Hull City in their first season – the so-called ‘friendly season’- played a match at Dairycoates in March 1905, on a Saturday when the Boulevard stadium was occupied by Hull FC for their cup tie with Hunslet. Across the city, Hull Kingston Rovers entertained Leeds in the same cup competition. The attendance of approximately 400 for the game was the lowest home crowd of the campaign (understandable given the timing of the fixture, the modest opposition and the important rival matches taking place at the Boulevard nearby and Craven Park).

The connections between Hull City and the Dairycoates venue were long-established, and it would have felt like a home-coming of sorts for several people at the club. Local cricketers and footballers would have been very familiar with the ground and the Locomotive Inn, which was often used as dressing rooms by teams using the field. The story of the growth of Dairycoates as a district is similar to many others in the late nineteenth century, and the importance of its playing fields in the Hull sporting world of the time is significant.

This area of southwest Hull witnessed a rapid industrialisation in the final third of the nineteenth century, being transformed from a rural hamlet into a densely- populated quarter that housed countless fishing and railway industry workers who earned their livings close by.

This phenomenon was repeated in countless other locations elsewhere in Britain, but Dairycoates maintained an area of land given over to sporting activities as housing and industrial developments slowly surrounded it. Although the area did not throw up any notable football teams or a high number of sports clubs, the location of the fields on the edge of town, next to a populous suburb and easily reachable by tram ensured that it became a noted sporting venue.

Various contemporary newspaper accounts portray the conditions of the neighbourhood, often described in street- by- street detail, such as this one entitled ‘Squalid Hull’ from the Eastern Morning News in December 1883:-

We follow the tram-car to its stopping place at Dairycoates. Here the semi-rural characteristics are fast disappearing, and if the responsible parties do not w1ake up, this little cluster of streets and lanes that might be sweet and healthy , will slide into squalor and dilapidation. The back of Zebron-terrace has a wretched and uncared-for loo. But there are worse spots than this; places where the stench of decaying vegetables and defective sanitary arrangements expose even the passer-by to serious risks. In Chapel-terrace there are some filthy houses , the owner of which, as well as the people who herd in them, must entertain singular views as to the rights and duties of property. The good Wesleyans who “hold the fort” here must get up very early in the morning if they are to succeed in persuading the denizens of these hovels that the Christian life is intended for them.

Turning our faces townward we come to Albert-street, first of a series built on marsh land of much the same quality as the Newington site. Right and left ran terraces of small houses, some of which present a very smart and solid appearance; others are “jerry” built, and will never reflect credit on owner or occupier. On the right side of Albert-terrace a row of coarsely-grained half-finished cottages, with boarded -up doorways and window openings, was just being taken in hand after a long interval. We pitied the tenants of the future, and wondered whether the builder would burn a few tons of coal in them before they ranked as “dwelling-houses.”

At the end of this street , near the new railway embankment running parallel with the fish dock, lies a waste ground, with a pool, the chief boundary of which is the last house in the row. What a breeding place for fever and ague. The children were wading through it to reach their back doors. Emily’s-terrace has a neglected air. A gypsy encampment is appropriately pitched hard by. West Dock-avenue comes next, and its east side to boat of, at all events. Cartwright’s Hotel is at the corner; it is a beacon to many a wanderer, doubtless. We found it well-filled with fishermen, dock and railway employees and others at midday; some of them were consuming their lunch, and glad of something to wash it down. One of the specialities of the places was “Timothy- 2 ½ d a pint”. We found ourselves speculating as to the origin of this term, and its applicability to the particular compound we were recommended to try. We concluded that it was an illusion to the Apostle Paul’s sustaining junior, and the prescription which was given him; though whether the subtle suggestion that the Hull fisherfolk were to drink “for their stomach’s sake and their often infirmities” would, as the phrase goes, “hold water,” we dare not affirm. Walcot-street is about up to the average of the neighbourhood. Belle Vue-terrace must be an ironical account of the outlook there. Livingstone-terrace is mean in its appointment . Florence-terrace has planks running in front of the doors, which, we suppose, ensures a firm footing in the absence of a paved pathway. The street terminates in a waste plot of considerable extent, which is covered with broken pots and pans, midden refuse, and irregular mounds of mud. A large disused wooden shanty adds to the picturesque desolation of the scene, and we could not but be struck by the mingled irony and pathos of the inscription thereon, which ran thus:- “The police have orders to take into custody anyone depositing rubbish on this land.”

