Paull

 ( Villages In The East Riding Of Yorkshire ) 

Paull also had a small Medium Wave transmitter site from which the signals for BBC Radio Humberside, Absolute Radio and Talksport were transmitted. This was switched off in January 2018, with radio being centred on FM and DAB broadcasts.

The population of the Township of Paull rose from 212 in 1801 to 473 in 1831, and to 600 by 1856.

The Humber Tavern was built 1805, the Royal Oak was also built in the early 19th century, the Crown Inn opened 1856. A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built around 1810 in the village, there was also a Primitive Methodist Chapel, built 1851, then demolished and replaced with another chapel in 1871.

A new shipyard, Hepworths Shipyard, opened .

In the second half of the 20th century, housing in Paull village expanded, initially along Back Lane/Road in the 1950/60s era; then south of Townend Road in the 1970s on a former Sports ground; and then south of Turpit on the new lane after Ferryman Park towards the end of the century.Ordnance Survey. 1:10560/1:10000 (1956–1993) In 2013 a new village hall was opened, having received £464,494 in Big Lottery Fund funding.

In the prelude to the First Siege of Hull (July 1642) a fort with cannon was erected at Paull (also at Hessle Cliff) by the Royalist faction in order to control shipping on the Humber, though in mid July around 2,000 soldiers, plus supplies were able to pass the fort without great inconvenience. In September the fort was repaired and another erected near the Trent Falls, again attempting to control the Humber, but were destroyed by Parliamentary ships.

In 1807, an earthen battery, Paull Cliff Battery, was erected in consequence of the Napoleonic Wars to house six 24 pounder cannons, with the land summarily purchased. In 1819 after the end of the wars the land of including barracks and buildings was sold by the Board of Ordnance.

In the 1860s new defences of the Humber were built, following the decommissioning of the Hull Citadel. A smaller fortification at Stallingborough, Lincolnshire of six guns and a new 19 gun fort at Paull, on the site of the civil war fort were built. The Paull fort held 19 guns, and was constructed as a polygonal fort, with its main face of facing the Humber, with two flanking faces of – the defences consisted, from inside out – a wall with loopholes, and casemated giving flanking fire across a dry ditch; the fort was protected from artillery fire by an earth glacis; and beyond that the sea wall was . The entrance to the battery was from the landward side, also protected by a loop holed wall. The barracks, and other soldiers buildings were adjacent to the rear wall.See Ordnance Survey Sheet 241SW 1952 edition. The fort was omitted from earlier editions.

In the late 1880s a naval mine facility was built, adjacent west of the fort with access to the foreshore for the Humber Division Submarine Miners. The facilities included a pier, and a light railway to carry the mines to the piers. The Paull Point battery was also upgraded during the latter part of the 19th century, receiving two and four breech loading guns, as well as four muzzle loaders – the breech loaders which were placed in new concrete emplacements (1894). Electric defence searchlights were installed in 1907. In the early part of the 20th century and First World War the role of the fort was reduced due to the construction of new emplacements nearer to the mouth of the Humber, at Sunk Island and Stallingborough, better able to protect the port of Immingham. During the First World War additional forts and gun emplacements were built at Spurn Point, Kilnsea, Bull Sand Fort and Haile Sand Fort, reducing Paull Point's military importance; however the site was retained as the headquarters for the defence of the Humber. During the Second World War the fort was the site of a ship Degaussing station, as well as being used as an ammunition store. Military use ended in 1956, and the site was sold in 1960/1.

Also in the near environs of the Paull Point installation were practice batteries south of the fort dating from the First World War, and 19th century, as well as a large warehouse, formerly a Second World War ammunition store.

During the Second World War decoys intended to represent features of the city of Hull with the intention to mislead Luftwaffe bombers were built around south-east of Hull at 1/3rd scale. The decoys included representations of the docks east of the River Hull (Victoria, Alexandra and King George V Docks), as well as the River Hull and Holderness Drain, with pole mounted lights shining on shallow concrete ponds to simulate reflections from the water of the docks and waterways. Other decoys included oil filled trenches that would be ignited to simulate an oil refinery (i.e. Salt End) under attack, and area were controlled fires were lit to simulate an area under aerial attack. There were further similar decoys in the Holderness and North Lincolnshire areas. There were also heavy anti-aircraft batteries located in the Paull area during the Second World War.

Post-Second World War military structures included a nuclear attack monitoring post on Holme Hill (Royal Observer Corps), used from 1962 to 1968.

There was once a manor house at Paull Holme. From remains of the foundations it is inferred to have been H-shaped; by 1840 only the north tower was still standing. A number of heraldic elements were present in the fabric, showing the connection to the Holme family, and, from rose emblems in the stone work, suggesting a date after Henry VII. (see Tudor rose.) The remaining tower is of brick, approximately high, in three storeys, with internal space of approximately each. The first floor was supported on a brick vault. It is thought the remainder of the structure would have included brick and timber-framed construction.A drawing of 1816 shows the tower with an adjacent wood framed house. The building was restored in 1871 for use as a gazebo with stone window surrounds added, replacing brick.

There was also a chapel in Paull Holme. Documentary evidence points to the chapel being in use at the beginning of the 16th century. By the end of the 16th century Paull Holme had become abandoned. The chapel was described as dilapidated by the time of Queen Anne (early 18th century).

