THE
YOUR PLACE
EAST MARSH HISTORY, HERITAGE and HEALTH TRAIL
This trail, around the East Marsh area of Great Grimsby, has been produced by volunteers, staff and friends of Your Place 236 Wellington Street in Grimsby.
Our aim is to raise awareness of where we live and work, as well as attempting to raise the feeling of pride in place and self esteem amongst the local population. The East Marsh often gets a bad press locally, but we hope that by following this trail and learning a little more about the buildings, street names and historical people and places of note, visitors and locals alike will start to see things a little differently, with a bit more pride in our shared heritage. The story of the East Marsh is a story that shows the importance of the area to the rich and varied history and cultural heritage of this great town of Great Grimsby.
Welcome to the East Marsh History, Heritage and Health Trail. We begin our walk in Freeman Street Market, a multi award winning covered market hall with 4 cafes, fresh meat, flowers, fish and vegetable stalls amongst many others.
As its name suggests, the area you will be walking on today was mostly marsh land prior to 1850. It was bounded to the west by The Haven (now Alexandra docks) which was widened and enlarged in 1799 to accommodate larger ships. The Haven would have originally been a tidal inlet leading out to the Humber and the North Sea beyond. This tidal inlet, The Haven, gave access from the sea to the higher, solid ground
further inland at Great Grimsby town centre, passing through the marsh land on either side (the East & West Marsh).
Up until the 1850’s when the Victorians began developing the land for housing and Industry, this land would have been periodically flooded during high spring tides and would only have been used for grazing livestock. Nothing much had changed in the East Marsh for thousands of years until the Victorian industrialists made use of the close proximity of the East Marsh to the Humber and the North Sea. Only 100 years before work began on the building of the sea defences, creating the docks and the draining of the land on the East Marsh for housing and industry, John Wesley, methodist preacher wrote of Grimsby in his journal “ It is no more than a middling village containing a small number of half starved inhabitants”.
John Wesley visited Grimsby many times in the mid 1700s. During 1759 in an empty churchyard of what was once St. Marys Church, he addressed the crowd which he was told was the largest the town had ever seen (although the parish records of the time show that year, Great Grimsby had a population of 600-700 people)
Passing by these Marshes after a long dangerous expedition across the North Sea over a thousand years ago, on his way along the Haven to settle on the higher ground further inland at Great Grimsby town centre, was the man whose statue is standing before you. He was a Danish fisherman called Grim and the boy on his shoulder was called Havelok.
The Anglo Saxon word for a settlement is ‘by’. Grimsby, translated would have been Grims settlement.
Grim was ordered by the King of Denmark to take the infant Havelok out to sea and drown him, as the boy was the rightful heir to the throne. Grim realised one night that Havelok would grow to become the King of Denmark and vowed to gather together his family and sail with the young prince Havelok to seek asylum in a safer land away from his murderous uncle,
The statue, based on Michaelangelo’s David was created by Douglas Wain-Hobson and unveiled on the 19th May 1973. It was paid for by the art students at Grimsby College through various fundraising activities.
Walk away from the statue which once stood at the entrance to the town at Nuns Corner, in front of the College.
Leave Freeman Street Market through its easterly exit on Thesiger Street. Directly in front of you is a large swathe of empty, unused land formerly the site of the multistorey high rise tower blocks, which gave unrivalled views of the docks and the Humber Estuary until they were demolished in 2018 These tower blocks of the 1960s had been built to replace the many light industrial units and terraces of substandard housing that were previously on this land, all of which were hastily built on marsh land concurrent with the building of the sea wall and the development of Grimsby Docks.
This flattened landscape, ripe for development, now gives a great view of the Fishermens Mission on Hope Street, opened in 1967, at a time when redevelopment and modernisation was needed in the town, following the Nazi bombing campaign of World War 2. Just visible is the unique piece of large mosaic artwork depicting a trawler crashing through the waves on the front of the building with the words ‘Serving the Fishermen’ emblazoned upon it.
On leaving Freeman Street Market turn right along Thesiger Street and then turn left at the junction with Garabaldi Street.
Garabaldi Street was named after Guiseppe Maria Garabaldi who was known as the ‘Hero of the two Worlds’. As well as helping form Italy and becoming its temporary dictator, he also fought as revolutionary in South America. Garibaldi was much celebrated in the late 1800s with his name being given to streets throughout the UK in his honour. To this day Nottingham Forest Football Club wear a team strip of Garabaldi Red after Garibaldi’s red shirted revolutionaries and the Garibaldi biscuit is still a popular teabreak snack.
Turn left along Garabaldi Street and walk towards the car park on the opposite side of the road.
