Ruins of Hull's famous Beverley Gate could be buried again: Amphitheatre marks spot where King Charles was denied entry to city
IT IS an historic medieval gateway to a city that once refused entry to a king.
Now, remains of the former town walls and 14th-Century Beverley Gate could be filled in as part of a new city centre makeover.
The remains have been on public display for more than 20 years after being discovered by archaeologists.
They stand in a purpose- built sunken amphitheatre between Whitefriargate and Queen Victoria Square, where King Charles I was famously refused entry into Hull in 1642. It was an act of defiance that helped trigger the English Civil War.
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But now the whole area could be transformed with the amphitheatre being filled in after initial talks between Hull City Council and English Heritage.
Councillor Steven Bayes, cabinet member for regeneration, said: "There is a pinch-point at the top of Whitefriargate caused by what is there at the moment and it does cut off Whitefriargate to some degree.
"We have had discussions with English Heritage to find out what their view would be if it was covered over again.
"Their answer was that they did not think they would be overtly opposed to the idea.
"They stressed that if we were going to do it, we had to make sure any scheme was well thought-out.
"I would stress there is currently no scheme on the table but to have English Heritage saying they would not oppose it in principle is an important first step.
"Having that in place hopefully avoids the sort of arguments now going on over the cobbles in Beverley's Saturday Market."
Options for the remains of the walls and the gatehouse could include moving them to ground level to create a new tourist attraction.
Both Hull City Council and conservation body English Heritage provided funding towards the original conservation project in the mid-1980s.
Councillor Bayes said any major physical work in the city centre would inevitably require significant funding.
But he said the new community infrastructure levy could help pay for some of the proposed facelift schemes in the city centre.
The levy allows councils to raise funding from developers carrying out new building works as part of any planning permission.
Cllr Bayes said: "The landscape of the city centre is a bit patchy and a lot of things put in during the 1980s are looking a bit tired.
"There will be competition from councillors wanting any money to be spent on footpaths and schemes in their own wards but we also have to take a long-term view about improving the city centre because it is a major asset."
Launching the City Plan last month, council chief executive Darryl Stephenson said the city needed to make more of its tourism potential and its links with the start of the Civil War. He said: "If this had happened in York, there would be re-enactments going on every week."
Comments
by mutton8
Wednesday, February 13 2013, 4:28PM
“If the 27 comments on here are anything to by, it looks as though Hull folk do think the site important enough not to be lost and I agree with them. By all means "fill in the hole" but put suggestions to people to approve, not Councillors. The suggestions to raise the Gate remains to ground level sound the most practical. The idea to rebuild the gate as it was is attractive but probably too expensive a job.”
by Redjin
Thursday, January 17 2013, 9:29PM
“by full****uesday,
"Rebuild it to its former glory. It would be a great tourist attraction and bring people back to whitefriargate."
Fully agree. I would hate to see it just filled in. I do think it deserves some sort of modern appeal though, possibly information boards written in Chav. This is where some bloke called John Hotham and his b*tches stuck it to the man and told the King of England and his fluffing army to do one. innit.”
by tosh1958
Wednesday, January 16 2013, 2:45PM
“I am one of those who is proud of our civil war history and the fact we sent a royal packing, more should be made of our history and that means a big NO! when it comes to burying this great bit of history, its obvious those who suggested this need a kick up their a**es.”
by SPBlakeney
Tuesday, January 15 2013, 8:29PM
“Goths,emos,moshers,Big Issue and a flower van are the highlights of negotiating that 'pinch-point',usually with folks shoved up against the railings and the front of the jewellers.Fill it in,theres nothing the public could remotely recognise as archaeology in that litter pit.At least covering it would prevent damage (dont they do that on Time Team?)”
by dontwo
Tuesday, January 15 2013, 8:04PM
“It might be a "pinch point" now, but going back when Whitefriargate was popular and people actually had shops down there to visit, it was a ruddy bottleneck. The "purpose built sunken amphitheatre", {which lets face it is just a large hole} suffered bad flooding problems, and the mix of modern concrete, the old bricks, plus the floodwater gave it the air of a building site. If the Council are serious, they will hopefully fill in the hole and move the bricks to ground level.
One good thing about Hull is we havnt got that daft lad Parnaby in charge, cos we know what that fool thinks about saving a towns heritage dont we.”
by qualitychap
Tuesday, January 15 2013, 8:04PM
“councillor Bayes i totally agree,this hole in the ground,is an eyesore,that just collects litter,does anyone,actually go down there and look at the medieval wall ?,maybe it can be moved and repositioned above ground.
a lot of Hull city centres infrastructure,and paved areas,need attention,along with queen Victoria square,the whole city centre need to look more appealing,as at the moment its very bland.”
by ArthurHunt
Tuesday, January 15 2013, 7:53PM
“Some excellent comments here:
Pubspy - good point
Wellbeloved3: Definitely an emergency 'fact finding' visit coming on - to somewhere nice like Australia... can't see one to Scunthorpe or Bransholme (no offence meant..) ever happening..
Perhaps the council will employ more highly expensive 'Consultants' (mates of mates -oops) to tell them the bleeding obvious (do what the people want) ...”
by fullbin
Tuesday, January 15 2013, 6:56PM
“Rebuild it to its former glory. It would be a great tourist attraction and bring people back to whitefriargate.”
by Strangley
Tuesday, January 15 2013, 3:45PM
“There is a pinch point there. Avoiding the Big Issue vendor is quite tricky without walking all the way around”
by JayOnly
Tuesday, January 15 2013, 3:37PM
“The existing hole could be used as a drunk tank and passers buy could whizz over the drunks or throw old cabbages and tomatoes or our friendly visitors could stone the occupants; with rocks I mean, not cannabis joints.”