Zoo on the Doorstep

I have often thought about how nice it would be to live close to a Zoo.

I can well imagine, in such circumstances, a mundane domestic task having an accompanying soundtrack of a roaring lion, a trumpeting elephant or the cacophony of an aviary full of exotic birds.

In fact, this is highly likely to have been the case in my very neighbourhood in the middle to latter part of the 19th Century as just on my doorstep will have been the location of the Hull Zoological Gardens.

The idea of the place was quite a natural one amongst the well-to-do of Kingston Upon Hull as an key indicator of civic status, a bit of one-up-manship on regional neighbours of Leeds, Sheffield and York and on a philanthropical angle to give the working population of the city somewhere to have a bit of recreation, exercise and education.

Although now very much a densely populated inner city area my neighbourhood was, in 1839 still semi rural on the fringe of the then built environment of Hull.

Some 6 acres was readily available for such a worthy cause in a broadly square configuration bounded on its southern side by Springbank and with north western and north eastern corners on what are now the residential Peel Street and Morpeth Street respectively.

Things moved quickly once the idea was broached and after an issue of shares in 1839 and some subsequent purchases of animals the Zoological Gardens opened to the public in October 1840.

Archived maps show a highly landscaped and planted site, albeit a flat one on the Hull flood plain, with a range of stylistic architectural structures to house the live exhibits as well as a camera obscura, meeting and concert hall, shooting gallery, Keepers' residence and a death defying loop the loop of a centrifugal railway attraction.

There was a reasonable entrance fee levied at 1 shilling for adults and a sixpence for a child and by all accounts in the local newspapers it was well patronised by the general public. The Boulevards through the site extended to some 2 miles meandering around lakes and a good stock of trees and shrubs.

As for the animals these included some quite exotic and rarely seen species with, in addition to acquisitions and swops with other establishments, a good number donated by the owners and captains of ships capitalising on the status of Hull as a major and thriving maritime city trading on a global stage.

At one time the Zoological Gardens was reputed to have the largest concentration of Polar Bears in the country. Big cats included leopards and tigers. There was a good selection of monkeys, reptiles, kangaroos and an elephant.

Travelling exhibits were also catered for with a celebrity hippopotamus on a world tour and a temporary aquarium display. In all there were some 60 or so species for the public to gawp at. A particularly popular feature was of bears climbing poles in their pit enclosure to eat treats offered by the crowd.

Of some possible disturbance to the interned animals were regular choreographed fireworks displays on the designated firework lake and also gala occasions where city-scapes from around Europe were recreated as a focal point for music and dramatic events.

In 1855 and some 6 years later the lakes froze over and became outside skating areas for the public.

An amenity of this scale and prestige would be expected to continue for subsequent generations but unfortunately a decline in paying visitors and the draw of other emerging city attractions brought about financial difficulties.

No one appears to have been prepared to offer a bail out package and by 1860 the grounds began to look shabby and unkempt.

In a Catalogued Sale in 1862 the main buildings were put on the market and within a couple of decades the site was being developed as a new city suburb with large terraced town houses.

There are little reminders now of the Zoo apart from small statuettes of animals at street-ends and a public house called The Polar Bear on Springbank.

While it lasted it was evidently a prime civic attraction and a reflection of the aspirations of its citizens towards big city status.