Sand Hill ~ One of the 7 Historic Grimsby Hills
Sand Hill is believed to have been largely used for commercial purposes.
We are trying to put together a comprehensive historic guide to the site
Unlike the other hills of Grimsby which had primarily religious and defensive uses it is believed that Sand Hill was more of a centre for commerce.
The theory is based mainly on location, it bordered the two havens and was also the start of the Fosse Way.
Whether this is a later structure than some of the others or whether its use was simply changed is debatable but if its primary was fishing and port based then perhaps it was a slightly later structure than some of the others.
It must have been an important area in Roman times otherwise why would the have taken the Fosse Way up to this point. Of course it makes sense that it would be, look at the location. It’s exactly in the middle of the country and a safe sheltered harbour, when looked at through eyes which ignore prejudices of today it makes sense that it would be an area of prime importance.
The Seven Hills of Grimsby
This is merely a fledgling attempt and we hope to have much more information to add as and when possible
If you can add to the sum of knowledge or have any comments to make then please do share them with us.
Update as to location
Working purely from maps so as to avoid being lead by anything written which could be wrong I’m tentatively suggesting the location of Sand Hill to the area near the back of the Littlefield Lane allotments, old ambulance station etc, somewhere in the ‘green area’ above Westward Ho - see below
The Actual Location ?
All the best
Rod
Please see also the related articles on
Toote Hill ~ Holm Hill ~ Abbey Hill ~ Cun Hu ~ Sand Hill ~ Ellyll ~ Spittal ~ Chapel Hill ~ Mill Hill
Rod said,
December 20, 2009 @ 6:32 pm
Update:
possible location and maps added to original article
Rod said,
December 21, 2009 @ 3:22 pm
I now feel pretty confident about this location. there’s a segment below of the post enclosure map.
I’ve left Nuns etc in as a pointer, the road system corrolates nicely to a modern map as well
In 1829 records (found in The Enclosures of Scartho 1795-1798 and Grimsby 1827-1840 book) note a piece of land owned by G.R. Heneage which is marked as plot 79 - it is known as …
“Sandhills in the Parish of Grimsby”
It matches up perfectly with my edited suggestion in the original post. Also note when looking at the plot 79 there is a dotted outline extending beyond the boundry - is that a hill ?
See plot 79
Amiguru said,
January 6, 2010 @ 3:05 pm
Sand Hill….Lat. 53° 33′ 27″N Long. 0° 05′ 46″W On the football ground just south of the path.
Amiguru said,
January 10, 2010 @ 5:12 pm
Hi Rod,
Once again there doesn’t seem a ‘right’ place to put this so its ended up here. Could I suggest you you have a kind of ‘miscellaneous’ thread?
Question: Do you know of a George Collins who lived at 28 Havelock Street in 1912?
Regards,
le
N
Amiguru said,
January 10, 2010 @ 5:38 pm
Rod,
Sorry, I have another question.
Have you seen James Hollingsworth’s map of 1801of The Town and Harbour of Grimsby?
Regards,
le
N
Rod said,
January 10, 2010 @ 5:56 pm
Neville,
never heard of George I’m afraid and the map doesn’t ring a bell either
Best
Rod
Amiguru said,
January 10, 2010 @ 7:30 pm
Hi Rod,
Just a stab in the dark that George might have been a relative. Incidentally, he paid the council £8 9s p.a. rent, so about 3/3d. a week. I think that would be called a fair rent in 1912 as it was less than half a day’s pay for an unskilled worker.
That was just a titbit. The good news is that the temperature rose a little today and at long last I ventured into my loft to bring down the rest of my Lincolnshire library!
Just out of interest I weighed the lot and it came to 67 kilograms so expect a blast of information over the next year or so.
One of the volumes alone contains the large Grimsby map of 1801 mentioned above plus three smaller ones of 1795, 1831 and 1848. Oh and another Skelton drawing! I suspect we will be back at school tomorrow and I’ve a History Society meeting at 5.30 so it will be later when I can get scanning. I shall e-mail you copies asap. I had totally forgotten about some of the books so it was a pleasant surprise.
Bibliophilically yours,
le
N
Rod said,
January 11, 2010 @ 8:45 am
Neville,
sounds like a mouthwatering hoard - can’t wait to see what lies therein.
Sorry to hear you’ve got to go back to school - makes you sound about 10 years old
Best
Rod
Amiguru said,
January 11, 2010 @ 8:54 am
Rod,
That would be nice; to be ten again, with the proviso that acquired wisdom could be retained and thus the silly mistakes we make could be avoided.
Regards,
le
N
Peter Mullins said,
February 28, 2010 @ 1:39 am
Looking at your map above, I think that what is being exposed at the moment by the reculverting work at Nuns Corner (in preparation for the the new Higher Education building at the Grimsby Institute) is likely to be part of the South Field Drain which separates plots 174 and 175.
Rod said,
February 28, 2010 @ 9:00 am
Peter,
that’s interesting, I didn’t know the work was going on - is it worth a look do you think ?
Best
Rod
Peter Mullins said,
February 28, 2010 @ 9:32 am
Not much to see really, other than a lot of earth moved in a straight line which seems to correspond closely to the line of the drain on the map and lots of concrete tubes ready to go in. My wife and I tried to follow the possible line of the drain round there yesterday, and discovered in the process that the first house in Eastwood Avenue (which we estimated must back on to the line of the drain) is called Brookside.
Rod said,
February 28, 2010 @ 10:11 am
Peter,
thanks for that, I wondered if it was worth a visit or if they’ve uncovered anything.
Interesting what you say about Brookside in Eastwood Ave, so names clearly go back some way.
Coincidently my uncle used to live in Eastwood Ave
Regards
Rod
Peter Mullins said,
March 1, 2010 @ 4:55 am
My wife tells me that Bob Lincoln’s History says Westlands House (at the end of the present Westlands Avenue) was built on the site, and my plotting of a modern map on top of the Enclosure Map above does indeed put Westlands House in the middle of Plot 79 which you say you’ve found called Sandhills.
Of course, those who drew up the Enclosure Award may simply have used a name for this field / Plot associated with the rough area, and Bob Lincoln may simply have known the Plot was called Sandhills and therefore concluded that Westlands House was built on the ancient site.
But, if Plot 79 / Westlands House the is correct place, then it is slightly east of the boundary of your photograph, and of the Lat and Long coordinates Neville gives.
The photograph shows the line of the South Field Drain clearly: coming in near the bottom right corner, flowing in a straight line north west passed houses and the cricket ground, then turning to flow north in a straight line initially along the west boundary of the cricket ground. Compare the Enclosure Map and you see that Plot 79 is well east of the Drain and a little south of the point where the Drain will turn northwards.
Rod said,
March 1, 2010 @ 8:08 am
Hi Peter,
great stuff, great connection with Bob Lincoln s well - many thanks.
I enclosure map came after I’d already made my rough estimate at the site - it seemed to be further corroboration.
One of the issues I was/am acutely aware of Peter, apart obviously from the accuracy of old maps and drawings etc, was the size of the hills.
Getting a marker on Toothill for example, is it the north edge, south edge etc or bang in the middle.
On the ground that’s quite an area - it also makes a difference when plotting the possible location of another hill relative to it.
There’s still some refining to be done I’m sure and I suspect it will be best achieved with further snippets of info and ‘geological type’ evidence on the ground.
Best regards
Rod