Here, on the side wall of Needhams butchers is a large mural This mural is locally known as the Great Wall of Grimsby and depicts life and work on Grimsby Docks. Created as part of a series of murals throughout North East Lincolnshire called “ Paint the town Proud” this delightful piece of wall art was created by local artists Dale Mackie, Sam Delaney and others associated with the Black Gull Recovery Project on Grimsby Docks
Walk diagonally across the car park towards Duncombe Street passing the newly created and fenced Community Gardens. The ‘Grounded in Grimsby’ gardens are opposite to the Salvation Army Barracks built in 1888, which now house a bright and airy café called The Cup of Joy.
Turn left along Duncombe Street. Behind you is the Central Hall, Grimsby’s oldest surviving concert venue with its green copper dome rising above the rooftops. With its 700 seat auditorium, this venue hosts performances by artists of local, national and international acclaim, as well as housing the Fisherman’s Memorial Chapel on the ground floor. It is well worth a visit to this chapel, if only to see the relics of shipwrecks and religious artifacts from the now demolished Bethel Mission Chapel which used to be on the corner of Tiverton Street and Harrington Street, about 2 miles from here in Cleethorpes.
Where Duncombe Street meets Albion Street, turn right walking along Albion Street toward the magnificent, newly restored brick and stone clock tower of the first Board School to be built in Grimsby, Holme Hill School.
In 1870 the Education Act was passed by the Government proclaiming that every child should be given an education. At that time there were only 3 schools in the town, with 2 of those solely used for the education of the children of the Freemen. There was no provision for the education of the other 1,650 working class or poor children, apart from religious Sunday schools, until Edward Heneage sold this acre of land to the corporation for the building of the towns first board school. On the 18th May 1878 Alderman John Wintingham laid the foundation stone for this, the first of many board schools throughout the town.
As you approach the junction with Wellington Street and Heneage Road, the tall steeple to the left, sits atop the parish church of St Mary’s on the Sea, which itself sits atop the only hill on the East Marsh, one of Grimsby’s five hills. This one is called Holme Hill. Little over 200 years ago all of the land that surrounds Holme Hill would have consisted of mud flats and salt marshes, regularly flooded by the Humber. The majority of the East Marsh is still, to this day, 3 foot below sea level. Holme Hill, being an island manor, was owned and controlled by the Augustinian Abbey of St Olaf and St Augustine,( Wellow Abbey), which was founded around 1130 AD. The occupants of the Holme Hill manor estate would have paid their dues to Wellow Abbey’s last Abbot, Robert Whitgift, who was uncle to the future Archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift. John would have known the East Marsh and Holme Hill Manor very well as a youth and as he matured, his hard work and study led him to be appointed to the highest religious post in the land, the Archbishop of Canterbury. John Whitgift was buried in the Bishops Palace in Croydon along with 6 other Archbishops. He held the hand of Queen Elizabeth 1 as she lay on her death bed and presided over the Coronation of King James 1st.
As we enter Heneage Road the street scene changes to one oozing with Victorian affluence. All around you are mature trees, giving welcome shade on a hot summers day. A little further along Heneage road is the Grimsby Hebrew Synagogue, now known as the Sir Moses Montefiore Synagogue which was built in 1885. Grimsby had a large Jewish community, with many thousands more passing through the town on their journey to the New World. Escaping from war torn Northern Europe, thousands of Jewish refugees sailed across the North Sea to Grimsby and continued their journey west by travelling across country to Liverpool, where they could gain passage to America. Many of these refugees would have sought solace on their travels here, within the hallowed walls of the Grimsby Hebrew Synagogue.
Carry on along Heneage Road towards the junction with Eleanor Street. The first house on your right,12 Heneage Road, was the home of local businessman and entrepreneur, Matthew Dowse, who will be mentioned later on in the trail as the man who saved the whale for future generations to enjoy. Look to the extravagant stone ornamentation on the houses to your right and the tall, brick, mock Elizabethan chimney stacks on the left hand corner building showing the affluence of the area.
Crossing Eleanor Street towards the next section of Heneage Road, look to your right where you will see the Victorian Education Offices and the remains of what was Wintringham Grammar School. Sadly in a state of terminal disrepair, this area is now ripe for redevelopment, sitting as it does amongst this cluster of grandiose Victorian Villas. Carry on along Heneage road towards Pasture Street. Again, this section is tree lined with large Victorian Villas many of which have stables to the rear and large orchards. There was also a Youth Hostel on the left, welcoming visitors to the town. The Youth Hostel is now the home of local charity, Rock Foundation, with tearooms and charity shop, woodworking and gardening facilities on site. Carry on along Heneage road towards the junction with Pasture Street.
