The Land of Green Ginger () is a narrow street at the bottom of

Whitefriargate Whitefriargate is a pedestrianised street in the ''Old Town'' area of Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. During the 20th century, it was one of the main shopping streets in the city centre, but some of the major store ...

in the old town area of

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 ...

. There are various commercial and residential buildings along the street. The Land of Green Ginger contains what may be the world's smallest window, being a slit which was used by the gatekeeper of the George Hotel to look out for stagecoaches and customers."Welcome to land-of-green-ginger.com "
land-of-green-ginger.com. Retrieved 13 February 2009. The street was formerly known as Old Beverley Street. Various suggestions have been proposed for the derivation of its current name. It may simply refer to the sale or storage of the spice

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...

in the Middle Ages. A record dating from 1853 indicates that a Mr Richardson "has made it most probable that the designation 'Land of Green Ginger' took place betwixt 1640 and 1735". The unknown writer then goes on to speculate that, as a Dutch family with the surname Lindegreen (meaning "green lime tree") was known to live in Hull during the earlier part of the 19th century, the modern name may be a corruption of ''Lindegroen jonger'' (Lindegreen junior). Another idea, dating from 1880, is that the name is a corruption of "Landgrave Granger", meaning a walk or pathway approaching the home of the Landgrave family. In 2017, Hull UK City of Culture commissioned a groundbreaking community engagement project, called Land of Green Ginger. It was presented in the form of a series of ''Acts of Wanton Wonder'', united under an overarching narrative. The projects were developed and delivered with artists who worked both independently and in collaboration to bring new kinds of art and culture into the neighbourhoods outside the city centre. Act I was 7 Alleys, Act II was The Golden Nose of Green Ginger, Act III The Longhill Burn, Act IV Re-Rediffusions Voice Park, Act V Micropolis by Davy and Kristin McGuire and Act VI Land of Green Ginger Unleashed.

Media and the arts

*''The Land of Green Ginger'' is a 1927 novel by

Winifred Holtby Winifred Holtby (23 June 1898 – 29 September 1935) was an English novelist and journalist, now best known for her novel '' South Riding'', which was posthumously published in 1936. Biography Holtby was born to a prosperous farming family in ...

. *''

The Tale of the Land of Green Ginger ''The Tale of the Land of Green Ginger'' is a 1937 book for children by Noel Langley. (Later editions shortened the title to ''The Land of Green Ginger.'') The book was originally illustrated by the author. In 1966, it was re-illustrated w ...

'' is a 1937 novel by

Noel Langley Noel Langley (25 December 1911 – 4 November 1980) was a South African-born (later naturalised American) novelist, playwright, screenwriter and director. He wrote the screenplay which formed the basis for the 1939 film '' The Wizard of Oz'' an ...

. *''Land of Green Ginger'' is a BBC ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'' by

Alan Plater Alan Frederick Plater (15 April 1935 – 25 June 2010) was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s. Career Plater was born in Jarrow, County Durham, although his fami ...

about Hull, televised in 1973. *''The Land of Green Ginger'' is a track on the 2004 album ''

Bicycles and Tricycles ''Bicycles & Tricycles'' is the sixth studio album by English electronic music group the Orb, released on 3 May 2004 by Cooking Vinyl. It brought together the group's style of the early 1990s with current electronic music, with its most prevale ...

'' by

The Orb The Orb are an English electronic music group founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty. Known for their psychedelic sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. Their influential 19 ...

. *''The Land of Green Ginger'' was a participatory art project that explored encounters between refugees living in Hull and their host communities during 2008. *The Land of Green Ginger features in

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was he ...

's 1929 novel, ''

The Fairy Caravan ''The Fairy Caravan'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published in 1929 by Alexander McKay in Philadelphia. As noted by Leslie Linder, "Potter did not wish for an English edition of ''The Fairy Caravan'' ...

''. The story opens: '''In The Land of Green Ginger there is a town called Marmalade, which is inhabited exclusively by guinea-pigs. *''The Land of Green Ginger'' is an enclosed shopping arcade located within an adapted church in Tynemouth, England

Notes

{{coord, 53.74310, -0.33429, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Geography of Kingston upon Hull Streets in England Roads in Yorkshire Streets in Kingston upon Hull

Media and the arts

See also

Notes