Stepney, Kingston upon Hull

Modern Stepney is absorbed into the urban sprawl of Hull. The (A1079) Hull to Beverley main road passes directly through the area, with Stepney centred on its junction with Stepney Lane. To the west is Pearson Park; approximate boundaries are formed by Queens Road/Sculcoates Lane to the north; the Beverley and Barmston Drain to the east, beyond which is Wincolmlee (Sculcoates); to the south is further urban development along Beverley Road, leading to the city centre.Ordnance Survey. 1:25000. 2006

Stepney is an urban area, mostly housing, with shopping and services along the main road, and some light industry. The original (pre 1850s) village street survives as a minor kink in Beverley Road, and is indicated by a narrowing of the street, and by a section of more modest two-storey houses.{{sfn|Ketchell|1995|loc = The Village Centre}}{{sfn|Hull City Council|2002|loc =4.2, p. 7}}

The area falls within the Beverley Road and Sculcoates areas of Hull.

Following the foundation of Hull by Edward I in 1293 proceedings were undertaken to create permanent roads to the neighbouring towns, including one to Beverley; in 1302 a jury decided on the best routes for the roads.{{sfn|Allison|1969|loc= [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66785#s4 Communications: Roads]}}{{cite book| url= https://archive.org/details/historyofhullann00gent| title = Annales Regioduni Hullini : Or, The History of the Royal and Beautiful Town of Kingston-upon-Hull..| orig-year = 1735 |year = 1869 |first = Thomas| last = Gent| author-link= Thomas Gent|at = Chap. 1, p. 13}} The road to Beverley became a turnpike under an act of Parliament of 1744, the Yorkshire Roads (No. 2) Act 1743

(17 Geo. 2. c. 25).{{cite journal| url = http://www.eylhs.org.uk/tt2.pdf| title = Roads and Turnpike Trusts in Eastern Yorkshire| first = K. A.| last = MacMahon| year = 1964| publisher = East Yorkshire Local History Society| journal = East Yorkshire Local History Series| number = 18| pages = 17–19; Table IV, p. 70| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141103023238/http://www.eylhs.org.uk/tt2.pdf| archive-date = 3 November 2014 }}

The Beverley and Barmston Drain was authorised by an act of Parliament, the Beverley and Barmston Drainage Act 1798 (38 Geo. 3. c. lxiii),{{cite journal|title = The Draining of the Hull Valley| first = June A.|last = Sheppard| orig-year = 1958| year = 1976| publisher = East Yorkshire Local History Society| journal = East Yorkshire Local History Series| number = 8| editor-first = K. J.| editor-last = Allison| url=http://www.jubileeriver.co.uk/draining%2520hull%2520valley.pdf| page = 16}} and was the largest of local drains, running roughly north–south about a third of a mile east of Stepney.Ordnance Survey. 1852–3. Sheet 226 A bridge on Stepney Lane dating from around 1800 crosses the drain, and is still extant.{{cite web| url = http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/HOME/PLANNING/CONSERVATION/LOCAL%20BUILDINGS%20LIST/LOCAL%20BUILDINGS%20LIST%202014.PDF| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150705064441/http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/HOME/PLANNING/CONSERVATION/LOCAL%20BUILDINGS%20LIST/LOCAL%20BUILDINGS%20LIST%202014.PDF| url-status = dead| archive-date = 5 July 2015| title =Local Buildings List | publisher = Hull City Council| year = 2014|page =46}} A smaller drain ran north–south between Barmston Drain and Beverley Road, Cottingham Drain – it was culverted in the latter half of the 20th century and part it now forms a cycle or footpath, other parts built over.{{sfn|Ketchell|1995|loc = The Drains}}Ordnance Survey 1:10506, 1855, 1956, 1969; 1:10000, 1971–7, 1982–4, 1992–4

The name "Stepney" is thought to derive from "Stepping Stone" or "Stepstone", from the presence of a mounting block near the place.{{sfn|Denholm|Middleton|1986|p=5}}

An estated house, Stepney Lodge was built in around the end of the 18th century,{{sfn|Denholm|Middleton|1986|p=5}} by 1817 housing had been built along Stepney Lane.{{sfn|Allison|1969|loc= [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66795#s1 Outlying villages: Sculcoates]}}