The Heneage family were large Lincolnshire farmers and landowners who owned great swathes of pasture land in Grimsby. Up until the arrival of the railways and the development of the docks, all of this land was used for farming and livestock but with the massive growth in population following the 1850s, thousands of terraced houses were built here. The land initially came into the hands of the Heneage family after it was sold to Thomas Heneage by King Henry VIII, following his plundering of the monastaries during the Reformation of the mid 1500s. Thomas worked for King Henry VIII for many years. His job titles were ‘Groom of the Stool’ and ‘Gentleman of the Bedchamber’, definitely King Henry’s right hand man. After the King’s men had plundered all the riches from the nations monasteries, he then sold the lands to his friends to raise more money to fund his lavish lifestyle and many wives.
Turn left at Pasture Street and walk towards the Dutch style brick frontage of the Victorian church building, now home of the Community Church on the corner of Pasture Street and Convamore Road. Pasture Street leads from Great Grimsby town centre out to the pastures of the Freemen of Grimsby.
In the early 1200s King John, better known to his subjects as Lacklands or Soft Sword, needed to raise more money to pay his army, in an attempt at winning back the lands that his father, King Richard the Lionheart, had gained in France. As Prince John, (from the Robin Hood tales) he had spent much of his reign raising taxes on his already impoverished subjects to pay for his armies many defeats in France and they had no more money to give. Through interlocutors he proffered the idea that each town throughout the land could buy from him the rights to collect taxes themselves, to hold markets and fairs and not pay as many dues to the King. They could also collect wharfage from ships loading and unloading cargo on The Haven. This one off payment to King John meant that his coffers were filled immediately, the good men of Grimsby no longer had to pay dues to the King and freed from the burden of paying these extra taxes to the crown, the good men of Grimsby could now keep these monies and use them to improve the town. The descendants of these ‘Free Men’ are still around today and known as The Enrolled Freemen of Grimsby.
The following excerpt is taken from a comprehensive report of the Historic Body of Freemen of Grimsby, compiled in1850…….” A Grimsby Freeman originally occupied a very prominent position. By Royal charters and grants they were put in possession of extensive rights, privileges and annuities in consideration of services performed to their respective kings and governments in times of war. The good men of Grimsby were frequently visited by Royalty on important occasions and when Kings were in need of war-like help, the brave men of Grimsby were friends indeed. Through their acts of valour lands were given to them and privileges invested in them as a seaport which were only given to a favoured few. That was the day of the Freemens prosperity, when they could supply ships of war to assist in deciding the country’s destiny and weal”.
Carry on walking along Ladysmith Road.
As the street names would suggest, this area used to be known as the ‘Little Transvaal’, with Ladysmith, Durban, Buller and Roberts celebrating the South African connection with generals and battle sites from the Boer War of 1899/1902 and celebrating the victory of the British army and the invasion and dissolution of the South African Republic.
This estate was developed by the Grant-Thorold family of Weelsby Hall and if you look straight ahead to the end of Ladysmith Road you can clearly see Weelsby Woods where the family home was situated. Weelsby Woods has always been a manorial estate with extensive farmlands surrounding it. Visible evidence of early medieval farming practices can clearly be seen there, with its ridges and furrows from over a thousand years ago, still visible to the naked eye. During World War 2 Weelsby Woods also contained prisoner of war camps for German and Italian prisoners. After the War the woods also contained temporary accommodation for the Polish Carpathian Lancers. In 1950 Weelsby Woods was gifted to the people of Grimsby and it is now a well developed Country Park and Nature Reserve.
Turn left off Ladysmith Road at the corner of Buller Street where the Café Delight Community Hub, café and community rooms are.
General Redvers Buller fought in the first of the Boer Wars in South Africa in 1899, just as this area was being developed.
Walking further along Buller Street, cross over at the Weelsby Street junction and continue towards the trees and green space at the end, where it meets Humberstone Road.
Enter Grant-Thorold Park at the Eleanor Street entrance.
The story behind this glorious green space, hidden away and completely surrounded by terraced houses, begins in 1798 when Rev William Thorold, Rector of Cuxwold and Ravendale,( both small parishes on the nearby Lincolnshire Wolds), purchased a large area of land in what was then called the Parish of Clee with Weelsby. When the Reverend Thorold died in1814, the land passed to his son Richard, who had married into the large, landowning Grant family of Cleethorpes, changing his name to Richard Grant-Thorold. When Richard died in 1864 the estate passed to his nephew Alex Grant who subsequently added Thorold to his name. In 1900 Alex Grant-Thorold gave 9 acres of land to the town on condition it was called Grant-Thorold Park.
On entering the park from the Eleanor Street entrance, take the right hand path through the trees, parallel to Humberstone Road, heading towards Durban Road.
