Inscribed boundary stones survived the Hull Blitz and demolition
Inscribed boundary stone that was saved from the Springhead Locomotive Works in Hull(Image: pottersauction.co.uk)
Three pieces of a Victorian Hull locomotive works that miraculously survived demolition of the site are to go under the hammer in an auction on Thursday, August 27, after being found buried under a pile of junk in a North Lincolnshire garden shed. The Springhead Locomotive Works was the main engine repair and preparation centre of the Hull & Barnsley Railway, a 53-mile line that was opened in 1885 to link the coalfields of South Yorkshire with the Hull docks.
Located four miles west of the city centre, Springhead was downgraded to mere shed status after becoming part of LNER in 1923 and was finally closed by British Rail in 1961. The demolition men moved in shortly afterwards to level the site.
It was during the clearance that engine driver Walter Precious went along to take a last look at his one time workplace – and amid the rubble he spotted three of the inscribed sandstone blocks that had been built into the walls of the works back in 1885 to indicate site boundaries. They were undamaged.
Walter asked if he could save them. “Help yourself”, he was told, and he wheel-barrowed them a quarter-of-a-mile to his home where they became a decorative plant stand in the back garden.
They were eventually inherited by Walter’s son, David, another railwayman, who lived at Crowle on the Isle of Axholme. That is where they were found a few months ago, buried under a pile of old junk in a corner of his garden shed.
Auctioneer Paul Potter said: “Ironically having survived the WW2 Blitz on Hull, when the Luftwaffe missed the Springhead shed, and then the demolition of the site, the ancient Hull & Barnsley boundary blocks very nearly came to grief by accident. When members of the family who were clearing the house following David’s death last year came across them buried under old tools and other old junk they were initially dismissed as ‘just a few old stones – we’ll dump them’.
“Fortunately David’s sister, Margaret, was present. As an eight-year-old girl she had seen their father barrow them in from the Springhead demolition.
“She knew exactly what they were and got the chaps to uncover them and expose the inscription.” Paul said: “The three sandstone blocks are all from the northern boundary of the locomotive works and are inscribed H & B Rly Co and the actual distance from the face of the stone to the boundary, in each case less than two feet.
“Family members suggested that Margaret might like to take the stones to her home but as she lives in Northumberland, she took the view that they wouldn’t mean anything to anybody up there and that it was better that they had the chance to go into a collection in this area.” Paul added: “Needless to say they are amongst the most unusual pieces of railwayana that we have ever seen going under the hammer.”
Thursday’s auction also includes a large collection of East Yorkshire steam railway photographs – more than 70 – many of them shot by Walter Precious’s brother Alf, another railway enthusiast. They include shots of the Springhead works and locomotives and crews ranging from the Hull & Barnsley era through to the arrival of diesel engines.
The catalogue for the sale is available online at pottersauction.co.uk and the auction, which is exclusively online, begins at 10.30am on Thursday.
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