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The churches of Central Hull & Sculcoates, part 1

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The churches of Central Hull & Sculcoates, part 1 by Peter Kessler

Source=h:/!Genuki/RecordTranscriptions/ERY/ERYPeterKessler.txt Prince's Avenue (Wesleyan) Methodist Church stands at the south-west corner of Prince's Avenue and Blenheim Street in Hull. The Gothic church was built in 1905, to a design by Gelder and Kitchen, and it seats 850. Close by, Fish Street Memorial Church was opened by the Congregationalists in 1899 to replace Fish Street Chapel. It was a simplified Gothic building by W H Bingley. By 2010 there was no sign of it, but a possible candidate could be the Church on the way (see below).

The Church on the Way (Elim Pentecostal Church) stands at the south-east corner of Prince's Avenue and Duesbery Street. When the Primitive Methodist chapel on Hessle Road closed in 1933, it was taken over by the Elim Pentecostal Church and renamed City Temple. This closed in 1984 and the Elim Pentecostal Church moved to its present building. The history of the building before 1984 is unknown, but it could possible be Fish Street Memorial Church, mentioned above.

The International Christian Fellowship Church is on the southern side of Springbank Avenue, opposite Albany Street. It opened in 1875 as the New Jerusalem Church on the Spring Bank; a red brick Gothic edifice with a spirelet. Also known as the Swedoborgian Chapel Spring Bank, it replaced Dagger Lane chapel. It closed in 1948 and between 2004-2008 it was converted from a 'Bargain Centre' to its present use. The red brick is now entirely whitewashed.

Spring Bank Christian Assembly occupies this neat brown brick Victorian end-of-terrace building on the north-east corner of Springbank Avenue and Peel Street, very close to the International Christian Fellowship Church (above). The building was formerly known as Peel Hall. Nearby, Holderness Road Christian Assembly Hall was used from 1926 to at least 1930. The Apostolic Church, Spring Bank, Spring Bank Hall, was registered in 1953, and may have been the same building.

St Stephen Sculcoates, stands on a site at the north-east corner of Springbank Avenue and Freehold Street. The church was originally opened as Spring Bank Methodist Church, possibly in 1959, although this is uncertain. Following closure in 1971, the building was taken over in 1972 to serve as St Stephen the Martyr, Spring Bank, in order to replace All Saints Margaret Street. The old church, opened in 1869, was demolished in 1974 and the site was used for housing.

The Unitarian Church is on the western side of Park Street, midway between Colonial Street and Caughey Street. It was originally erected in 1882, and was built in white brick, with stone dressings, and had a spire at the northeast angle. It replaced the Bowlalley Lane Church, which was used from around 1680 and was rebuilt about 1691-1692. A new chapel was built there in 1802 but was demolished in 1936, as was Park Street's first church, perhaps in the 1960s.

St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church is on a confined plot on the eastern side of Spring Street, about forty metres (yards) north of Portland Street. It replaced St Patrick's Church Mill Street in 1906, which served as a chapel of ease to St Charles Borromeo. It is built of red brick, in the Early English style of architecture, and has a bell turret at the north-west corner. It is of two stories, the lower one being used for schools held by the Sisters of Mercy. It was disused by 2007.

Trafalgar Street Church stands at the north-west corner of Trafalgar Street and Beverley Road. The simplified Gothic church was erected as the Baptist Tabernacle, also known as Central Church. The members first met in 1885 in what was the Temperance Hall, St Luke Street. In 1888 they moved to the Central Hall, Pryme Street before erecting the present building in stages between 1890-1906. It closed in 1938 and became an undenominational church.

St Mary Sculcoates (Old Church) formerly stood at the north-west corner of Bank Side and Air Street in the old village of Sculcoates, about two miles from the market-place in Hull. It was founded as Sculcoates' parish church and existed by 1232, although there is little detail about it. In 1381, the advowson was given to the 'prior and brethren of the Carthusian Monastery, juxta Kingston-super-Hull'. The church was so decayed that in 1760-1761 it was taken down and rebuilt.
The new version was in the debased Gothic style, with nave, chancel, side aisles, and four-stage tower (seen here before the tower was added). Closed in 1869, it re-opened in 1872 and gained a district in 1873. In 1875 it was fully restored, but it was again closed and mostly demolished around 1917. The tower remained standing until the 1950s before being removed, and the site is now a public garden. St Mary Sculcoates (New Church) was built a little way to the west.


Written by
Peter Kessler, ©2011
The History Files