File:Stepney or Zion Chapel, Cave Street. Beverley Road, Stepney Hull.jpg

By the 1850s Stepney included houses along the south side of Stepney Lane; the Bull Inn and Rose Tavern at the junction of Stepney Lane and the Beverley Road; a paper mill, Stepney Mills;{{#tag:ref|Operating as Smithson & Mayfields of "Stepney Mills" (1866), by 1871 as J.R. & A Mayfield, as A. Mayfield & Sons in 1920, as Mayfield A. & Sons in 1958, as Mayfield & Sons. Ltd. in 1968.Sources:

• {{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdoNAAAAQAAJ| title = The Paper Mills Directory|edition = 6th|year = 1866| at = 156, p. 6}}
• {{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdoNAAAAQAAJ| title = The Paper Mills Directory|edition = 11th|year = 1871| at = 156, p. 9}}
• {{cite book|title = The Paper Maker's Directory of All Nations| year =1920| at = 156, p. 31}}
• {{cite book| title = The London Directory and International Register of Manufacturers, Wholesalers & Shippers| year = 1958|page = 882}}
• {{cite book| title = Paper Maker and British Paper Trade Journal| volume =149–150| year = 1965| page=47}} The company was wound up in 1966.{{cite journal| url = https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/43951/page/4466| journal = The London Gazette| date = 15 April 1966| issue = 43951| page =4466| title = A. Mayfield & Sons Limited|quote = .. at Stepney Paper Mills, Hull, on the 31st day of March 1966, the following Special Resolution was passed: "That the Company be wound up voluntarily and that Ralph Gordon Slack of 2 Parliament Street, Hull, be and is hereby appointed Liquidator for the purposes of winding-up." }} The site was cleared in the 1980s.Ordnance Survey 1:10000. 1982–4, 1992–4|group="note"|name="paper"}} as well as houses "Stepney House" north along Beverley Road, and Stepney Lodge north of Stepney Lane. Zion Chapel (or Stepney chapel) was built in 1849 in a simple classical style with a stuccoed front for the New Connexion Methodists,{{harvnb|Allison|1969|loc= [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66778#s4 Protestant non-conformity – places of worship]}}{{PastScape|mnumber=1504947|mname =Former Methodist New Connexion chapel |accessdate=26 June 2014}} James Rank (father of Joseph Rank) had a mill in Stepney in the mid-1800s.{{cite web| url =http://www.ranktrust.org/download/Through_the_Mill.pdf| title=Through the Mill – The Life of Joseph Rank|first =R. G.| last = Burnett| orig-year =1945|year =2004 |publisher = The Epworth Press|pages = 16, 19, 24}} The mills were initially wind powered.{{sfn|Ketchell|1995|loc = The Windmills}}{{#tag:ref|{{harvtxt|Sheahan|1864|p=215}} describes a fire (1863) in one of the windmills which is described as having a tower of at least {{convert|30|ft}} high with five sails, supported on beams {{convert|2.5|ft}} square and {{convert|35|ft}} long. The mill was used for corn and cattle food|group="note"}} In the 1850s and 60s the area was still extensively agricultural, there were vineries at Stepney Lodge, and a large plant nursery was cultivating exotic and other greenhouse plants.{{sfn|Sheahan|1864|p=620}}

From the 1850s onwards the area around and in Stepney developed substantially: the Victoria Dock Branch Line opened in 1853, on a circular route around Hull, passing through Stepney east-west approximately {{convert|600|ft}} south of Stepney Lane. A station, west of the Hull to Beverley road, Stepney station, designed by William Botterill opened at the same time;{{PastScape|mnumber=1375093|mname=Victoria Dock Branch Railway|accessdate=26 June 2014}}{{NHLE|num=1197617|desc=Stepney Station House|accessdate=26 June 2014}} Pearson Park opened 1862; and in 1869 the 1849 Methodist chapel was replaced by a larger red and white brick gothic building to the design of W. Hill of Leeds, demolished {{circa|1982}}.{{sfn|Ketchell|1995|loc = The Chapels}} Some substantial buildings were built along Beverley Road and on the road leading to Pearson Park in the 1860s and 70s, including Dorchester House.{{sfn|Pevsner|Neave|1995|pp=557–8}} By the 1890s the northern urban spread encompassed Stepney, and had gone further north to St John's Wood; the Hull and Barnsley Railway (1885) now passed on the east side along the Barmston Drain; most of the area was now built up with the exception of the grounds of Stepney Lodge north of Stepney Lane, and allotments to the south; there was a small goods yard at Stepney station, and sidings associated with Sculcoates Goods station to the east.Also known as Temple Street goods yard. In the mid-20th century the site included a goods shed. (OS. 1:2500, 1928, 1950–1, 1960) Housing on streets off the main road was generally of a more modest scale than the large houses on the main road.Ordnance Survey. 1888–1890. Sheet 226.SW

