The Pottery District built up quickly in the early part of the C19th whilst Patrick Ground Lane remained fairly open with only a few buildings lining this route. The 1809 Hull and Myton Improvement Act mentions the lane, and contracts were subsequently issued to make the lane "in like manner as Pinfold Lane" implying the poor state of the roadway.

Vauxhall Tevern, 1 Hessle Road, Hull Early maps show how open the lane was, with the only concentration of buildings located around the (still standing) Vauxhall Tavern in the area between Ropery and Cent Per Cent (later St James) Street. The Jews' Burial Ground, closed in 1861 and still visible near the the Tavern, would have been a very familiar sight at this time. The northern side of the lane is dominated by two large gardens, Simpson's Gardens and Hare's Gardens.

An advertisement from 1812 for a plot of land which later became the popular summer picnic site known as Brazil Tea Gardens, adjacent to Coltman Street, describes the area thus:

. . . this unexpected lease of 2,700 square yards of valuable garden ground in Patrick Ground Lane, in the Lordship of Myton, within a quarter of an hour's walk from the town by roads improving in every direction, containing about 10,000 rose trees and also a great number of other trees and several beds of strawberries . .
A later purchase of the site in 1820 by George Liddell, the banker, saw the building of several houses. By 1826, the directory lists twenty seven different residents, five being in Villa Place, built opposite Commerce Lane and into Hare's Gardens. It would appear to have been an affluent area at this time as it was occupied by a solicitor, a merchant, two gentlemen and a book-keeper. The rest of the residents consisted of mainly rural occupations such as cart owner, corn miller, seedsman and gardener. The Vauxhall Tavern is also mentioned.

It was becoming evident that Patrick Ground Lane and the rough track leading to Hessle were clearly unsuitable as an effective communications route. From the start of the C19th many wealthy influential merchants had begun to emigrate from the town centre to new large mansions in the rapidly-developing villages of North Ferriby and Hessle. Clearly, the construction of a good road between the business centre of Hull and the Merchants' new mansions was essential.

Charles Frost, a Hull solicitor, was the main instigator of the new turnpike road from Hull to Hessle. He received strong support from the majority of the local estate owners, the primary opposition coming from the competition-fearing trustees of the Hull/Anlaby/Kirkella turnpike (now Anlaby Road).

An Act enabling the turnpike was passed and the first tolls collected on the 28th day of July, 1825. For some twenty years, the road was identified on the map as Hessle New Road, reverting to the shortened Hessle Road by the 1940s. Patrick Ground Lane was no more. A toll bar was erected"a quarter of a mile to the west of Coulman Street' - roughly where Division Road is currently located. At this time, the toll bar was right on the town and county boundary, where the road was intersected by Galley Clough Lane which ran southwards along the present-day route of Division Road and West Dock Avenue, feeding outwards to the Humber. The road ceased to be a turnpike (toll road) in 1873.

Transcript of the entry of "professions and trades" in Pigot's Directory of 1834.
Transcript of the entry of "professions and trades" in White's Directory of 1840.

Next Page - Hessle Road in 1853

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A very special thanks to Hull Local Studies Library for their help with our research projects.