The story of High Street

The Old Harbour

The area where the River Hull meets the River Humber was once the location of Hull’s ‘Old Harbour’.

From the medieval period onwards, this area was a hive of maritime activity and an important hub for international trade.

Along High Street, goods including cloth from the Netherlands, timber from Scandinavia and oil seed from the Baltic were unloaded onto the wharves and warehouses that lined the River Hull. Merchant ships also set sail with cargoes of wool, leather, bricks and other commodities which were then traded in the ports of Northern Europe.

This changed when Hull’s first dock opened in the 1770s, just north of the Old Town. At first simply named The Dock, and later becoming Queens Dock, the new dock helped to ease congestion along the River Hull and allowed the city to more easily control trade.

As a result, Hull’s maritime centre shifted away from this part of High Street, although ships still travelled along the River Hull to the entrance of The Dock. This was where the North End Shipyard is today.

A painting of the ‘Old Harbour’, busy with ships, from the collections of the Hull History Centre.

An engraving from the Hull Museums Collections, showing the entrance to ‘The Dock’ (later renamed Queens Dock) from the River Hull in 1829.

The area where you are now was once a network of densely packed streets, alleyways, courtyards and staiths which connected the Old Town to the River Hull. You can still see reminders of historic street networks in the place names and layout of the area.