Some ten years later, general living conditions were not much better as this Hull Daily Mail article of September 189*2 relates:-

“Hessle-road is certainly not a thoroughfare one can walk down with any degree of pleasure. Eyesores in the shape of waste land, rubbish heap plots, and dilapidated buildings meet your vision almost wherever you turn. Right up as far as Dairycoates street corner building plots meet the eye, most of them used for the disposal of rubbish. At the tram terminus, and where the curbing ends, the road itself is in a filthy state. Dark, slimy water, in green and stagnant pools, occupies the whole of the roadside on the left; it is a veritable stinking quagmire, and a disgrace to the town.”

The rapid and unregulated growth of the district outpaced any attempts to impose order on it, and the ground upon which of was built was slow-draining and marshy.

But occasionally snippets are given about the sporting activities there and the space in which many football, rugby and cricket games took place. On February 11th 1897, the Hull Daily Mail’s ‘Full Back” wrote:-

The Way to the Ground

I have been asked to notify that the entrance to the Dairycoates (N.E.R.) ground. Where the Hull and Grimsby inter-League match will take place on Saturday, is by way of the footpath opposite the tram terminus on the Hessle-road, and by Creighton’s oil tanks. All members of the club will have to pay for admission to the field.

It was in April that year? that the Albert United Cricket Club made the field their home after their previous ground opposite the Star and Garter on Hessle Road was swallowed up by yet more housing developments.

A match report by the Hull Daily Mail’s senior sports journalist ‘Athleo’ in October the following year provides a glimpse of the rudimentary facilities offered by the new enclosure:-

Yesterday I trotted down to the Dairycoates ground to witness the struggle between Hull Town Thursday and Botanic.

A disused railway wagon which rejoices in the name of “Press box,” was in charge of an individual, who as a member of the Dairycoates Club, “kept guard” with locked doors. In vain the Press applied for admission but the faithful custodian was adamant, and true to his self-imposed task. He kept the reporters in the cold whilst he calmly viewed the game “all on his own,” from comfortable quarters.

ATHLEO 7 OCT 1898

Five years later, from the same newspaper, another brief description of what it was like to watch sport there . A Hull and East Riding Rugby Union match against Castleford attracted 8,000 spectators and was described thus:-

A SPECTATOR’S SKETCH AT DAIRYCOATES

I had managed to wedge myself very securely amongst the democratic portion of the great football crowd at Dairycoates on Saturday. A stranger might have varied watching the crowd swaying to and fro by glancing around for the dairy cow pastures, or the honest farmers sowing corn.

……”You let him alone. ‘e’s doing it alright,” came the response from a leather lunged individual perched with a crowd of others, on the roofs of the old N.E.R. “Pulmans,” which the East Riding authorities use for toilet seclusion. 24 MARCH 1903

Occasionally a piece would appear in the local press which portrayed Dairycoates in a less sensationalistic way, focusing not on its ugliness but on its inhabitants and their lives:-

Dairycoates I mean the old Dairycoates of which Carlton-street is about the centre, and not that portion of the little township which is now covered with large dwelling houses of every description – has scarcely a family resident in it that is not connected with the railway, the headquarters of which are at the junction.

Engine- drivers abound here, and as regards some of them, their fathers and grandfathers were engine- drivers before them. The very neighbourhood is suggestive of trains and signal lamps, and nearly every man you meet has a face besmeared with honest toil and coal dust.

In bidding adieu to Dairycoates to-day I can say that all the talk in the licensed houses and barbers’ shops thereabouts from morning till night, is of engines, engine-driving and the news of the line, as Dairycoates is a community of itself, and each family there knows everything about its own members and the families of others too. ARGUS 9 AGUST 1906 HDM

A description from the Leeds paper the Yorkshire Post in June 1906 informs its readers of this new industrial suburb of the city and its origins

The New Parish of Dairycoates Hull.

