HANDS ON HISTORY MUSEUM - HULL
HANDS ON HISTORY MUSEUM
The Hands on History Museum in Hull is located in the old Grammar School (where William Wilberforce studied) in Trinity Square (by the Church / Minster). It is only open on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month (I am not quite sure why this is, but anyway...)
I had been wanting to go for some time but always seemed to be busy on the days it was open. However, a few weeks ago we finally made it. I enjoyed our visit and found it very interesting. It was also very good for demonstrating to the children how things were in the ‘olden days’ and to appreciate just quite how lucky / spoilt they are in our modern day society...
On the ground floor you will find the old schoolroom complete with old desks and slates to write on. There were quite a few interactive things in here such as old toys which the children enjoyed playing with. They were less impressed by the ‘dressing up as a child chimney sweep’ bit, especially when I read out the advert from this Victorian era which was on the wall and read like this: “WANTED – CHIMNEY SWEEP (Climbing Boy) To work for Master Sweep. Will be fed and clothed. Must be aged between 5-10 years old . Must be able to fit into chimneys as small as 30cm wide. Orphan ideal or the Master Sweep is willing to buy a boy from his family” Can you imagine???? This shocked me, let alone the children who I think could not even compute the sheer horror of this...There was another one for a Mill Worker “ must be aged 6 years or over. Hours of work Monday-Saturday. 6am to 7pm.” Those poor children in those days...these lucky children in our days!
Also on the ground floor is a recreation of what some streets were like where you would have public lavatories which the whole street would have to share and demonstrations of old pumps where you would get your water.
Upstairs there is an Egyptian section which is also very interesting with lots of Egyptian artefacts and a proper Egyptian mummy. There is also a History of Hull section which had a wealth of photos and memorabilia in it. I was, however, not very impressed at one section which had some ‘memorabilia’ in it which included a ‘Twinkle’ magazine and some Enid Blyton books which I definitely had as a child, so it is now official – things from my childhood are now on display as relics. The Child, when I showed him these items and said I had read them, asked if that meant I was ancient?? Sigh.
On leaving the museum, we had a quick look in the Trinity Indoor Market (you can access this from Trinity Square). I had also not been in here in years – ooh la la how it has changed! There are all sorts of yummy food stalls to go at, including Tapasya (Indian food) , a falafel stand and a very nice-looking Greek gyros (kebabs) stand to name but a few things on offer. We were dashing as we wanted to get to the Transport (Streetlife) Museum (which is just around the corner) before it closed so didn’t stop for food but I am definitely going to go back as it looked particularly tasty.
Useful Information
The Hands on History Museum is open on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month from 12-4pm. It is free entry.
The Trinity Market is open from 7.30 am to 5pm.
Links:
www.hcandl.co.uk/museums-and-galleries/hands-history-museum/hands-history-museum