Former St. Andrew's Dock Lock - Hull, UK
Posted by: dtrebilc
N 53° 43.740 W 000° 21.944
30U E 673776 N 5956591
This lock used to be extremely busy with trawlers passing from the Humber Estuary into St. Andrew's Dock.
Waymark Code: WM14JGX
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/16/2021
Views: 0
Kingston-upon-Hull, on the Humber Estuary has a long tradition as a port with the estuary giving access to the North Sea.
St. Andrew's Dock opened in 1883 as a dedicated dock for the fishing fleet. It was named St. Andrew's Dock after the Patron Saint of Fishermen, a fisherman from the Sea of Galilee and Disciple of Jesus Christ.
The dock opened in 1883, and was a busy successful dock with fishing trawlers travelling as far as the Arctic. There were also many warehouses and buildings associated with the fishing trade.
For a variety of reasons the fishing declined and this dock eventually closed in 1975 and was then filled in. Much of the area has been redeveloped as a retail park, but the area around the lock itself, at the opening to the estuary is still awaiting development and there are a number of derelict buildings. The Trans Pennine Trail, a long distance walking and cycling trail passes by here.
During both World Wars the fleet continued to fish in dangerous waters and some did not return. There is a memorial is dedicated to all the trawler men who were lost at sea between 1883 and 1975 next to the lock.
There are two parts to the memorial.
Attached to the sea wall are are number of plaques with engravings of some of the trawlers that were lost at sea, together with the names of the men lost.
In front, some distance back from the wall is a central commemorative stone and block with a dedication from the The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, one of the largest fraternal organisations in the United Kingdom.
The The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes plaque has the following text.
ROYAL ANTEDILUVIAN ORDER OF BUFFALOES
ST. ANDREWS LOCK GATES
1883 1975
Through these locks
passed the ships and men who
fished the Arctic grounds of
Murmansk, Greenland and Iceland.
In 1914 and 1939 men and trawlers
went to war. In peace and war
this tablet commemorates
the many who did
not return.
R.A.O.B. G.L.E.
The inscription on the seawall is as follows.
Lost Trawlerman's
Memorial
This memorial was made possible by Mr & Mrs Philip Akrill,
The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes and the families
of Hull's Trawlermen whose loved ones were lost at sea.
"Wave sfter wave, each mightier than the last
'Til last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep
And full of fishermen's voices, slowly rose and plunged
Roaring, and all the wave was in flame"
Alfred Lord Tennyson