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The township of Hull came into existence sometime in the late 1100's-
At first it was called Wyke upon Hull, and it was only after King
Edward 1 took over the port in 1293 that it became Kingston (The King's
town) Upon Hull. The word Wyke originated from the Scandinavian word
"vik" meaning a creek. referring to the point where the
River Hull entered the River Humber.
Wyke was originally an area of wasteland within the area of the Hamlet
of Myton.
Myton received its first mention in 1086, when it was itself just
a farm. It was within the manor of North Ferriby. The next we hear
of it is between 1160 and 1182, when four bovates of land were given
to Meaux Abbey, together with two-thirds of the fee of the "Wyke
of Myton" (A bovate was the area of land which could be ploughed
by an ox in a year, and a fee was land or freehold property which
could be inherited) Meaux is pronounced "Muce". Between
1197 and 1210 the Abbey acquired the rest of Myton, amounting to ten
bovates in all. Myton was to the west of the present Old Town.
The Cistercian monks from Meaux set about improving their new land,
with lay brothers living there in a grange. Meanwhile the last few
hundred yards of the River Hull, before its out-fall into the Humber,
were diverted to make a straighter channel, by using a small creek,
Sayercreek, for the new course. This is the present course of the
Hull through the centre of the City. In time the old Hull became obstructed
"making it hardly worth calling a drain."
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| It seems that the layout of the town shows
that its original function was that of a port and it was never an
agricultural community. In 1293 there were two long streets running
parallel to the River Hull, both on the west bank, with four short
cross streets to give the only public access to the river. the rest
of the bank-side being occupied by 29 properties. A chapel is supposed
to have been built in 1285, although there was possibly one already
in existence as the Town's first fair was granted in 1279 and was
fixed on the feast of Holy trinity. to which the parish church was
subsequently dedicated. Holy trinity was originally a chapel in Hessle
Parish whereas in the fourteenth century St Mary, the Virgin, Lowgate,
was established as a chapel of North Ferriby parish. 7 1/4 acres in
the town where reserved for the fairground but it is not known whether
they were ever used as such. Hull Fair is one of the main institutions
of the modern city, nowadays held for a week in October. |
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