Where to Stay in Kingston upon Hull, England

What is Kingston upon Hull known for?

Its trawlers once sailed from here to the far north, a story told at the Hull Maritime Museum and aboard the trawler Arctic Corsair by the water. The Deep, a landmark aquarium, stands out where the River Hull runs into the Humber Estuary. Wilberforce House marks the birthplace of the man who led the fight against the slave trade.

The Ferens Art Gallery holds the city's paintings in the centre.

What are the main landmarks in Kingston upon Hull?

The Deep dominates the estuary front. The aquarium stands over the water where the River Hull joins the Humber Estuary. In the Old Town, Hull Minster raises its great medieval bulk, and Wilberforce House keeps the abolitionist's birthplace close by.

The Hull Maritime Museum and the moored Arctic Corsair tell the fishing story between them. Older still is the Hull and East Riding Museum with its Roman finds, while the Ferens Art Gallery and the Streetlife Museum of Transport fill out the rest.

What is the history of Kingston upon Hull?

Hull began as a medieval port. A settlement grew where the River Hull runs into the Humber from around the year 1101, and its name, the king's town on the Hull, records how it later passed into the hands of the crown. The Humber carried it from the start.

Trade flowed out through the estuary to the North Sea, and the town prospered on wool, wine and, in time, the great fishing fleets that made its name. The sea shaped everything that followed. Hull sent its trawlers to the northern grounds, and the old fleet is remembered now at the Hull Maritime Museum and on the moored Arctic Corsair.

The town raised Hull Minster over its centre and left grand merchants' houses like Blaydes House along the water. Here too was born William Wilberforce, whose home survives as Wilberforce House and whose stand against the slave trade the city still marks with the Wilberforce Monument. When the fishing faded, the estuary front was rebuilt around The Deep.

The Humber runs past it all, the reason the town exists.

Where is Kingston upon Hull?

Hull stands where the River Hull meets the Humber Estuary, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The city sits on the north bank of the wide Humber, a short way inland from where the estuary opens into the North Sea. Flat, low country spreads around it, the drained land of the East Riding of Yorkshire reaching back from the water.

The tidal Humber is broad here. The river gives the city both its harbour and its name.

What is the climate of Kingston upon Hull?

Hull has a mild, fairly dry maritime climate on its estuary. Sheltered somewhat inland from the open North Sea up the Humber, it sees less rain than the west of England, though the east coast brings its share of grey, raw days. Winters are cool with few hard frosts, tempered by the tidal water; summers stay warm rather than hot.

Sea fret can roll in off the Humber. The estuary keeps the air moving.

How do you get to Kingston upon Hull?

Hull sits at the end of its own lines. Railways run in from the west across Yorkshire to the city's terminus near the centre, and the roads follow the north bank of the Humber Estuary to reach it. By sea, the port keeps its links across the North Sea from the estuary docks, a route it has long worked.

This is the far corner of the East Riding of Yorkshire, reached across flat and open land. The approach is level throughout. From the station the Old Town and the waterfront are a short walk apart.