Exotic past: Stonemason carves out new future from Zoo Keeper’s Yard

WHAT’S IN A NAME? Andrew Gomersall outside his workshop and yard in Hutt Street

Now & Then, a column by Angus Young

From acrobats and monkeys to exquisite minster carvings – it’s a journey of discovery at the Zoo Keeper’s Yard

After deciding to call his new workshop Zoo Keeper’s Yard, Andrew Gomersall realised he had created a problem for himself.

“As soon as the sign went up I got a steady stream of people coming in asking if I had any animals they could see,” he said. “It still happens on a fairly regular basis.”

The master stonemason and sculptor has since acquired a life-sized model of the head of a giraffe to complement the history he has unearthed about Hull’s former Zoological Gardens, which once stood nearby.

Old advertising posters for the almost forgotten Victorian attraction have been used to disguise an unsightly supporting column, while Andrew has created a gallery on the walls of a covered entrance which features some of the exotic animals once housed there.

LIKENESS: A hand-carved portrait of Eleanor Crowle at Trinity Rooms cafe at Hull Minster

A period map showing the layout of the gardens also helpfully provides a sufficient detail to pinpoint where his yard in Hutt Street is today.

“When I started researching the Zoological Gardens I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole,” he admits.

“The more I read about it the more fascinated I got so I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some of its history.”

Laid out on what was then the outskirts of Hull on land off Spring Bank, the zoo and pleasure gardens opened in 1840.

As well as housing an ever-changing collection of wild animals – including an elephant, polar bears, tigers and monkeys – the zoo also received animals donated by wealthy local businessmen from their country estates.

Live entertainment was also staged at the site such as regular fireworks displays, music, hot air balloon ascents, acrobatics and fairground rides.

Despite attracting huge crowds over the years, high running costs forced the privately-run zoo and gardens to close in 1861 with most of the site eventually built on with new housing.

Andrew has traced his yard back to at least 1889 when it operated as a dairy. During recent restoration work, he came across old packaging for blocks of butter hidden under a floorboard.

NEW FEATURE: A life-sized model of a giraffe’s head installed in the yard

However, by 1920 the yard became a taxi business with three vehicles advertised for sale with the property.

Shortly after Robert Dalby acquired the site and converted it into a builder’s yard.

Four generations of the Dalby family operated from there until the mid 1990s when the houses in front were sold and the yard fell into dereliction. It remained virtually untouched for almost three decades until Andrew and his wife Kim’s company, the Gomersall Partnership, bought it in 2022.

It’s now a rare surviving example of what were once common thriving workplace yards and outbuildings peppered among the late Victorian and Edwardian terraced streets of Hull.

INTRIGUING: The entrance

Having previously worked as a stonemason and department manager for Hull building and restoration firm Quibell & Sons, Andrew became self-employed after the company went into administration in 2010.

Since then, he’s literally carved out a reputation as one of the North’s leading natural stone specialists and has worked on many historic local buildings, including Beverley Minster, Lincoln Cathedral and Beverley Road Baths to name but a few.

His proudest most recent project was aiding with the design details and then actually building the new stonework on the Trinity Rooms cafe at Hull Minster, where he also supplied and fitted the stonework to a boiler room and constructed a new doorway to the southern side of the church, complete with new portrait carvings by hand of Hull’s first female GP Mary Murdoch, and 17th century church benefactor Eleanor Crowle on either side of the porch door.

At the yard, he and his team have made structural improvements and added extra storage space as well as a first-floor outside showroom area for his other business manufacturing cast stone fireplaces. 

ENTERTAINMENT: A poster advertising the attractions at the former zoo and pleasure gardens

“It was in a complete state when I bought it,” said Andrew. “After being derelict for the best part of thirty years, you can imagine what it was like.”

“There’s a lot of work gone into bringing it back to life but I’ve tried to keep the feel of the place by using as much reclaimed material as possible.”

Inside one of the stores is an old wooden handcart which, until recently, belonged to Beverley Minster.

Andrew bought it at a fund-raising auction held in the church last year, having originally seen it on his first day of work at the age of 16 when he was taken to Beverley to see some of the past restoration work done by Quibell & Sons under the late Ken Ralph, who was also a master stonemason.

“The handcart means a lot to me,” said Andrew. “It’s also the same type that was used here by the Dalby family.

BACK IN USE: The workshop and yard in Hutt Street

“I’m told they owned several and their builders would load them up with tools and building materials first thing in the morning and then push them as far as Westcott Street on Holderness Road in the 1960s.”

With his new workshop, he’s now looking forward to shifting gear career-wise

“At school I was always interested in art and wanted to be a sculptor or architect. Through a careers teacher, I got the chance of an apprenticeship at Winchester Cathedral but it all fell through at the last minute.

FIND: Butter packaging from the site’s days as a dairy discovered under a floorboard

“After that, I was lucky enough to get an apprenticeship with Quibell and it all started from there.

“Because I’ve got a background in studying fine art and architecture, I’ve also been able to diversify into offering a range of design services to clients as well as doing the actual stone work on site.

“Now I’ve got this place sorted out, I’m hoping to do more art and sculpture for my own pleasure as well as continuing with the day-to-day masonry stuff and developing the fireplace business Pierre Beton Fireplaces, which is my priority at the moment.”

Links:

The Gomersall Partnership www.masterstonemason.co.uk

Pierre Beton Fireplaces www.pierrebeton.co.uk