Blaydes House is a grade II*

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

Georgian house in High Street,

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Built in the 18th century for the Blaydes family, it is now owned by the University of Hull's Maritime Historical Studies Centre.

History

Blaydes House was built in the late 1730s or early 1740s (the precise date is unknown) as the residence and business premises of the Blaydes family, one of the leading merchant families in the town and also owners of two shipyards,

Blaydes Yard Blaydes' Yard was a private shipbuilder in Kingston upon Hull, England, founded in the 18th century which fulfilled multiple Royal Navy contracts. Her most notable ship was HMS ''Bounty'' famed for its mutiny. History Hugh Blaydes was born i ...

: the North End Dock on the

River Hull The River Hull is a navigable river in the East Riding of Yorkshire in Northern England. It rises from a series of springs to the west of Driffield, and enters the Humber Estuary at Kingston upon Hull. Following a period when the Archbishops of ...

, near the house, and another at Hessle Cliff, close to the northern end of the present-day Humber Bridge. The yards turned out vessels for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

from the 1740s, but their main output was merchant ships, most famous among which was a collier named ''Bethia'', which was purchased by the Navy in 1787, adapted and renamed ''

HMS Bounty HMS ''Bounty'', also known as HM Armed Vessel ''Bounty'', was a small merchant vessel that the Royal Navy purchased in 1787 for a botanical mission. The ship was sent to the South Pacific Ocean under the command of William Bligh to acquire ...

''. The Blaydes family were also prominent in town politics, Benjamin Blaydes (whose initials can be seen in a carved monogram in the hallway ceiling) serving as Chamberlain in 1736. The family probably remained at the house until the early 19th century, by that time trading as part of the Blaydes Loft Gee & Company partnership. After this firm was wound up the family left Hull and sold the house. Subsequently, it was used as office space by a number of local businesses. In May 1941, during the

Hull Blitz The Hull Blitz was the bombing campaign that targeted the English port city of Kingston upon Hull by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during the Second World War. Large-scale attacks took place on several nights throughout March 1941, resulting in over ...

, a large office building immediately to the south was destroyed by a direct hit, but Blaydes House received only light damage.

Current use

After a period of disuse the house was purchased by the

Georgian Society for East Yorkshire The Georgian Society for East Yorkshire is the oldest group or society in the United Kingdom dedicated to the appreciation and preservation of Georgian architecture. The society is based in the East Riding of Yorkshire and is concerned with the pre ...

. In 1999 it was sold to the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...

and refurbished to become the headquarters of the university's Maritime Historical Studies Centre.

Trivia

Blaydes House was the location used in the Cutters music video "Saviour" directed by

John James Fox John James Fox (born 1980 in Liverpool) is an English director of music videos. Career After studying film, at the University of Wolverhampton, Fox started out screenwriting for film production companies including the 30 minute Drama "Bright". ...

References

Literature

* Frances Bibby (2006) ''The Blaydes: shipbuilders of Hull''. (This work has been criticised as follows: ''"... very thorough as far as it goes (but) some information (was) misunderstood due to the complex relationships within this family (for example at the time of the ownership of the Blaydes House by the merchant Benjamin Blaydes, there were two other close cousins also named Benjamin). She has also missed the main line of male descent within the family. The line of descent in Burke's Landed Gentry is correct. Family Information prior to 1500 listed in Burke's is incorrect and was due to fraudulent research in the middle 1800s. These lines have now been sorted (you need to follow the major property bequests in the wills to follow the correct lines, and also understand that they did not follow the standard convention of oldest male inheriting everything,) (Mark Blaydes)"''

External links

Maritime Historical Studies Centre

concerning

ship-building Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...

in Hull, and especially the history of the

Blaydes Family Blaydes House is a grade II* listed Georgian house in High Street, Kingston upon Hull, England. Built in the 18th century for the Blaydes family, it is now owned by the University of Hull's Maritime Historical Studies Centre. History Bla ...

*{{NHLE , num=1209566 Historic houses in Kingston upon Hull Grade II* listed buildings in the East Riding of Yorkshire Grade II* listed houses