Grant-Thorold Park was designed by Mr Gilbert Wyatt the borough surveyor, at a cost to the town of just over £4,870 and it was opened to the public on 30th June 1904. Large crowds came to the opening and the park was decorated with lots of brightly coloured bunting. The story goes that on the opening day, with all the dignitaries assembled, the large marquee which had been erected for their luncheon, blew down in the extremely high winds. Fortunately, in the next field, just about where Fiveways roundabout is today, the world famous Colonel Wild Bill Cody, also known as Buffalo Bill, had been performing with his international travelling Wild West show. Learning what had happened, members of the travelling show came and helped with re-erecting the marquee. They then performed an impromptu show to the assembled crowd and of course, collected monies for their troubles. The noise from this impromptu Wild West Show, with gunshots from the cowboys, war cries from the native American Indians and loud shrieking and breying from the horses in battle, drowned out the speeches from the dignitaries, but apparently a good time was had by all.
As you follow this tree lined footpath, keep to the right hand path as it narrows into a more enclosed space surrounded by plants and shrubs of all sizes and colours, giving the feeling of entering a different space to the wide open parkland with space for football, picnics, rounders and bicycle riding. In this little corner of Grant Thorold Park is a memorial to Buffalo Bill and his unexpected, unannounced visit to this 9 acre parkland on the East Marsh of Grimsby. Buffalo Bills Pocket Park is a volunteer led community garden created and maintained solely by local helpers.
In front of you now is a large rectangular modern building which houses the Canopy Café with plenty of outdoor seating in the shade of tree lined Durban Road. The building also has Community rooms and a Forest School.
Walking away from the Canopy Café, towards the open green spaces with meandering paths in front of you and the infants playground to your left, head towards St John and St Stephens Church, with its newly established Community garden, Shalom youth club and volunteer community gardens on the corner of Roberts Street and Rutland Street.
Walk through the Northern entrance of Grant Thorold Park on to Roberts Street and passing by the church buildings, turn left and walk in a westerly direction along Roberts Street, past Stanley Street junction and continue towards Weelsby Street corner. At this corner turn right along Weelsby street, but not without first looking ahead towards the last section of Roberts Street and the rear elevation of St Mary’s on the Sea Church on Heneage Road in the distance, with its very tall steeple, capable of being seen by mariners entering and leaving the safe haven of Grimsby Docks, about a mile away from here. This steeple was indeed a welcome sight after many an arduous fishing trip. From this angle notice how the ground rises up from this point, culminating in the church high atop the highest hill on the East Marsh, Holme Hill.
Continue along Weelsby Street towards the Wellington Street junction. On the corner is Your Place, a centre of community friendship and its beautiful Oasis gardens. With over 10,000 visitors in 2025, the Oasis Gardens could rival many of North East Lincolnshire’s most visited attractions and following the recent installation of the historic whales jawbone archway, these numbers are rising dramatically.
The jawbones are all that remains of a 76ft female rorqual whale that was brought ashore a mile from here on Cleethorpes North Beach in 1892. A few days before Easter, in 1892 the whale had been spotted beaching herself at Spurn Point. A Hull ship, The Blossom, spotted her and tethered her to the stern of the ship in an attempt at dragging this massive beast into Hull for butchering. During the 19th century every single ounce of this 76 tonne mammal had an intrinsic value and this leviathan of the seas would have been worth a pretty penny in blubber alone. Unfortunately for the crew of the Blossom, the whale was not completely dead and struggled to release itself. For safety reasons, they left the tethered whale on a sandbank and went for assistance from another ship in Hull docks. The men of Spurn Point, amused by these events contacted the Master of the Grimsby tug, The Humber. The crew of The Humber raced across the estuary, refloated the still tethered whale on the rising tide, lashed it to the stern of The Humber and towed the whale to the beach between Suggitts lane and Wonderland, on Cleethorpes seafront, only a mile away from the East Marsh. After being sold at auction to Matthew Dowse (mentioned earlier on our route) and associates, the whale was dismantled and the soft tissue and offal was sold off, leaving the remaining set of gigantic bones. These bones, after curing and being joined together with nuts and bolts, were exhibited throughout the UK for many years, visiting major cities and holiday resorts as a travelling exhibition. In 1910 the whale bones even travelled on a liner over to New York to be exhibited on Coney Island Amusement Park, before returning to Cleethorpes a few years later. After spending 60 years in nearby Sidney Park in Cleethorpes the jaw bones are now the centre piece of this unique community garden in the heart of the East Marsh and only a mile away from where this, the largest rorqual whale ever to be brought ashore in the UK, landed in April 1892.
As you leave Your Place Grimsby through the front entrance on Wellington Street, cross the road towards the Grimsby Neighbourhood Centre, home of the Grimsby Neighbourhood Church, who founded Your Place in 2001. This major arterial road through the East Marsh was named after the great British military tactician, Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington, best remembered for his stunning victory over the French at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, over 200 years ago and still remembered for his courage and strength.
