You are here:
Hessle
Hessle maps
Historic maps of Hessle and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Hessle maps
Hessle area books
Displaying 1 of 1 books about Hessle and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Hessle
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Hessle.
There are 9 shared memories to read.
Add your memory of Hessle
or of a photo of Hessle.
Childhood Holidays
My grandparents lived in a cottage fronting the River Humber where the Humber Bridge is now. My grandfather worked in the whitening mill near what was then called LITTLE SWITZERLAND. It is now, I believe, a country park. Their name was DIXON and they were my late mother's parents. We used to spend our holidays there every year, including the war years, and I can remember the light ship nearly opposite the cottage. We used to attend what was the United Methodist Church in Hessle village. I still have happy memories of these years and have walked many times along the foreshore towards Ferriby, seeing the small boats moored alongside.
Choir
Hessle church was and is an example of fine architecture with one of the finest organs in the county. I joined the church choir and attended most services, we were paid for something we enjoyed. I remember weddings paid a half crown each. The church was well set for sound, the congregation could hear every word. When the organ was undergoing restoration the front pipes were taken away, some say they were stolen. The organist at that time was Raymond Taylor, he also owned the tobacconist shop opposite the church hall. The vicar was Rev Hutton and Mr Reeveley was the verger. I was christened and married at this church, I have fond memories of it.
Sunday Afternoon
I would walk through the rose gardens after church and Sunday school.
ORDER BOY
I was order boy for quite a few proprietors, one being Mallorys in Prestongate. This photo is slightly earlier.
The Haven
I spent many happy hours down at the Haven, fishing and playing in general. I also collected coke from the gas house round the corner down what was then the weigh bridge, dodging the steam from the locomotives.
Foreshore
I walked and played down here. My aunty and uncle owned one of the house boats nearby and my father worked at Marshalls quarry/mill for a while. The area has changed a lot ,mostly to car parking. We rode our bikes round Little Swits and often visited Humberfield quarry to watch the train come out of the tunnel. There isn't much left of any of it now.
Holidays
We used to go to Hull to visit relatives. My mam and dad had friends who used to have a shop on the front in Hessle. I went to Little Switzerland as it was called. One year we went there and a man had a barbeque, he put chickens on it, I think he kept them. I spent happy days watching the boats go by too. My mam's friend's names was Harry Marshall, they had 2 boys named Rowland and Malcolm after my brothers. We lived in south Wales.
Foreshore Houseboats
In the early 1950's walking past the little white cottage that is now The Country Park Inn, towards Ferriby, one could see a selection of little ships (Puffers) pulled up high & dry on the river bank. that were used as houseboats. At weekends, visitors to these little boats could be seen painting them, and charging batteries with wind powered car dynamos.
Behind the cottage was the Earles Cement quarry's, one, now the County Park. was connected by a tunnel that passed beneath the A63 to another quarry (to what in the 1980's became the now closed Humberfield Landfill). there had been a narrowgauge railway line through the tunnel to carry the chalk from the quarry to the works, where it was crushed & transferred to the main railway line for transport to their Cement works & rotary kiln at Wilmington.
