Jean told me that the Mizzen Road estate was known as the Ghost Estate because no-one wanted to move in there. They were afraid of flooding being so close to the river. The irony is that the terrible flooding in the city - exactly one year ago today - was not caused by the river but by such heavy rain that the surface water couldn't run away fast enough. There are still people living in caravans in their front gardens while their homes are being rebuilt. We saw some today. You can view the map here.
We then moved to finish an area of Wincolmlee, nearer the heart of the city, but still near the river. This is an industrial area with the usual mix of new metal sheds and some old brick buildings with every type of business. In amongst this there is a slightly incongruous, rather splendid building being used as a care home.
We still need to add the landuse tags for the Wincolmlee area. We are getting close to completing half of the city.
actually for the record, i have just been informed that the mizzen road estate is actually called the 'ghost estate' due to a murder which happened shortly after the estate first opened.
ReplyDeleteapparently a guy chopped up his wife and disposed of the parts in various bins across the estate.
this has apparently been verified by city's own archives.
The Ghost Estate in Hull was so named because when it was built in the 1960's it used a new heating system based on hot air which then failed safety tests.
ReplyDeleteAll of the properties had to have the systems replaced which took over a year, during which time the entire estate was empty despite all the houses being on the face of it completed and ready for people to move in.
Hence it's "Ghostly" tag.
Nothing to do with murders or flooding I'm afraid
GARY
It was called ghost estate because there was alot of empty newly built properties back in the early 60s , the reason for this was the sewerage plant which back then was quite close to the properties and people where concerned about the smell.The house prices fell and people then bought them, not much changes. There was no hot air in our house just a coal fire with a coal bunker outside
ReplyDeleteits very spooky down there tho innitt.
ReplyDeleteGhost estate is nicknamed that because of the drains and it took a while to sort out hence no one moved in. Not because of murders or heating.
ReplyDelete