File:Stepney school, Beverley Road, Hull.jpg

In 1886/7 the Hull School board (formed 1872) opened, at a cost of £11,470, a new school in Stepney to a Queen Anne revival design by William Botterill, built by J. Skinner of Hull. The building had a two main story block with attics and an octagonal bell turret/lantern providing ventilation, with boys accommodated on the ground floor and girls on the first; infants were housed in a separate department. The new school provided places for 889 children, and replaced some earlier schools.{{NHLE|num=1207932|desc=Stepney Board School and adjoining infants school|accessdate=26 June 2014}}{{sfn|Denholm|Middleton|1986|pp=5–6}} In 1908 the school was extended with a separate block for infants.{{sfn|Allison|1969|loc = [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66783#s10 Education: Schools in Existence before 1945]}}

The Hull Street Tramways opened a horse operated tram route on Beverley Road in 1875. In the 1890s the company was acquired by the Hull Corporation and the decision made to electrify the route. A depot was opened south of Stepney Lane in 1898.The site was also known as Corporation Yard in the mid-20th century. Parts of the site were rail connected from the Victoria Dock Branch Line after the tram connections were removed. (OS 1:2500 1910, 1928, 1950–1, 1960)See Trams in Kingston upon Hull; Trams were replaced with trolleybuses from the mid 1930s – see Trolleybuses in Kingston upon Hull

South of the railway line on Beverley Road the Northern Library opened in 1895 in a gothic brick design.{{sfn|Pevsner|Neave|1995|p=520}}{{NHLE|num=1197621|desc=Northern Branch Library|accessdate=26 June 2014}} A branch of the Hull Savings Bank opened in 1901 across the Beverley Road from the railway station.{{sfn|Pevsner|Neave|1995|p=557}} The 'Bull Inn' was rebuilt {{circa|1903}} to a design by Freeman, Son & Gaskell,{{sfn|Ketchell|1995|loc = Pubs}}{{NHLE|num=1197622|desc=The Bull Public House|accessdate=26 June 2014}} the Rose Tavern was also rebuilt at around the same time.{{sfn|Pevsner|Neave|1995|p=557}} Beverley Road Baths opened in 1905 adjacent north of the 1886 Stepney school in an Edwardian Baroque design with a copper dome octagonal cupola, and an Art Nouveau tiled entrance hall within.{{sfn|Pevsner|Neave|1995|p=520}} The baths underwent a £3.75 million refurbishment from June 2020 until reopening in August 2021.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-58229264|title=Hull's landmark Beverley Road Baths reopen after facelift|date=16 August 2021|work=BBC News|publisher=BBC|accessdate=16 August 2021}} The baths are a Grade II Listed building.{{NHLE|num=1297036|desc=Beverley Road Swimming Centre|accessdate=26 June 2014}} The land of Stepney lodge was built over from the 1890s to the 1920s.Ordnance Survey. 1888–90, 1908–9, 1926. Sheet 226.SW

At around the beginning of the 20th century a bottling factory was built on the north side of Park Lane (demolished in the late 20th century), over the site of James Rank's mill.Ordnance Survey. 1:2500. 1893, 1910{{sfn|Ketchell|1995|loc = The Industries}} The coal sidings and timber yard south of Stepney station became a saw mill by 1910, and by the 1920s had become a billiard hall and cinema, The Coliseum (opened 1912); whilst a saw mill, later a furniture factory developed further west, south of the Victoria Dock Branch Line.Ordnance Survey. 1:2500. 1893–4, 1910, 1928, 1950–1

