The history of Grimsby has been dominated by its proximity to the sea. With the river Haven flowing into the humber estuary it was an ideal place for fishing and trading by sea and archaeological evidence suggests a roman settlement was here.
Grimsby was settled by Danes sometime in the 9th century AD. According to legend, the name Grimsby derives from the name Grim, a Danish fisherman, the suffix -by being the Old Norse word for village. The legendary founding of Grimsby is described in a medieval romance, the Lay of Havelock the Dane, but historians consider this account to be myth.
During the 12th century, Grimsby developed into a fishing and trading port, at one point ranking twelfth in importance to the Crown in terms of tax revenue. The town was granted its charter by King John in 1201. The first mayor was installed in 1202.
In the 15th century, The Haven began to silt up, preventing ships in the Humber from docking. As a result, Grimsby entered a long period of decline which lasted until the late 18th century.
The Grimsby Haven Company was formed by Act of Parliament in May 1796 (the Grimsby Haven Act) for the purpose of "widening, deepening, enlarging, altering and improving the Haven of the Town and Port of Great Grimsby". After dredging of The Haven and related improvement, in the early 19th century the town grew rapidly as the port was revived. Grimsby's port boomed, importing iron, timber, wheat, hemp and flax. New docks were needed to cope with the expansion. The Grimsby Docks Act of 1845 allowed the necessary building works. The arrival of the railway in 1848 made it easier to transport goods to and from the port to markets and farms. Coal mined in the South Yorkshire coalfields was brought by rail and exported through Grimsby. Rail links direct to London and the Billingsgate Fish Market allowed for fresh "Grimsby Fish" to gain renown nationwide. The first true fish dock opened in Grimsby in 1856, and the town became a centre for the development of the commercial fishing industry. The Dock Tower was completed in 1851, followed by the Royal Dock in 1852. No.1 Fish Dock was completed in 1856, followed by No.2 Fish Dock in 1877. Alexandra Dock and Union Dock were completed in 1879.
In 1857 there were 22 vessels in Grimsby. Six years later there were 112. The first two legitimate steam trawlers ever built in Great Britain were based in Grimsby. By 1900, a tenth of the fish consumed in the United Kingdom was landed at Grimsby, despite the many smaller coastal fishing ports and villages that also supplied the nation. The demand for fish in Grimsby grew to such an extent that, at its peak in the 1950s, Grimsby laid claim to the title of the largest fishing port in the world.
Following the pressures placed on the industry during the Cod Wars, and the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy which distributes fishing quotas from what would have been British waters to other EU nations, many Grimsby firms decided to cease trawling operations from the town. The sudden demise of the Grimsby fishing industry brought an end to a way of life and community that had lasted for generations.
Nowadays the docks are kept busy by the support vessels for the numerous offshore windfarms in the North Sea and the importation of motor vehicles from Europe.
VIRTUAL
Where you are stood gives you an ideal opportunity to see some of the few historical features that are still visible. These are the famous Dock towers, the Dock offices and Prince Albert memorial statue, and the anti aircraft gun with World War 2 seamines and anchor commemorating the sacrifices made by the minesweeping trawlers of World War 2 operating out of Grimsby.
GRIMSBY DOCK TOWER is a hydraulic accumulator tower and a maritime landmark at the entrance to the Royal Dock, Grimsby, in North East Lincolnshire, England. It was completed on 27 March 1852 with the purpose of containing a 30,000-imperial-gallon (140,000 L) reservoir at a height of 200 feet (61 m), that was used to provide hydraulic power to power the machinery of the Grimsby Docks. The extreme height of the tower was necessary to achieve sufficient pressure, and as a result of this, the tower can be seen for several miles around. The tower is 309 feet (94 m) high, 28 feet (8.5 m) wide at the base, and tapers gradually to 26 feet (7.9 m) below the first projection; its walls are 4 feet (1.2 m) thick and narrow to 3 feet (0.91 m) at the string course under the corbels. The bricks of this plain brick tower were made from clay obtained from excavations in the marsh adjoining the docks, and are set in blue lime mortar. Hoop iron bond is used in the walls to a considerable extent. The foundation of the tower is a solid masonry wall built upon a timber bearer piling. Approximately one million bricks were used in its construction. The Dock Tower continued to provide water for hydraulic working until 1892 when the erection of the hydraulic accumulator tower on the opposite pier approximately 200 feet (61 m) to the North West of the Dock Tower took over - water in this structure was pressurised by a 300-tonne weight. Present dock and lock machinery are powered by electric or electro-hydraulic energy.
PRINCE ALBERT MEMORIAL STATUE This Statue of Prince Albert in 1879, is a life-size bronze figure in ceremonial costume, holding plans. Mounted on a polished granite plinth. The right side of base inscribed "MODELLED by W. THEED of LONDON, Cast by CH. LENZ of NUREMBERG". The Plinth bears inscriptions on all sides. To front: "The new dock connecting the Royal Dock with the Old Dock was opened by their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales on the 22nd July 1879". To the left side: "Albert, Prince Consort, Born 26th August, 1819 Died 14th December 1861. He laid the foundation stone of the Royal Dock, Great Grimsby on the 18th April 1849, and the Dock was opened on the 27th May 1852". To the right side: "To commemorate the inauguration and completion of these great works this memorial has been erected by Sir Edward William Watkin, MP, Chairman of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company 1879". To the rear is an inscribed excerpt from Prince Albert's speech. The statue was moved to its current position in the mid 20th century.
ANTI AIRCRAFT GUN AND SEAMINES The Royal Dock was used as the UK's largest base for minesweepers to patrol the North Sea. The Admiralty requisitioned numerous trawlers to serve as minesweepers for the Royal Naval Patrol Service. In many cases, their crew were ex-trawlermen, as well as men from the Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Navy volunteers. Trawlers would use the winches and warps from fishing operations to tow a paravane with a cutting jaw through the water in what was known as a 'sweep' to bring mines to the surface and allow for their removal. The dangers faced by the Patrol Service led to it losing more vessels than any other Royal Navy branch in the Second World War, with 2,385 lives lost. Grimsby's Royal Naval Patrol Service veterans financed the construction of a memorial beside the Dock Tower to ensure that the bravery and sacrifice of their comrades is not forgotten. On 14 June 1943, an early-morning air raid by the Luftwaffe dropped several 1,000 kg bombs, 6,000 incendiary bombs and more than 3,000 Butterfly Bombs in the Grimsby area. Ninety-nine people died that night. In total, Second World War bombing raids in Grimsby and Cleethorpes killed 196 persons, while another 184 people were seriously injured. The Butterfly Bombs, which littered the area, hampered fire-fighting crews trying to reach locations damaged by the incendiary bombs.The search for recovery of bodies continued for a month after the raid.
To log this virtual cache you need to include a photo of yourself or your caching device with either the Dock towers, the statue or the anti aircraft gun in the background. Additionally send a message to us via geocaching telling us the serial number of the gun that is on a plaque on the main body. Please do not put the serial number on the logs otherwise the find may be deleted.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.