To your left as you continue walking along Weelsby Street, on the side wall of The Bun Shop, is another large hand painted mural, skillfully created by local artist Kevin Atkins and this time depicting scenes of Grimsby’s past conflicts with the Norsemen.
In AD 866 a Viking fleet of 20,000 warriors passed the East Marsh, along The Humber, on their way to seize control of York and conquer Northern England. The next time you’re on the beach at nearby Cleethorpes, try to imagine the scene, with over 1,000 Viking longships blocking the view of the Estuary as they showed their strength and power to everyone as they passed by, their drums beating to the rhythm of the oarsmen as 20,000 men rowed and roared at the terrified fisher folk on the East Marsh.
That day, well over 1000 years ago, these fearsome warriors would have been watched by the good people of the East Marsh as they arrived in the Humber. They would have been left wondering when these 20,000 warriors would attack Grimsby? The Marsh folk would have seen it coming, but they would have been powerless to defend themselves against such an army. From that day the Norse rule over England lasted for 400 years, after which we too, became Norsemen.
Carry on walking along Weelsby Street toward the large multi storey block, with what looks like a ships bridge on the top.
This simple but magnificent dock side building in the distance, was opened in 1964. The Ross Group was founded in 1920 and started life as a small family owned fish merchanting company. Over the decades their products diversified, starting with a small fleet of trawlers in the 1930’s. By the 1960’s when these 11 storey offices of Ross Group were built on Wickham Road, they had the largest fishing fleet in the world and the group even owned shipyards to build and repair their own vessels. After a series of mergers and acquisitions the Ross Group formed part of what is now Youngs Seafood, the UKs largest company in the frozen fish sector. From its beginnings on the East Marsh of Grimsby, this small company grew to become a leading player in the world market and Carl J. Ross became Grimsbys most successful entrepreneur.
Walking in a northerly direction along Weelsby Street, look to your left along Castle Street.
Here is a small terrace of beautifully kept white, one storey fishermen’s cottages. These lovely little compact cottages were until recently maintained and rented by the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen. Built to house injured or retired fishermen and their families.
This part of the East Marsh provided a secure lifeline to the thousands of fishermen from the East Marsh and beyond, who were in need of help and assistance. But it wasn’t always plain sailing for the fishermen or indeed the fisher lads that worked these trawlers, catching the fish that lead to Grimsby Docks being known as the largest fishing port in the world.
In Great Grimsby town centre, in front of the minster, is a statue dedicated to the many fishermen who died at sea, risking and quite often losing their lives to feed their families but there is no statue at all to the fisher lads, many of whom had no schooling at all until the first board school in Grimsby was built on Heneage Road.
During the early days of the Industrial Revolution, from the Lancashire cotton mills to the Yorkshire Coalfields, every production line needed its apprentices. Here in the East Marsh, boys as young as 12 would sign up to serve their skippers for a period of 4-5 years while learning their trade. Life aboard a trawler was very hard, very cold and very dangerous. Even swabbing the decks presented problems with 2 and half foot high bulwarks and the often slippery, wet and icy conditions. When the fishing industry in Grimsby started to rapidly expand during the 1850’s many local boys signed up as apprentices, but it was a tough life and they came home from their trips with tales of cold weather and cruelty. Their tales of hardship were so horrific that soon the skippers had to look elsewhere for their child labour. Workhouses proved a good supplier of young lads to the industry who, although in a malnourished and weakened state, were more than willing to escape the hardships and bleak living conditions and the gruel of workhouse life. The Merchant Shipping act of 1854, also allowed ship owners to order the immediate arrest and imprisonment of these newly signed up fisher lads, if they decided to run away from the ships when they reached docks and landed their catch. In a very short period of time the number of these workhouse fisher lads that were sent to Lincoln prison rose from 20, in 1874 to 244, in 1877. They were very young boys, some as young as12 and from the very same East marsh streets that you are walking today. They obviously preferred being chained up and imprisoned, to a life on the ocean wave aboard a Grimsby trawler.
In 1873 several national newspapers ran a paragraph taken from the Lincolnshire Chronicle about the Grimsby fisher lads. “Lincoln rings with indignation at the treatment these lads receive at the hands of the authority. These lads are brought by train from Grimsby and are heavily chained together in numbers of 3-5 and in this way they are marched through the busiest part of the high street of Lincoln to their destination more than a mile away at Lincoln jail”.
