Hull and The Land of Green Ginger

Land of Green Ginger One of the strangest named streets in the country and, worst of all, one with no known origin for the name. There have been many theories, but the truth of the name's origin remain lost to time. It forms part of Beverley Street, or Old Beverley Street - a name used in the 14th century. In the 16th century parts of this ancient route were known as Fish Street and The Land of Green Ginger. By the 17th century, the southern part as known as Sewer Lane and archeologists have found evidence of a watercourse running alongside.

Had to pop into Hull town today and thought I would take some pics of this unusually named street of ours. Squint your eyes and it could be 100's of years ago lol 
Here's the modern street sign...

The old George Hotel on the left which has reputedly, smallest window in the country... a mere slit in the brickwork but glazed over, for the gatekeeper to see through at who wanted entry to the pubs yard.
And this sign on one of the doors to a building...........makes me smile.....

And then see whats still squeezed in tween other buildings........

I have no idea what this building once was but maybe it was a thriving 

hub in Elizabethan times.

Its wonderful I reckon, that its still there and not a museum reconstruction! There were lights (electric yes lol) on the first floor too,

so it must be still in use which is even better!

And turning round, to look back along the street to its southern entrance

shows how quirky a street this is and must once have been.

Though the grey concrete monstrosity at the left far end, wouldn't have been there back in the day!

Etymology

Various suggestions have been proposed for the derivation of the name. It may simply refer to the sale or storage of the spice ginger in the medieval period. An 1853 record indicates that a Mr. Richardson "has made it most probable that the designation 'Land of Green Ginger' took place betwixt 1640 and 1735". The unknown writer then goes on to speculate that as a Dutch family with the surname Lindegreen (meaning "green lime trees") was known to live in Hull during the earlier part of the nineteenth century that the modern name might be a corruption of Lindegroen jonger (Lindegreen junior). Another idea, dating from 1880, is that it is a corruption of "Landgrave Granger", meaning a walk or pathway approaching the home of the family Landgrave


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Green_Ginger