40 HULL SCIENTIFIC AND FIELD NATURALISTS CLUB. 



Kilns, limeburner," her lime-kiln and little garth, lying in 

 Brick-Kilns near the River Hull, and near to the North 

 Bridge. In 1740 he described it as being between the Sugar 

 House and North Bridge. Although one fine lime-tree is 

 remembered, and more have been imagined in that locality, 

 I am disposed to derive the name of Lime Street from the 

 industry then practised there. 



The plot on which the Sugar-House was built consisted 

 of six acres of grass, in two closes, that extended along the 

 wide part of Witham as far as Dansom Lane. The land 

 at the corner of Lime Street and Witham was perhaps not 

 included. The plot had belonged to the J ohnsons, but, in 1 72 1 , 

 passed through the hands of Robert Ellerker, millwright, to 

 the executors of Richard Sykes, of whom William Wilber- 

 force, senior, was one. In 1726, a rape mill, lately built, and 

 two houses faced the high road by the river. But, in 1732, 

 Godfrey Thornton, of London, and William Thornton, of Hull, 

 sons of John Thornton, a Hull merchant, and brothers-in- 

 law of William W T ilberforce, had here their buildings for boil- 

 ing, baking, and refining sugar, first illustrated in Gent's 

 " History of Hull." In 1752, in the time of their nephew, 

 John Thornton, of Clapham, who married Lucy Watson, of 

 Hull, a distill house had been lately built, with a double 

 refining house. In 1756, William Wilberforce, junior, was 

 concerned financially with the Thorntons and Watsons in a 

 piece of land forming the northern part of the Sugar-House 

 site, on which a Soap-House with two dwelling houses were 

 newly erected. In 1760, this *'sope-house with warehouse 

 for smelting tallow " was conveyed to John Thornton. The 

 soap-house was carried on for many years by Lee and Pead, 

 and afterwards by Lee and Cross. 



The Sugar-House was owned in many shares, chiefly by 

 the Thorntons, who actually carried on the business to the 

 fifth generation, but Watsons and Wilberforces were also 

 interested in the property. Fifty years ago there was a 

 draw-bridge across Lime Street that had to be raised to let 

 a high vehicle pass, also an upper bridge, and men were 

 wheeling sacks in long procession. There has been found 

 recently a very fine iron chest of the seventeenth century, 

 having under the lid an elaborate lock with ten bolts. It was 

 in a hole in the brickwork under the old chimney, and ma)' 

 have contained the more treasured belongings of the Thorn- 

 tons. A similar chest is in the vestry at Swine. Sugar-baking 

 came to an end before the soap-making industry, which was 

 carried on till about 1859. 



