries him.’ (1) A feature I know too well from past experience.

So, when it came to emergencies, like being under siege, the citizens of Hull could get by on the fresh(ish) water on site. However, when the choice was between fresh spring water and the brackish water, well, that was a different matter entirely.

Water courses

Wyke, later to become Kingston upon Hull, had a fresh water source about two miles to the west. This was at Springhead, known then as Julian Wells. This spring, followed a natural path to the emerging town. This water course was first recorded in 1293, some six years before the town of Hull was graced with attention from Edward 1st.(2) The spring was said to follow a circuitous course eventually reaching the town at what is now the end of Whitefriargate.

Map of Wyke and Myton about 1293 from J.Travis-Cook 1903

As can be seen from the above sketch map, made by Hull historian J. Travis-Cook in 1903, the ditch ranges from the top left of the map  until eventually emptying into the ancient moat.

Eventually, after many tribulations, the course of this spring was fixed in 1401 and a ditch was dug to a depth of five feet, five feet wide at its bottom and twelve feet wide at the top.(3)

Julian Dyke

This water course, known as the Julian Dyke, later Derringham Dyke, and later still Spring Ditch, emerged at Springhead. It then followed the course of the present day Spring Bank West, Spring Bank and Prospect Street. The dyke eventually flowed into a basin called the Bush Dyke. This was approximately where Prince’s Dock and the old Queen’s Dock would have met. This was the first primitive reservoir for the town and Bush-Dyke men went around the town selling fresh water from barrels that they carried.

Map of the Hull Valley taken from Sheppard 1958

Of interest in the above map, taken from Sheppard’s ‘The Draining of the Hull Valley’, is the line of higher ground. Cottingham, along the line of Castle Hill to Keldgate was probably the nearest high ground above the flooding of the River Humber. In fact, if you bother to stop at Keldgate today and look south, you can see the entire southern Hull valley, now occupied by a large city. A thousand years ago it would have  been a marshland with reeds and the odd misshapen tree as the tallest structures in it.

Farming

So, why am I telling you all this in the context of rewilding?

Because of a very simple reason. The presence of managed water courses, and the Julian Dyke was managed very thoroughly and efficiently by the Court of Sewers, suggests, that the land on either side of it was constantly being drained. In a predominantly wet landscape, a drained portion of land would not have been left long before humanity took advantage of it.

Farming would have been the role for the land that eventually became Hull General Cemetery, from the medieval period, up to 1846. Prior to its change to farmland it would have been marshland, used for pasturing in summer, and fishing and trapping in the winter. Due to its nature its highly unlikely that there were many trees in it. The consensus of opinion is that, after the last ice age, trees were initially abundant, but by 1000 BCE the forest coverage had been much reduced. This reduction has continued up to the present day.(4)

Evidence

The evidence all suggests that the site of the present HGC was firstly marshland up until it was drained sometime in the 13th and 14th century. After that it was farmland. It continued to be farmland until taken over by the Hull General Cemetery Company in 1846. It was at that time that forest trees were planted on the site. These were probably the first on the site since before Roman times.

The Company planted a lot of trees and shrubs. After it’s downfall those trees and shrubs best suited to proliferate without maintenance began to predominate. Thus we have the site as it is today. An urban woodland. That’s good.

Finally

Yes, I can hear your sigh of relief from here.

What the present state of the HGC is not is a return to how it ever was. Especially in the idealised past that the term ‘rewilding’ used here conjures up. It’s present state is not some happy chance that has returned it to its roots (pun intended). It is man-made.

If we want a true rewilding of HGC then we should destroy the site’s drainage system.  The Company dug this system 14 foot beneath the site’s surface back in 1846. We should destroy the woodland. We should eradicate the present woodland wildlife. After that we can re-wild the site back to its marshy status. Imagine the clumps of solid earth infrequently poking above a wet landscape populated by wading birds.

Lots of luck with that. If you don’t mind I’ll sit this one out thanks.

Notes

1 p.2, Mary Fowler, “River and Spring“, 1997

2. p.42, E.Aylwin & R.C.Ward, “Development and Utilisation of Water Supplies in the East Riding of Yorkshire.“, 1969

3. p.42-3, Edward Gillett & Kenneth A. MacMahon, “A History of Hull“, 1980. If you’d like to know all about the ‘tribulations’ mentioned above, one of which included the Pope becoming involved, may I recommend the three books cited and also “The Victoria History of the County of York, East Riding, Volume 1“, Ed. K.J.Allison, “Hull; Culture, History, Place“, Eds. Starkey, Atkinson, McDonough, McKeon & Salter, “Yorkshire from AD1000“, D. Hey, “General and Concise History and Description of the Town and Port of Kingston-Upon-Hull“, J.J.Sheahan, “ Becks, Banks, Drains and Brains“, The River Hull Valley Drainage Heritage Group, 2013 and of course the wonderful EYLHS booklets by June Sheppard, “The Draining of the Marshlands of South Holderness and the Vale of York” & “The Draining of the Hull Valley“. 1966 and 1958 respectively.

4. Numerous sources. pp-6-7, Eva Crackles, “The Flora of the East Riding“, 1990 states that the forest coverage was at its maximum ‘some 7000 to 5000 years ago’.

The River Hull Drainage Heritage Group, already cited, states on p.8, ‘This meant that spring fed right bank tributaries originating on the Chalk Wolds to the west of the pre-glacial cliff line all flowed out across low-lying carrs and ings to reach the River Hull (….) This landscape chaos was what the Norman conquerors beheld as they secured their conquest in the 11th century A.D. This was a tract of land to skirt, unless your business was wild-fowling or fishing.’

J.R. Flenley in ‘Vegetational History’ in “Humber Perspectives: A Region Through the Ages“, 1990, states that around 1000 BCE, Elms began to decrease, possibly due to a variant of the recent Dutch Elm Disease but more probably due to humanity chopping the young growth to feed livestock. He also states that, in the iron age, with the stronger plough, ‘The resulting clearance of forest in Holderness is beautifully demonstrated by the Roos Pollen count again suggesting mixed farming’.p.51. There are other accounts to validate this evidence. In essence forest land in the Hull valley from, at the very latest, the Roman period, was quite rare.