The maltreatment of these young workhouse boys,some as young as 12 on these Victorian fishing trawlers was now becoming well known throughout the country. Very quickly the workhouse authorities withdrew their support, leaving the Grimsby fishing fleets with more trouble crewing their trawlers, until it was suggested that the vast numbers of juvenile convicts, languishing in London’s jails could be used. These boys readily signed up as apprentices on Grimsby fishing boats. The options for them, were a life on the ocean wave or 5 years in a Victorian prison. The practice of jailing fisher lads for desertion slowed down over the coming years but never really stopped in Grimsby until the early 20th century. Nobody knows how many of these young boys slipped in icy weather and tumbled over the side into the North Sea during the storms. Unfortunately there is no memorial to these maltreated fisher lads, most of whom would have come from the East Marsh and no record of their lives during those bleak early days of the fishing industry in Grimsby is left.
Passing the junction with Castle Street, cross over to the other side of the road and a terrace of red brick houses.
This road is the only terrace in Grimsby to have escaped the ravages of 1960’s and 70’s, with a complete lack of pebble dash or cladding. This whole terrace is untouched red brick as it was originally designed, in the late1800’s, thanks to the named bricks on all of the houses and thanks to the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen that curated them for over a century. Every house has a large foundation stone below the front window, every upstairs bedroom has names of the benefactors imprinted on them. One house even has a large roundel of Queen Victoria on it placed below the upstairs window. It’s because of these additions to the terrace, built through public subscriptions, that none of the red brick terraced houses were ever painted, clad or pebble dashed.
At the end of this block look to your left. There are two small white terraces of fisherman’s cottages with a central communal green, called The Square, which were also, until recently, under the care of the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen. Carry on along Weelsby Street towards Ross House in the distance. The next smaller terrace is the same as the first with neither paint, pebble dashing or cladding to hide the dozens of named bricks around the windows and large foundation stones below the windows.
Continuing along Weelsby Street, cross over Bluestone Close and continue to the junction with Cope Street and what was Hilda Street Infant School in front of you. Turn left here, walking past what is now Weelsby Academy on your right, also formerly known as James Meadow’s Council School. This is one of 3 schools on the East Marsh providing primary education. Built in 1889, with a foundation stone just past the steps as you walk by the school towards Guildford Street.
Stop at the corner of Orchard Drive and Guildford Street. To your left the houses are newly built 2017/18 and replaced what used to be the other half of Guildford Street. These previous houses were in very poor condition and were compulsory purchased by the local authority. Note the newly created wide road and open spaces, bringing more light, air and sunshine to the residents. Note also that all of these modern houses have been built 3 foot up from the road surfaces. Any new house built on the East Marsh has to be built higher than the sea level, in case of flooding.
Turn right onto the old Guildford Street and what a contrast this gives.
Walk along Guildford Street towards Oxford Street and the tree covered, shaded children’s playground at the end of the street. This section of Guildford Street is known to the kids locally as Balamory, because of its prettily coloured houses of pink, pale blue, yellow and white, each a little different from the other, giving the feeling of a quaint seaside village street, sheltered from the storms.
Passing alongside the small but well used playground, turn right along Oxford Street, walking towards the seaward end of Weelsby Street.
Look to the distance along Oxford Street and note the large water tower at Chapmans Pond in Cleethorpes. This supplied fresh water to the town and resort for over a hundred years. The fresh water pond used to be a clay pit owned by Thomas Walwyn Chapman, until it reached the water level below ground and subsequently flooded. Turn left at the Weelsby Street junction and walk in a Northerly direction towards Cleethorpe Road. In the distance, at the end of the street is New Clee Railway Station.
Until recently Weelsby Street continued straight over what is now the school playing field behind you and went all the way to Stirling Street where New Clee Railway Station is.
Trains to and from Barton upon Humber still stop at this East Marsh Railway station many times a day. Great for a cheap, quick and easy day out to the countryside, maybe a picnic at Thorton Abbey or a stroll along the Humber Bank toward what was the largest single span suspension bridge in the world when it was opened in 1981. New Clee Railway Station on the East Marsh of Grimsby was opened in 1875 by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway company, ‘M.S. +L’, better known to its shareholders as the Money, Spent and Lost railway company and its passengers by the name of Mucky, Slow and Late Railway company.
During the Autumn of 1844, a group of influential businessmen and wealthy landowners met at the Red Lion pub in Caistor. With Lord Yarborough, Charles Anderson Pelham, as its chairman, a route between the main line at Gainsborough and Great Grimsby town centre was surveyed and the details were passed to the town council who agreed that a railway link would help bring improvement and prosperity to the area. On 1st March 1848, the Mayor of Great Grimsby, William Heaford Daubney, proclaimed that all the shops and offices in the town were to be closed for the day. The Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway company had arrived.
Although it took only 4 years from the initial discussions in a pub in Caistor, to the first passenger train arriving in Grimsby, it still took another 15 years for it to get to Cleethorpes (1863) and another 12 years after that (1875) for the East Marsh to get its own railway station with access from there to anywhere in the world.
