Place
Tenfoot
An alley or access way behind a row of houses.
Source: Katharine Writes: Hull dialect words ↗A question for your memories
Which tenfoot do you remember?
A growing Hull & Hessle Road word collection
The things we used to say
Our words. Our voices. Our sense of home.
Sometimes one word brings a whole childhood back. Explore ten familiar words connected with Hull life, then help us record the ones your own family used.
Everyday heritage / A growing Hull & Hessle Road word collection
A voice worth keeping
Words travel between neighbourhoods and generations. These are words associated with Hull and the surrounding region, not claims of exclusive Hessle Road origins. Spellings vary because much of this language was spoken before it was written down.
A small dictionary, a big sense of home
Ten words. How many do you use?
10 words
The questions beneath the entries are new prompts for our community, rather than quotations from historical residents.
Food
Breadcake
A soft bread roll or bun.
Source: The Yorkshireman: Hull words and phrases ↗A question for your memories
What went inside your breadcake?
Childhood
Croggy / croggie
A lift on someone else’s bicycle.
Source: The Yorkshireman: Hull words and phrases ↗A question for your memories
Did your family say croggy or croggie?
Weather
Mafting / maftin’
Feeling very hot or describing sweltering weather.
Source: The Yorkshireman: Hull words and phrases ↗A question for your memories
What other weather words did you use?
Everyday
Skeg
A look or quick glance.
Source: Katharine Writes: Hull dialect words ↗A question for your memories
Who used to ask for a skeg?
Family
Bains / baines
Children; one local written form of a wider northern word.
Source: The Yorkshireman: Hull words and phrases ↗A question for your memories
Which spelling feels right to you?
Everyday
Taffled
Tangled or caught up together.
Source: Katharine Writes: Hull dialect words ↗A question for your memories
Hair, string or nets: what got taffled?
Everyday
Cockle over
To topple, stumble or fall over.
Source: The Yorkshireman: Hull words and phrases ↗A question for your memories
What expression came next?
Everyday
Booling
Pushing or wheeling something along, such as a pram.
Source: Katharine Writes: Hull dialect words ↗A question for your memories
Did you go booling a pram or a bike?
Fishing life
Settlings
The fishing-trip earnings received after returning to port, as described in MyLearning’s community history.
Source: MyLearning: Life in Hull’s Fishing Community ↗A question for your memories
Does your family remember settling-up day?
An illustrated collection for the Vauxhall Tavern wall
Keep a little of
the road in view.
A matching A3 print brings this feature into a framed display, with readable lettering and a QR code leading to the fuller story.
297 × 420 mm · portrait · print at actual size.
Records, recollections & the next chapter
Where the story comes from.
Katharine Writes: Hull dialect words ↗
A contemporary regional vocabulary guide. Spellings and usage vary; the meanings are starting points for a community word collection.
The Yorkshireman: Hull words and phrases ↗
A reader-informed regional word collection, used to compare spellings and everyday meanings. It is not evidence that every word is exclusive to Hull.
MyLearning: Life in Hull’s Fishing Community ↗
A cultural learning resource, with acknowledgements to historian Alec Gill. Used for fishing-community context, clothes, short spells ashore and the word “settlings”.
Original AI-assisted artistic interpretation, blending imagined scenes across periods. Not an archival photograph, a portrait of a real person or a reconstruction of a named shop or venue.
Share a word or saying
Send your memory, photograph or document to info@hessleroad.com. Include the place, approximate year, names you know and permission to publish. Tell us whether the account is first-hand or passed down. Contributions are reviewed before publication.
New material will be added as the archive grows. The separate streets and terraces directory remains browse-only, with adding details there coming soon.
Browse the streets & terraces →More everyday heritage
Another thread to follow.
Food, family & the working day
A taste of Hessle Road
A breadcake. A pattie. A whole world of memories.
Explore the feature →
A growing Hull & Hessle Road word collection
The things we used to say
Our words. Our voices. Our sense of home.
Explore the feature →
Nights out in the road & its neighbouring streets
Saturday nights on Hessle Road
The pictures. The music. The company.
Explore the feature →