Stepney station closed in 1964,{{PastScape|mnumber=498381|mname=Stepney Station|accessdate=26 June 2014}} and in 1969 the Victoria Dock Branch Line closed. The track bed at Stepney was later converted to a foot and cycle path.{{cite web| url = http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/stepney%28hull%29/index.shtml| title =Stepney (Hull)| work = Disused Stations| first = Mark| last = Dyson| date = 20 April 2010|access-date=26 June 2014}} The former "Coliseum" cinema (later the Rialto; and after the Second World War The National) closed in 1961 and became a bowling alley, but burnt down in 1974.{{sfn|Ketchell|1995|loc = The Cinema}} (See also Closed cinemas in Kingston upon Hull.) By the 1980s the site including the former sawmill was empty, and was used for parking.{{sfn|Ketchell|1995|loc = The Cinema}}Ordnance Survey. 1:2500. 1950–1, 1982–4 In 1966 the paper manufacturers A. Mayfield and Sons of Stepney Mills ceased trading.

In 1976 General Accident built office buildings on Beverley Road south of the former station.{{cite web| url=http://www.aviva.com/about-us/heritage/blog-archivist/posts/591/| title =Following the flame: Hull – buildings, bravery and basements under water| date =18 June 2012|first = Anna| last = Stone| publisher = Aviva|access-date=26 June 2014}} The "Coliseum" cinema site was redeveloped as an Aldi supermarket in the 1990s.{{sfn|Ketchell|1995|loc = The Cinema}}{{cite web| url= https://planningpublicaccess.hullcc.gov.uk/publicaccess/simpleSearchResults.do?action=firstPage| date = 11 August 1992| title = (92/00212/PF) 1. Erection of Food Supermarket (13,500 sq ft gross floor area) 2. Construction of New Access to Terry Street and Associated Parking and Servicing Areas 3. Erection of Lych-Gate (Corner of Terry Street and Beverley Road) | publisher = Hull City Council | access-date = 26 June 2014}} A small industrial estate Temple Street Industrial Estate was developed in the late 1980s / early 1990s.{{cite web| url = http://www.completelytradeandindustrial.co.uk/industrial-parks/scheme/Temple-Street-Industrial-Estate.html| title = Temple Street Industrial Estate| access-date = 27 June 2014| work = www.completelytradeandindustrial.co.uk}}e.g. see Hull City Council planning applications: 90/01259/PO, 90/01292/PF, 89/01867/PF, 89/01880/PF, 86/01033/PF A housing development for Chinese people was built on Park Lane opposite the Bull Inn {{circa|1995}}.{{sfn|Hull City Council|2013|loc = 11.18, p. 26}} The former "Temple Street goods yard" and "corporation yard" site was developed as playing fields with a sports hall in the early 2000s (used by Endeavour High School).{{cite web| url=https://planningpublicaccess.hullcc.gov.uk/publicaccess/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=0101042PM| title = (01/01042/PM) (1) Erection of Three Storey Building to Provide Secondary School With Associated Parking (2) Erection of Building to Provide Sports Hall With Outdoor All-Weather Floodlit Pitch Area With Associated Parking (3) Construction of Footpath/Cycle Track Link Between the Two Sites| publisher = Hull City Council| date=13 September 2001 | access-date = 27 June 2014}} A combined medical centre and supermarket with car park and takeaway restaurant was developed on the site of the former "General Accident" building in 2002.{{sfn|Hull City Council|2013|loc = 11.9, p. 21}}Sources:

• {{cite web| url = https://planningpublicaccess.hullcc.gov.uk/publicaccess/simpleSearchResults.do?action=firstPage| title = (99/00891/PF) 1. Erection of Single and Two Storey Building to Form a) Doctors Surgery b) Retail Unit (99sq m : 1,065sq ft) c) Retail Unit (1,188sq m : 12,790sq ft) 2. Erection of Single Storey Building to Form Drive Through Restaurant 3. Construction of Access to Margaret Street; Access/Egress to Terry Street; 150 Parking Spaces and Associated Service Areas| date = 18 March 1999| publisher = Hull City Council | access-date = 26 June 2014}}
• {{cite web| url = https://planningpublicaccess.hullcc.gov.uk/publicaccess/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=9900892LE| title = (99/00892/LE) Demolition of All Buildings on Site (Application for Conservation Area Consent) | date = 29 March 1999| publisher = Hull City Council | access-date = 26 June 2014}}

