The House on Salthouse Lane

... and while we're on Salthouse Lane I must show you this grade 2 listed Georgian dolls' house that completely dominates what's left of the lane. This was built in the 1780's as a merchant's home, later became a branch of the Bank of England then a home for sailors. It's now part of a housing association. Although facing onto Salthouse Lane for some reason this is officially 105 Alfred Gelder Street. Ah well ... Someone with a lot of time on their hands has researched the whole history of this place and put their findings online here, so, many thanks to that person.

The White Hart Hotel, again

I've shown this pub/hotel a couple of times now. The last time was back in March last year with a hopeful note that the place would reopen in Spring. Well two Springs have passed and a Summer and now Autumn and it's still not open. The economic climate has clearly not changed much, at least not for the better. This is a rear view, as it were, from Salthouse Lane and shows the full extent of this really quite large establishment. I guessing from the cosy way it agrees with the streets that at some point this was rebuilt to fit in with the 'new' layout of Alfred Gelder Street.

The Hull plinth

In the manner of Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth I offer you the scaled down, rough and ready Hull version which features that aid to modern living, without which no public space would be complete, the damaged runaway shopping trolley... oh, have we got culture for you! Anyhow Queen's garden's trees are nicely doing that thing they do at this time of year.

Hogweed

This is your common hogweed not the giant stuff that's poisonous and illegal to grow. In fact I've read that Heracleum sphondylium is "the finest tasting vegetable in the UK" but I suspect these dried up old seeds lack gastronomic appeal. This picture was taken by Margot because I didn't want to dawdle on Snuff Mill Lane.

The bonny rowan tree

This year's bumper crop means the local blackbirds won't be going hungry for a few weeks.

Save our hole!

The perennial question of what to do with the remains of Hull's Beverley Gate has once again failed to be answered. The Council flush with money (£25 million found behind the back of the sofa) had planned to fill in the hole and then grass it over. So far so good, it has to be the least spectacular historic monument on the planet but nothing is ever so simple in this place.... Having thus erased the past it was planned to put up a humungous piece of pretentious twaddle called Word Gate. To give you a flavour of the nonsense there's this from the Council web site: "Word Gate conjures up a place at a moment in the past. The place was a gate that said no and stayed closed, a place now beckoning you to come close. Hull speaks through Word gate, a gate between land and sea, between Hull's heritage and Hull's future, the City of Culture". Cutting through this rhubarb what is proposed is a thirty or forty foot high piece of steel with words scratched on it, this will completely dominate the area, block the view down Princes Dock and after a few years will be pulled down after it becomes tarnished, dulled and covered in graffiti. You think I exaggerate take a peek at the nauseating blob in the artist's drawing below.

Well as I was saying that was the Council's plan until a petition to save the monument to the start of the English civil war (the English Fort Sumter if you will) gathered a few thousand signatures. The guy in charge now says other plans will be considered. Well when you're in a hole it's best to stop digging.

The weekend in black and white is here.

Protection

Cottingham cares for its cycles, no it really does; so much so that two of these perspex protectors have been put up in the village to keep saddles dry. Gone are the days of wrapping a plastic bag over your seat, now you can relax in the comfort of the parish council's generosity; provided the wind blows in the right direction, of course.... 

October's theme for City Daily Photo is 'shelter'.