HULL, or KINGSTON-ON-HULL, an important and flourishing English river-port, a parliamentary and municipal borough and eo. of itself, is situated iu the East Riding of Yorkshire, in a low, level plain on the northern bank of the Humber, at the continence of the Hull with that river, 53 in. e.s.e. of York. Of the ecclesiastical edifices, the most notable are the church of the Holy Trinity, a beautiful and ornate Gothic structure, the transept of which is the oldest English brick-building in the country; and St. Mary's church, Lowgate, one-half of which was removed to make room for the mansion-house of Henry VIII., who occasionally resided here. The most important educational estab lishments are the Hull grammar-school, and Trinity house school, where 36 bows receive a nautical education. An equestrian statue of William III. stands in the market-place, and a statue of Wilberforce, Among many other benevolent establish *lents, the Trinity house, instituted for the relief of decayed seamen, and the Charter house, an endowed institution for the poor, are the most worthy of note. A prettily laid-out people's park was presented to the town iu 1860 by sir P. C. Pearson, then mayor. A town hall, a new exchange, and a new theatre were all opened in 1866. A spacious borough jail was built during 1866-1868.
The docks—the Old dock, the Humber, the Junction. the Railway, and the Victoria docks—are very extensive, the last named being the largest. It occupies part of the site of an old citadel with a battery of 21 guns, which till 1864 commanded the entrance of Hull road; and the Humber. A new dock which greatly increases the
accommodation for shipping was opened in 1869. Hull was one of the first ports in England to engage in the whale-fishery, au enterprise which it has now almost abandoned; but its fisheries for edible fish employ nearly 700 boats. Hull is a prin cipal steam-packet station, and ocean steamers ply regularly to many of the principal ports of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark. It is the great outlet for the woolen and cotton goods of the midland counties, with which it has direct communication, by means of railway, river, or canal. Many ship-building yards are in operation here, and the chief manufactures am-those principally to which a flourishing port gives rise, as ropes, canvas, chain, chain-cables, machinery, etc. Many mills of various kinds are here carried on, as well as chemical factories, tanneries, potteries, and sugar refineries. Immense commercial intercourse subsists between Hull mid the countries of northern Europe, the principal exports being woolen and cotton manufactured goods, and the imports timber, corn, wool, iron, flax, hemp, tallow, hides, pitch, bones, and horn. In 1875, 8.986 vessels, of 3,070,598 tonnage, entered and cleared the port. Bull returns 2 members to parliament. Pop. '71, 123,408. Constituency, 19,012, including 1298 freemen.