The dark and tragic past of this Old Town archway

T STANDS on a busy road in the heart of Hull's Old Town but the thousands of shoppers, commuters, and late night revellers will barely notice it.

- By JAMES CAMPBELL

Yet the mysterious archway on Market Place will take you to a dark, murky and tragic past.

Situated between B. Cooke and Son and Hepworth Arcade, the small arched entrance once led to a thriving community known as Spread Eagle Entry, as local historian Mike Covell explains.

Records show the site was laid out around the 1580s, with the Spread Eagle pub once featuring a plaque stating that it dated from 1587.

Local historian George Hadley published his History of Hull in 1788, stated that the site had previously been used as cloisters for nuns.

Newspaper records first mentioned the thoroughfare on Saturday October 13, 1804 when the Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette featured an advertisement for the sale of a flax mill that had recently been built in Hull.

The mill was said to have been constructed to the highest standards with the latest technology for the complete dressing of flax, which is today known as linseed.

The mill had been designed by Thomas Bucklefs, who was a millwright and machine maker of Spread Eagle Entry.

TRAGIC TAKE OF SUICIDE

On Tuesday July 19, 1831, The Hull Packet, reported on the death of a 21-year-old woman named Wright, who resided on Spread Eagle Entry, who had hanged herself in her lodging room on the previous Friday.

An inquest was held on her body, and a verdict returned stated "that the deceased hung herself in a fit of temporary insanity."

Throughout the history of the entry there were numerous reports of deaths, suicides, and tragic accidents among the residents who resided there.

SHOCKING DISTURBANCE