Turn left at the corner of Grafton Street. As the docks were being developed, the workforce would have needed to be close at hand, so for the first time in its history, house building for the masses began on the East Marsh. Unfortunately for the fishermen and ancillary workers these terraces were hastily erected on unstable marsh land. Grafton street, being nearest to the docks, is the oldest, continually occupied terraced housing on the East Marsh. It was already developed when a town map was produced in 1887. The rest of the terraces, closer to the docks were demolished during the post war slum clearances, but Grafton Street survived. Take a look at the first, small, black building on your left hand side as you walk towards Sutherland Park. Throughout all of the Victorian housing estates around Grimsby and Cleethorpes, there are small buildings similar to this one which were used as workshops or storage units. When this one was built, pre 1887, this area of the town wasn’t in Grimsby, it was part of the parish of Clee with Weelsby. In 1935 this lock up workshop was occupied by W.T Gelsthorpe and sons, who were wholesale confectioners. In 1960 it was being used by George Bull Joiners and in 1980 it was Mirracare double glazing workshop. Recently converted into a 2 bedroom house, this heritage workshop, like so many others that you have passed today, is now assured of at least another 100 years more life
Walk along Grafton Street towards Sutherland Park and stroll through this wooded, green open space with picnic benches, zip wire and lots of interesting play equipment.
Prior to the 1970s this area was made up of substandard houses and light industrial units tightly packed together, cheek by jowl, until they were cleared as the towns prosperity began to rise once again in this area following the intense heavy bombing and the dropping of incendiary devices (butterfly bombs) during World War II.
On the night of 19 August 1940, only months after the declaration of war, four high explosive bombs were dropped on the Wellowgate area of central Grimsby. During the next few years the nazi war machine, aiming to wipe out the East Marsh docklands, which were a major food supplier to the rest of the UK, focussed their aim and in total over 6000 houses, churches, businesses and shops were badly damaged or totally destroyed by the intense bombing campaign, with countless men, women and children left homeless and without work…….. or worse.
Leaving Sutherland Park at Victor Street, cross the road here towards a cycle and footpath that follows the route of John Street
Victor street was named after Prince Albert Victor, son of Queen Victoria, destined to become the heir to the throne, but died young. The Ice House, to your left, is now a religious centre but, as its name suggests, this very large, square, stark and unornamented building was built solely to store ice.
The largest fishing fleet in the world, based in the East Marsh, needed vast quantities of ice to keep their catch fresh for market, especially when returning to docks in the summer with a full haul. There were also times when the ships needed less ice, so the nearby Ice Factory on Gorton Street, again on the East Marsh, would send its excess ice to the Ice House for storage in this temperature controlled facility. The nearby Ice Factory, built in 1901, was the first and largest ice producing factory in the world. At its most productive this East Marsh factory could produce up to 1,500 tonnes of ice every day. Although the Ice factory on Gorton Street is now crumbling after decades of abandonment, plans are afoot to turn the building into a hotel and events venue. The ice factory is a historic grade 2* listed building containing some of the World’s most historically important Victorian refrigeration machinery.
Follow the footpath along the route of the old John Street, past another well presented childrens playground and picnic area on your left and lots of newly planted trees on your right. It won’t be long before this becomes yet another tree shaded areas for young families to enjoy. As you follow this footpath look all around in front and to the left hand side of you.
Clearly visible are the clock tower of the 1st Board school, the steeple of St Mary’s on the Sea, Strand Academy School and The Victoria Flour Mills in the distance.
At the end of this meandering footpath you will be standing at the junction of Albion Street and Kent Street. From here glance to your right, above the rooftops behind Cleethorpe road. Here you can see the rotating cowls on the rooftops of the smokehouses on Riby Street, that change direction with the wind to ensure that it doesn’t blow back down the smokehouse chimneys and over fuel the smouldering embers below.
In front of you, in the distance, is Victoria Flour Mills and grain silo. Although not on the East Marsh, it would have certainly employed many of its residents. William Marshall, born in Grimsby in1765 began his milling career with a small wind powered post mill near to the river Freshney. After a series of shrewd investments William Marshall and his sons invested in the areas first steam powered flour mill in 1818 which, when fed with an abundance of grain and coal arriving in the newly built Alexandra dock in the early 19th century, enabled these imposing Victorian buildings to be erected. With the decline in the use of Alexandra dock, due to being repeatedly silted, trade to and from this mill declined and although there were later attempts at reviving its fortunes, first by Spillers and then the Nickerson group, the mills closed for business in the mid 20th century. Now partly converted into dockside apartments they create an imposing feature on the East Marsh skyline.
