Drypool Bridge, Hull

The Drypool bridge was built in 1961 and replaced a much smaller bridge. It is designed to lift to allow river traffic to pass under; fortunately for road traffic this happens infrequently these days. You can appreciate that when the river bridges are under repair Hull's cross town traffic grinds to a halt.

For those with an engineering interest this is a bascule bridge; you can see an animation of how it works here.

Rusty

In need of a bit of restoration is this plaque on the Drypool Bridge. The date 1888 refers to the opening of an older swing bridge which bore this plaque and which was replaced in the 1960's by the current bridge[ 1  2].

Upstream and down

From Drypool bridge to North bridge and vice versa.

The Weekend in Black and White is here.

Mr Venn's Intersection with Hull

Here's the Drypool Bridge once more. Last time I posted about it I mentioned it was being redecorated in tasteful lime green and diarrhoea brown quasi camouflage colours which I'll spare you by posting a monochrome picture. As I mentioned (and as you can see) it was to be dedicated in some way to John Venn who left Hull before he was two and never came back ...but never mind that makes him or at the very least his meconium (which was quite possibly the inspiration for the colour scheme) and his delightful soiled nappies part of Hull and isn't it just great to breathe the very air of the place ... I'll stop now before I get carried away again (by the men in white coats). So anyhow, near this fine bridge, where {East Hull} ∩ {West Hull}, some crazy fools have made a nice blue plaque that I'm sure you'll all appreciate ...

Lime green and diarrhoea

The Drypool Bridge might have thought that it could escape the attentions of the C of C nonsense but no, it is undergoing repainting and the scheme has something, some tenuous thing, to do with John Venn (he of those damn diagrams). Mr Venn, in case you were unaware had the misfortune to be born in Hull, but possessed enough sense to leave as soon as possible and never come back. Any how riding on the back of the supposed kudos of being the place where he popped out the Culture Loons are taking him hostage as a "Born & Bred in Hull" figure of note. Almost all these B & B in H figures made their names elsewhere but that's a mere detail to the marketing man. (You can buy "Born & Bred in Hull" mugs and T-shirts should you wish but you are far too sensible to do so.)  So with Venn in mind this bridge, I suppose, represents the intersection of the set of bridges needing a coat of paint and the set of bridges in a one horse town taken over by desperate need to gain fame by association. I hope people like the colour scheme, a mixture of lime green and diarrhoea, as it's planned to last for twenty five years.

Drypool Bridge

Sign of authority

Tucked away in a little brick hut and behind steel grills the harbour master's office near Drypool bridge is a reminder that, from the Humber to the northern boundary of the city of Hull, the navigation authority on the river Hull is Hull City Council. HCC's website informs us that "A harbour master is on duty from three hours before high water (HW) Hull (Albert Dock) until HW or later if required, except Sundays" and that the HM is responsible for the operation of the movable bridges that link both halves of this fair city. Actually I don't think the harbour master works from this building any more as his/her address is the Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, and given that hardly any navigating seems to go on nowadays the post must almost be a sinecure. 

Shotwell Tower

Close by Drypool Bridge this place produces shotgun cartridges for the entertaining business of slaughtering birds specially reared to be 'sport' for gun toters with rather too much money than sense. The tower is so that molten lead can be sprayed into water from a height so producing lead pellets to further pollute the land. Do I seem a tad down on this place? Well tough.

The Weekend in Black and White is right .here

Clarence Flour Mills

If you close your eyes and hold your breath then this 1950s flour mill will turn into a 21st century hotel and super-dooper development, with permission for a casino (let joy be unconfined). This monumental building is next door to the Drypool bridge that I bored you with the other day. OK you can breathe now ...

The Old Myth ...

... that we're all in the same boat.

These decorated containers were outside Dock House on St Peter Street close to Drypool Bridge. It's a shelter or hostel for homeless people. This was in June last year so they may not still be there as I read that the homeless shelter was having to move ... it sits on land earmarked for housing.