Multi Storey Horse Park

A fact of life about a car journey to any major town and city is the fully expected difficulty in getting parked.

Not just parked, but in a safe, accessible place and above all at ,what would be regarded as, a reasonable cost.

Income from parking fees is undoubtedly a very lucrative stream of cash for the council owned car parks but so are capital receipts for selling the sites of car parks for development. The vicious circle goes like this. Little or no city centre parking forces shoppers to the privately developed out of town retail centres where there is ample free parking. The city centre retailers react angrily and the council has to provide park and ride services to ensure that the retailers thrive and can afford to pay the business rates into council coffers. This brings trade back to the city and then bus fares go up or cannot any longer be subsidised so people once again take to their cars and search out parking. Developers review and see a viable city centre and require land to build. Blah, de Blah ....so...the council sells any car parking land for development.

This is certainly not a modern phenomena.

Substitute the car with a horse and 1890's Hull had a huge problem. The wonderful bromide prints of Hull from the mid to late 19th Century are awash with fine buildings, interesting frock coated or long skirted characters, grubby faced urchins and also piles of horse dung.

The answer, an enterprising carriage builder Mr Annison built an early multi storey horse park just on the eastern edge of Hull Old Town. Location is everything and Annisons Corner, Witham was ideally positioned for those travelling to the City from the Holderness villages out towards the North Sea Coast but  also convenient for those living in the central area who  had a requirement for a horse for personal use or to pull a carriage but as always had no-where practical to keep it.

Mr Annison had plenty of surplus and available space at his main works for the manufacture and sales of his products, fine covered carriages to impress the neighbours, dog carts a bit like the modern Ford Fiesta and sporty models to thrill at speeds in excess of 4mph. It was good business to draw in a horse owner customer base and the Witham complex, in recent years fully restored, retains the preserved stabling at first floor level above the shop frontage.

I have had the opportunity to inspect the building post-restoration and it is a fascinating example of function and style in Victorian commerce. The horse stalls are accessible from the inner courtyard with a wide and fairly steep cerrated concrete ramp. The first floor stable level has perhaps 30 to 40 horse capacity and the wooden stalls are in good condition. The whole loft area is illuminated by large glazed skylights running almost the full length. I can just imagine the trepidation of the stable staff in having to clean out the beasts and those working in the shops below for any signs of leakage which would be inevitable through even the most substantial intermediate floor.

A full livery service was offered from Witham and was evidently well patronised. The carriage making business had peaked by the early 1900's but the premises continued in use as a well known undertakers well into the twentieth century. Horse drawn hearses were and still remain popular for high profile funerals and the workshops were easily adaptable as undercover parking for the grand carriages and trappings.

The premises were a very sorry sight in the 1980's and 90's in semi dereliction and not far off demolition to accommodate road alterations at a very busy city junction and convergence of the main Holderness Road with the North Bridge river crossing, Great Union Street and Cleveland Street. The building today has a large dispensing chemists occupying the ground floor shop units. The three storey mid section of the building under a distinctive Mansard slate roof provided proprietors or staff quarters but only for those with a very poor sense of smell. This is also occupied and must be an excellent vantage point to experience the comings and goings of a large city.The English Heritage link is of the building in the 80's and in a state of obvious decline. The stabling is located behind the inset brick panels either side of the maisonette and with an archway through to the courtyard.

http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/detail.aspx?uid=1231

The restoration has been excellent and a labour of love over and above any commercial or economic reasoning for its salvation. The road junction remains frantic and manic at the best of times and the concentration required by road users to get through the bottleneck means that little or no attention is given to observing or noticing  the building or what it has contributed to the livelihood and income of many people for over 100 years and hopefully will continue to do so into the future.

The photograph link below is of the restored building but before the chemist shop moved in. It must have been taken early on a sunday with the absence of traffic being very apparent.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/522828

(edited and re-published from 2011)