Like the rest of Newington, Dairycoates is a district of recent growth , which has sprung up during the past quarter of a century on the Wold Carr and Wold Ings, part of the open grounds which until a century and a half ago formed, with Hessle Common and the Hessle Ings, the great wastes and swamps separating Hull from Hessle. Dairycoates takes its name from a smaller portion of these wastes now occupied by railway sidings, which in the oldest documents were named the “Cow Growths,” and afterwards probably when farms sprang up, as the Dairy cotes or Dairy cottages.

The Locomotive Inn- where it was and why it was important

In the 1902/3 season, the original amateur Hull City played their home games on Dairycoates, and their dressing rooms were at the nearby Locomotive Inn.

The Locomotive Inn was situated at no 616 Hessle Rd on the northern side of Hessle Road in a row of shops and and tradesmen’s premises, bounded by Carlton Street at the eastern end and by a group of N.E.R. railway cottages at the western end. It had been used for a variety of purposes over the second half of the nineteenth century and into the early part of the twentieth. It was demolished in 1962 when the Hessel Road flyover was built, and was situated at the terminus of the Hessle Road tram line, making it easily accessible from all parts of the city. As well as sporting events, the Locomotive has been used for coroners’ inquests, political rallies and club meetings. In the 1890s it became established as a starting point for harrier runs for clubs such as Speedwell , Stepney , Bethell and Hull, who would start their cross country runs around the surrounding land from the Inn. Typically 6 or mile runs, as far north as Springhead Waterworks and often along the Humber banks, there would usually be a ‘hare’ and a chasing pack of ‘hounds’ in pursuit. Its location made it something of a landmark and focal point for sporting activity.

The Locomotive was right on the edge of town, beyond it to the west open fields leading eventually to the village of Hessle. Across Hessle Road there lay the large grassy area referred to in accounts of sporting activity, simply as ‘Dairycoates’. The precise area where matches took place varied over the decades as changes of use, industrial activity and building work combined to impact the space available.

Various sports teams played on Dairycoates. Cricket clubs included the Congos (real name Hessle Road Congregationalists), Albert United. Central Hull Thursday and South Myton. Rugby clubs such as White Rose played matches there. In 1899 dog racing events were also held on the field.

Numerous football clubs used the enclosure there. Hull Tradesmen, West Hull Juniors, Kingston Amateurs, N.E.R., Hull Thursday, Balmoral and many others all played home games here. It was used as a neutral venue for important local football games such as Hull v Grimsby in 1897 (a challenge match between local selections from respective district teams), and the following year Beverley Church Institute played Bon Marche there in a local final.

Hull AFC used it for a game versus Hessle in the 1901/1902 season instead of their usual Bull Lane ground. Recognising its merits, the same club (having renamed themselves Hull City) used it in the 1902/3 season as their home ground, abandoning their Bull Lane home which had been earmarked for housing development. By now, its proximity to the Hessle Road tram terminus and the nearby densely- packed residential areas made it a very attractive location for clubs seeking to attract large numbers of spectators.

After the rugby grounds of the Boulevard and Craven Park, appeared to be the next best option for ant club hoping to attract a crowd in something like an enclosure. Mindful of this and the continuing difficulties of establishing a location for Association, an appeal was launched in 1903 by the ERFA to raise funds to secure such a place. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thus having to play at Dairycoates in 1905 was an easy decision to make for the club, who would have been more familiar with the venue than their new ‘home’ at the Boulevard.

In this old postcard by Hull photographers Parrish and Berry, the Locomotive can be seen in the parade of buildings to the right. Pickersgill’s Stores can be seen on the corner of Carlton Street and Hessle Road, further along is the light-coloured flat-roofed Inn, slightly higher than the buildings to its left. An electric tram marked D (for Dairycoates) at the terminus can be seen as well as a horse drawn one. Across the road from the Locomotive, advertising hoardings obscure the view of the fields on which matches were played. As well as providing advertising revenue, the hoardings prevented spectators watching from outside the enclosure.

Over a century later, the scene is recognisable. All the buildings have long since been demolished, and the formerly busy road is now only for access to the Carlton Business Park, with through traffic diverted on the nearby flyover to Gypsyville. The fields, on which so much sport was played over several decades, are now the site of a large industrial estate, and an electricity substation next to the flyover occupies the area that was once bounded by the advertising hoardings . Of this once renowned area of sporting activity, nothing remains.