A newer house was built in 1837 at the foot of the hill at Paull Home.

A house at Boreas Hill (archaic Boar House, Bower House Hill) dates to at least 1670. The present house is thought to date from the around the first half of the 1700s, with additions in 1936.

In 1769 High Paul and the manor of Paghil was acquired from the Constable family by Benjamin Blaydes, merchant and shipbuilder of Hull, for £6,700. A high status dwelling was built, "High Paull House". The house and estate of was sold to the War Department , and used to build the coastal defence fort "Paull Point"; the house was retained for military accommodation, stores and offices until the 1950s; the buildings were demolished in the 1950s and 60s, excluding a gatekeeper's lodge.

There are also listed buildings at Thorney Crofts (18th-century farmhouse), and Old Little Humber Farm (17th-century farmhouse on the site of a medieval moated area).

A pier was noted at Paull in the 1840s. There was a wooden swing bridge across the Hedon Haven near to Pollard Clough on the far bank in the 1850s; this was no longer extant by the 20th century. By the 1920s a footbridge close to the outfall of the Hedon stream had been built, crossing to Salt End; by the second half of the century the footbridge was no long extant, but a road had been built ( Paull Road) running roughly north-west, with a bridge crossing over the haven, and joining the main Hull to Hedon road north of Salt End.Ordnance Survey Sheet 241, 241NW (1850–1950) The bridge over the Hedon Haven was a lifting bridge,Ordnance Survey 1:2500 1969 target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Image replaced by a concrete deck fixed bridge in the late 20th century.

In 1967, an airfield was opened near to Oxgoddes farm, spearheaded by Neville Medforth of the East Yorkshire Aero Company. The airfield had a runway, and was used by the Hull Aero Club. Bristow Helicopters also used the site from 1969 to service North Sea oil rigs, and short haul operator Humber Airways from 1970 to its cessation of business in 1975. In around 1982 the airfield closed.

In 1870 Paull lighthouse was replaced by two sets of leading lights, also established by Hull's Trinity House: one at Thorngumbald Clough and the other at Salt End. All four displayed a fixed white light. As described in the Notice to Mariners: "For vessels bound up the river, the present Killingholme lights serve as leading lights to the point where the new lights at Thorngumbald Clough will become leading lights, and the latter will serve as such until the two lights at Salt End are in one, when the last mentioned will guide a vessel up to the Victoria Dock Pier or to Hull-road". London Gazette, Issue: 23614, Page: 2492, 10 May 1870. The new lights were first lit on 25 July 1870, and on the same date Paull Lighthouse was decommissioned. London Gazette, Issue: 23636, Page: 3483, 22 July 1870.

Thorngumbald Clough Low Light is constructed of a wrought iron frame approximately high on a high brick and flagstone base, the Thorngumbald Clough High light is of a similar design. The high light is painted red, the low light white (initially it was painted yellow). The low light was originally on a trolley, enabling it to move up to so as to adjust to changes in the shipping channel. The Thorngumbald lights ceased operation , but were restarted in 1952. As of 2015 both lights are still in use (owned and operated by Associated British Ports, Hull). Both are Grade II listed structures, as is the old lighthouse at Paull with its adjacent keepers' cottages.

The pair of lights at Salt End, the other side of Paull, were of near identical design and colour to those at Thorngumbald. They were dismantled in the 1960s when the BP oil terminal at Salt End was being expanded.

There was also a lifeboat station in between High and Low Paul, established and closed 1920.Ordnance Survey 1:2500 (1890–1929)

The position of the Humber coastline has been relatively fluid over several centuries due to flooding, storms, silting, human intervention, and the condition of Spurn Point. In the 17th century the bank of the Humber east of Paull was much further north; Cherry Cobb was a sand bank separated from the Holderness mainland by a navigable channel "North Channel" of the Humber. From the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century Cherry Cobb Sands (and Sunk Island to the east) silted up, reducing the north channel. The increased silting was exploited by humans; Cherry Cobb Sands was embanked in 1869/70, closing the north channel to the west. The silting caused drainage problems in the land to the north and Keyingham fleet (or clow) was resited several times in 1730, and again , when it became the jurisdiction of the Keyingham Drainage Authority; silting in the remnant of the north channel reduced the fleet's effectiveness and a new cut of the drain was made, based on one of two designs of Joseph Hodskinson, endorsed by William Chapman in 1797, and enabled by and act of Parliament in 1802. The new cut ran roughly south-east to Stone Creek Clow (the present location of the outlet).

By the 1840s the extent of Cherry Cobb Sands represented approximately ; the soil newly reclaimed land was of very good agricultural quality.

In the early 2000s the flood defences at Paull Holme Strays were re-aligned backwards to create a tidal lagoon. Construction of the new defences was completed in 2002, and in 2003 the old flood banks were cut, creating a nature reserve.

The North Sea tidal surge 2013 caused damage to the defences near Paull; 12 properties were flooded.

In 2016, the sea wall through the village was topped with high glass panelling at a cost of £835,000. Creating the longest glass barrier of its kind in Britain at long and designed to protect 14,000 homes.

• Humber Gas Tunnel

• Barbara English (1979). 9780197134375, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197134375
• David Alexander Smith (2026). 9781840335361, Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 9781840335361

• (defunct site)