{{gallery

|File:Beverley Road baths, Stepney (2), Hull.jpg|Beverley Road Baths, built 1905 (2013)

|File:The Rose Hotel, Beverley Road - geograph.org.uk - 840603.jpg|The Rose Hotel, built {{circa|1900}} (2008)

|File:The Station, Stepney, Beverley Road, Hull.jpg|The Station Inn, formerly adjacent to the Victoria Dock Branch Line (2013)

|File:The Bull Inn - geograph.org.uk - 1231338.jpg|The Bull Inn, built 1903–4 (2009)

|File:Stepney Railway Station 1.jpg|Stepney Railway station building (rear), built 1853 (2009)

|File:Fountain Road, Sculcoates - geograph.org.uk - 937922.jpg|Bridge over the Beverley and Barmston Drain, on Sculcoates Lane, built 1889 (2008)

|File:Beverley and Barmston Drain, Sculcoates - geograph.org.uk - 1231380.jpg|Bridge over the Beverley and Barmston Drain, on Stepney Lane (2009)

}}

Poet Douglas Dunn's 1967 Terry Street takes its name from the street in Stepney where he lived in the late 1960s.{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/jan/18/featuresreviews.guardianreview24| title = Speaking from experience| first = Nicholas| last =Wroe|date = 18 January 2003| work =The Guardian|access-date=27 June 2014}}

• List of areas in Kingston upon Hull

{{Reflist|group="note"}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book| publisher = Victoria County History| series = A History of the County of York East Riding| volume = 1| title = The City of Kingston upon Hull| editor-first = K. J.| editor-last = Allison |year = 1969| chapter = Communications: Roads| url = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.aspx?pubid=549}}
• {{cite web| url = http://www.stepney.hull.sch.uk/stepneybuilding/stepcentsouvenir.pdf| title = Stepney Primary School – Centenary Souvenir 1886–1986|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626135227/http://www.stepney.hull.sch.uk/stepneybuilding/stepcentsouvenir.pdf| archive-date = 26 June 2014| work = www.stepney.hull.sch.uk|first1=L.|last1 = Denholm| first2 = C.| last2 = Middleton| year=1986| access-date = 26 June 2014}}
• {{cite web| url = http://www.stepney.hull.sch.uk/stepney125/HamletofStepney.pdf| title = The Hamlet of Stepney|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626140451/http://www.stepney.hull.sch.uk/stepney125/HamletofStepney.pdf| archive-date =26 June 2014 | work = www.stepney.hull.sch.uk|year =1995|last = Ketchell| first = Christopher| access-date = 26 June 2014}}
• {{cite book| title = Yorkshire: York and the East Riding|series = The Buildings of England| first1 =Nikolaus| last1 =Pevsner| authorlink=Nikolaus Pevsner|first2=David| last2 = Neave|year =1995|edition=2}}
• {{cite book| url = https://archive.org/details/generalconcisehi00shea| first = James Joseph| last = Sheahan|year = 1864| title = General and concise history and description of the town and port of Kingston upon Hull| publisher = Simpkin, Marshall & Co. (London) ; John Green (Beverley)}}
• {{cite web| url =http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/HOME/PLANNING/CONSERVATION/CONSERVATION%20AREAS/BEVERLEY%20ROAD%20CACA.PDF | title =Beverley Road Conservation Area – Character Appraisal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311004804/http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/HOME/PLANNING/CONSERVATION/CONSERVATION%20AREAS/BEVERLEY%20ROAD%20CACA.PDF| archive-date = 11 March 2008| date = March 2002| author = Hull City Council| access-date = 26 June 2014}}
• {{cite web| url =https://cityplanhull.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Bev-Rd-TH-Conservation-Area-Character-Appraisal.pdf | title =Beverley Road Conservation Area – Character Appraisal | date = November 2013| author = Hull City Council| access-date = 22 September 2022}}

{{Commons category|Stepney, Kingston upon Hull|Stepney}}

{{Kingston upon Hull|state=collapsed}}

Category:Geographic histories of Kingston upon Hull

Category:Wards and districts of Kingston upon Hull