Soon to become Phil Lowe Way, there’s a little street in Hull with a big history, as our medieval byways correspondent Angus Young discovers.
An ancient route in East Hull is currently in the news with plans to change its name. Poorhouse Lane runs south from Preston Road to Great Field Lane with most of it now a quiet walkway and cyclepath. However, part of the lane is probably better known as the main access road at Hull KR’s adjacent Sewell Group Craven Park stadium.
Following the death of Hull KR legend Phil Lowe last year, the club submitted an official request to the city council to have the lane re-named after the former second-row forward. Earlier this month, the council formally approved the change to Phil Lowe Way and also agreed to install a new information board where the route turns into a cycleway. The board will tell the history of Poorhouse Lane which dates back to at least 1763.
In that year an Enclosure Plan was drawn up identifying the ownership of plots of land in the immediate area. The Plan, which is currently held in the archives of the Hull History Centre, shows a building on one particular plot of land labelled ‘Poor’. Both the building and the written reference almost certainly point to this being the location of what was a parish poor house.
The parish in question was Marfleet, originally a tiny settlement with a recorded population of just twelve taxpayers in 1297. It became an independent parish in the early 18th century after splitting from its mother church in Paull but remained predominantly agricultural. To underline how slowly it developed, by 1743 only 22 families were listed as living in the parish.
As well as identifying the poor house, the Enclosure Plan reveals some of the local landowners of the day. To the south, the name Francis Dring looms large. He was a descendant of Nathaniel Dring who had inherited land and manorial rights, including the Marfleet manor house itself. To the north, two slabs of land are identified as being owned by Trinity House and Robert Harpham.
While surrounding plots of land were used to keep sheep and cattle, the poor house acted as an outpost of Marfleet’s medieval church St. Giles. First mentioned in 1217 and nearing the end of its functional use in 1763 (it was replaced by a new church 30 years later), the church and its officials were responsible for administering relief for the poor which included food, clothing and, in some cases, money. Funds for relief came from taxes paid by people living in the parish as well as landowners.
Some parishes also owned cottages which were let to the poor and the building identified on the Marfleet Enclosure Plan seems to have been something similar. As the lane it stood on would eventually be called Poorhouse Lane, it’s reasonable to assume those who lived there were struggling to survive. Elsewhere, however, some parishes provided cottages for farm labourers with large families who were not entitled to relief.
The Marfleet paupers probably worked on local farms without receiving any direct payments. Instead they were given a roof over their heads, bedding, coal and basic utensils, including a drinking tin, a spoon, a knife, a fork, a chair and a chamber pot. Relief also covered rent, any repairs needed to the building and, in most cases, funeral costs. Back in the late 18th century, the cost of a pauper’s funeral in Marfleet would have been met by the parish’s relief funds with a coffin costing seven shillings and a burial three shillings.