or KINGSTON-UPON-HULL, one of the principal commercial towns of England, is situated on the north bank of the Humber, at the mouth of the River Hull, 35 miles S.E. of York. It is a municipal and parliamentary borough, and though locally in the East Riding of Yorkshire, is a county in itself. The ancient name of this town was Wyke or Wyke-upon-Hull. For more than a century previous to 1296 it was a place of considerable mercantile importance, and possessed from the Abbot of Meaux, who was lord of the manor, the privilege of holding a weekly market and a yearly fair. The natural advantages of its position for trade as well as for defence, attracted the attention of Edward I., who prevailed upon the Abbot and the other proprietors to sell him the lordship of Myton with the town of Wyke. The name of the town he changed to Kingston-upon-Hull, and constituted it a separate and independent manor under the government of a warden and balliffs. He afterwards, upon the petition of the inhabitants, made it a royal burgh. During his reign the duties on exports collected here amounted to nearly one-seventh of the duties collected throughout the kingdom. In the twenty-eighth year of this monarch's reign, it was appointed one of the places for the erection of furnaces for the use of the mint; and by his orders the roads leading to the town were improved, the streets paved, ferries established across the Humber, and embankments erected on the river. In the reign of the following Edward the town was regularly fortified by walls, bastions, and ditches; and these were afterwards strengthened in the reign of Richard II. When Edward III invaded France in 1359, Hull contributed 16 ships and 470 mariners for the expedition. During the Civil War it was held for the parliament, and was twice unsuccessfully besieged by the royalists.

The town of Hull stands on a level plain, so low as to render embankments necessary to protect it from inundation. It has been greatly enlarged and improved of late years. The streets in the older part of the town are irregular and narrow, but in the more recent portions they are generally wide and regular, and lined with handsome buildings. The houses are almost all of brick. The public buildings are numerous, but are not generally remarkable for beauty. Among the principal are the custom-house, dock-office, pilot-office, excise office, stamp office, post-office, exchange, infirmary, two theatres, concert-hall, colleges, mansion-house, and gaol. The church of the Holy Trinity is a handsome cruciform edifice in the florid Gothic style, with a highly ornamented pinnacled tower rising from the point of intersection to the height of 140 feet. In the market-place is an equestrian statue of William III. A handsome Doric column, surmounted by a colossal statue, has been erected to Wilberforce, who was a native of this town. The educational institutions comprise two proprietary colleges, furnishing instruction on a plan similar to that pursued at the University and King's Colleges, London, a medical school, grammar school, Cogan's charity school for forty girls, Trinity-house school affording a nautical education for thirty-six boys, and the vicar's school for sixty boys. The charter-house is an hospital for the maintenance of fifty-seven poor persons. The Trinity-house was founded in 1369 for the support of decayed seamen and their widows. The citadel stands on the triangular piece of ground between the Humber and the Hull.

The town of Hull is admirably situated for trade. Vessels of the largest size can come up to the town; while the Hull, Ouse, and Trent, affluents of the Humber, with their tributary streams and canals, afford facilities for trade with a large extent of country. (See Navigation, Inland.) It is also connected by railways with all parts of the kingdom. These advantages have been improved by the activity of the inhabitants, so that Hull ranks as the third port in the kingdom, the value of its exports being inferior only to those from Liverpool and London. The site of the old fortifications is occupied by docks, and thus the old town is surrounded with water from the Hull to the Humber. The old harbour was that part of the River Hull which faced the old town; but, as it was found to be inconvenient for the shipping, an act was passed in 1774 for forming a dock, now called the old dock, which has its entrance at the upper end of the old harbour. It is 1703 feet in length, 254 in breadth, and 24 in depth. Between 1805 and 1809 another dock was erected called the Humber dock. It communicates with the Humber by a lock, and is 914 feet in length, 342 in breadth, and 31 in depth. The locks are 120 feet long, 36 broad, and 25 deep. The two bridges across the locks are of cast iron, and 24 feet wide. The Railway dock, near the terminus of the Hull and Selby railway, and the Victoria, to the east of the citadel, are of recent construction. The following table exhibits the area and cost of the different docks:

| Docks | Area | Cost | |----------------|------|--------| | Old dock | 10 | £73,330| | Hamber dock | 9 | 233,086| | Junction dock | 6 | 165,033| | Railway dock | 2 | 115,000| | Victoria dock | 20 | 470,000|

Total: 49 1 12 £1,056,449

A considerable quantity of shipping is also accommodated within the old harbour, which may be computed at 10 acres of tidal water. A timber pond of 9 acres was constructed in 1853. The quays around the docks are spacious, and are entirely surrounded with warehouses and deal yards. Hull has of late years become a principal steam-packet station. Steamers sail regularly to and from London, Leith, Aberdeen, Newcastle, Yarmouth, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Copenhagen, Antwerp, &c. Hull is the principal entrepot of the Baltic timber trade on the E. coast of Britain. The staple imports are timber, deals, grain, and seeds, sheep's wool, tallow, hemp, flax, hides, iron bars, green fruit, bones, madder, bark, turpentine, cattle, sugar, &c. The chief articles of export are cotton stuffs and twist; woollen goods and woollen yarn; iron and hardware; linens and linen yarn; earthenware; machinery and mill work; coal, salt, and more recently raw cotton, brought from Liverpool and Manchester. The whale fishery was formerly extensively carried on. In 1819 it employed 64 vessels, but from that period it rapidly declined to 1837, and in that and the seven subsequent years employed only one vessel annually. More recently, however, a reaction has taken place, and from 1846 to 1852 inclusive, from 12 to 14 vessels have annually set out for this fishery. The number and tonnage of vessels registered at the port on 31st December 1854 were as follows:—Sailing vessels,—under 50 tons, 238, tonnage, 8822; above 50 tons, 195, tonnage, 42,861. Steam vessels,—under 50 tons, 10, tonnage, 324; above 50 tons, 36, tonnage, 9924. The following table gives the ships and tonnage (including both sailing and steam vessels) employed in the colonial and foreign trade for 1854 and the three preceding years:

| Year | British | Foreign | British | Foreign | |------|---------|---------|---------|---------| | | Ships | Tonnage | Ships | Tonnage | | 1851 | 1183 | 295,860 | 1433 | 316,769 | | 1852 | 1087 | 285,685 | 1753 | 375,635 | | 1853 | 1192 | 285,641 | 1753 | 389,212 | | 1854 | 1042 | 256,721 | 1747 | 247,627 |

The number and tonnage of vessels that entered and cleared coastwise during 1854 were:—Entered, sailing vessels, 716, tonnage, 52,414; steam vessels, 424, tonnage, 76,406; cleared, sailing vessels, 1162, tonnage, 117,279; steam vessels, 468, tonnage, 84,072. In 1852 the amount of dock duties paid was £34,961; the amount of customs revenue, £324,819; and the value of British manufactured goods exported, £9,915,414. The staple articles of import being subject to low duties, or altogether free, the customs revenue is smaller than that of less important ports. The port charges of Hull have been reduced in the aggregate about £18,000 per annum. The industrial establishments of Hull are chiefly connected with the building and equipment of ships, comprising shipbuilding yards, rope walks, and manufactories of canvas, chains, chain cables, and steam machinery. Hull is divided into 7 wards, and governed by a mayor, 14 aldermen, and 42 councillors. It returns 2 members to parliament. Pop. (1851) 84,690.