Wilmington, Kingston upon Hull
Wilmington is bounded by the River Hull to the west, with Wincolmlee and Sculcoates beyond; Stoneferry is to the north; and to the south is the area known as The Groves in Drypool; to the east is Summergangs and the Garden Village.
[2] Larger businesses and activities include the Robin Concrete Waste Disposal Ltd. plant,[3] the Stagecoach Hull bus depot.
[8][map 2] By the mid 1850s development in Wilmington included the buildings of the glass works; a cement works and brick field; and in the southern part along the river a number of industrial buildings including the Phoenix Mill (oil), and Wilmington (oil and glue) and Greenland yards.
[9] The Hull and Hornsea Railway opened in 1864, initially terminating at Wilmington station,[map 3] just before the junction with the dock line,[10][11] in the same year the Victoria Dock Branch Line, excluding the River Hull bridge, was doubled.
[13][map 4] In 1866 Earle's Cement acquired the cement works on the near the river bank and land south of the Victoria Dock Branch Line; the works was connected by rail sidings to the dock branch.
[17] In 1885 the Hull and Barnsley Railway opened, with a branch to the new Alexandra Dock passing on an embankment through the northern extremity of the Wilmington area, crossing Cleveland Street at height;[map 7] a swing bridge was built over the River Hull.
[32][n 7] By 1910 urban growth north had reached the Victoria Dock Branch Line, mostly high density terraced and court housing, around Withernsea, Dalton, Cornwall and Chapman streets.
[33] Between 1910 and 1912 the railway layout at Wilmington was altered: a new station was constructed west of the original on the Victoria Dock Branch Line,[map 15] and the level crossing at Cleveland Street replaced with a bridge.
[8][35][map 16] The bridge was designed by NER staff J. Triffit under W. J. Cudworth, and erected by R Woods (Westminster) with steelwork from John Butler & Co. (Stanningley): a 75°33' skew, made of plate girders to a 14 feet (4.3 m) maximum depth hogback design, 160 feet (49 m) long total.
[36] In 1915 the British Extracting Co. (subsidiary of British Oil and Cake Mills) acquired the site of a former brickyards, and began oil processing operations;[37] a large silo and river in-shipment facility was completed in 1919, to the design of architects Gelder and Kitchen.
[39] The British Soap Company entered into vigorous competition, affecting the soap business of Lever Brothers; in 1925 Lever Brothers acquired the parent company British Oil and Cake Mills, ending the cut-throat competition; the factory closed by 1934.
[24] Spillers Mill was practically destroyed by the bombing,[25][24] Also damaged were the Chapman Street school,[20] and the Cleveland cinema.
[36] Spillers Mill was rebuilt in the late 1940s and early 1950s, including a reinforced concrete silo 160 feet (49 m) high with a capacity of 10,000 tons.
[48] In the 1990s the former Stoneferry canister works, with other land between the Victoria Dock and Hull and Barnsley railway branches west of Cleveland Street was redeveloped into an industrial estate Stoneferry Park;[49] the 32 acres (13 ha) area included over 900,000 square feet (84,000 m2) of old buildings, of which 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) were kept, and by 2002 a further 220,000 square feet (20,000 m2) of new industrial accommodation had been built.
[68] The plant obtained via auction CFD funding in early 2015, with a £119.89 per MWhr strike price.