Very near to the Victoria flourmill is the bridge that joins the East Marsh and the West Marsh, over on the far side of Alexandra dock. Corporation Bridge, although not on the East Marsh was opened by His Majesty The Prince of Wales on July 19th 1928. This bascule Bridge replaced an earlier swing bridge and allowed easy access from the fully developed East Marsh to this prime reclaimed land, ready for development on the West Marsh.
Cross over to the left hand side of Kent Street, where you will get your first glimpse of the clock tower of the Dock offices.
The Dock offices are on Royal Street. This imposing landmark building overlooking the Royal Dock was built in 1885 and is now owned by Associated British Ports. In front of the building and unfortunately hidden from public view is a magnificent statue of Prince Albert of Saxe – Coburg and Gotha who was the husband of Queen Victoria 1819 – 1861. Prince Albert died young, leaving Queen Victoria in mourning for the rest of her life. This large bronze statue, showing Prince Albert in his Royal Garter robes was first unveiled in 1879 after being donated to the town by Sir Edward Watkin, chairman of the Manchester/Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. This exquisite East Marsh Sculpture is a high quality copy of a statue in Coburg, Germany and had not always spent its days hidden from sight under a flyover near Riby Square. For nearly 100 years it took pride of place in Prince Albert Memorial Gardens, between the customs house and the Railway Hotel. The statue was relocated to an Associated British Ports private car park in 1966 and left, unfortunately out of sight, with his back to Grimsby.
Continue walking along Kent Street towards Freeman Street. On your right you will see a large brick building to your right with semi – circular iron grilles at the roof level. This is Strand Academy. This building was opened in 1912 by Lady Doughty, wife of George Doughty, fishing magnate and member of Parliament for Grimsby. In January 1912, Mr. Ricketts, a teacher at the school wrote “I was appointed as a teacher at Strand Street School. Strand Street was in a very poor district. Surrounding the School were 5 public houses and two drinking clubs, drunkenness was common, hence many came to school ill fed, badly clothed and some without boots or stockings”. As well as pubs and clubs, this area of the East Marsh contained lots of light industry, supplying the ancillary trades needed for the fishing industry and was very smoky, sooty and dirty. It was thought that the only way the children would get any fresh air would be to situate the school playground on the roof away from the mass of chimneys. The semi circular grills at roof level allowed light and air through.
Continue along Kent Street towards Freeman Street and just before you reach the Molson Centre on your left, look to your right behind the Youth Zone skateboard park and basketball courts and above the rooftops of the East Marsh premier 184 seat Caxtons Theatre, for a glimpse of the top of the largest landmark on the East Marsh, the Dock Tower
As you reach Freeman Street and the final leg of our journey, cross over via the zebra crossing, adjacent to the recently constructed YMCA building. Look to your right, towards Riby Square and you will see the Dock Tower in all its glory.
The Dock Tower, on the East Marsh of Grimsby, is a grade one listed building and still dominates the Grimsby skyline. Designed by James William Wild and following the style of the Palazzo Pubblico in Sienna Italy, this iconic landmark stands tall and proud at the entrance to the docks, built in 1851 and 300 feet high, the Dock Towers’ intricately designed exterior conceals a gigantic water tank within its walls, capable of holding 33,000 gallons of water. This water tank was effortlessly filled by two 25 HP engines which could lift the water 200 feet above the level of the docks. Once there, the pressure of this enormous tank of water had the power to open and close the lock gates with ease. It took 1 million bricks to build the Dock Tower and all of them were made from the clay that was dug out of the Dock Basin, during its construction.
Continue along Freeman Street and your return to Freeman Street Market and its statue of Grim the Fisherman, founder of this historic town.
Before crossing Freeman Street and returning to East Marsh’s award winning market complex, stop for a moment at the Corporation Arms on the corner of Freeman Street and Nelson Street. The Corporation Arms received its first license to sell alcohol in 1865 following the opening of the Docks which saw a large influx of workers into the area. Mentioned in an advert in the Lincolnshire Chronicle in 1866 it describes this hotels exceptional quality, with superior accommodation for travellers and commercial gentlemen. Despite many prosecutions for harbouring prostitutes, attempted murders and destructive fires, the Corporation Arms is the only pub on the East Marsh to be listed in Camra’s Real Ale Heritage Pubs Booklet, described as one of the best historic interiors in the region. The pubs old, panelled smoke room is described as “a truly splendid historic interior of a once proud Victorian pub”.
Cross Freeman Street returning to its award winning covered market and the end of the Your Place History, Heritage and Health Trail of the East Marsh.
Thank you for travelling on this journey with us and we hope that as well as getting some fresh air and exercise, you may all have learned a little more about the importance of the East Marsh to the cultural and industrial heritage of this great town of Great Grimsby.