It was time for another multi-day sojourn, covering North Yorkshire and Southern Scotland. First up was a trip to Hull, which alongside the actual London locations visited in a previous sojourn, appears as London streets in the excellent ‘Enola Holmes 2’, in particular the chase scene that starts the film and is returned to halfway through.
Catching a train from London Kings’ Cross Station it was a 2½ hour train journey to Hull Station.
From here it was a ten minute walk to my first point of call, the unusually named The Land of Green Ginger, a narrow street at the bottom of Whitefriargate in Hull’s old town area. It contains what may be the world's smallest window, being a slit which was used by the gatekeeper of the George Hotel to look out for stagecoaches and customers. The street was formerly known as Old Beverley Street. Various suggestions have been proposed for the derivation of its current name. It may simply refer to the sale or storage of the spice ginger in the Middle Ages.
My researches had been inconclusive as to exactly what part of the film this street appears in, but I had deduced that it had been the filming location for 28 Bell Place where Mae (Abbie Hern) is found murdered. After around five minutes wandering around the small street, comparing it to screen captures, I confirmed that this was the case, taking a photo of the buildings on Manor Street used for the crime scene where Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) is accused of murder by Superintendent Grail (David Thewlis).
A short walk brought me to the High Street, where between Chapel Lane and Scale Lane, the scene where Enola runs away from the policemen was filmed. The Old Town already looks the part thanks to its brick lanes, with the production team adding Victorian-style shopfronts and carts to complete the picture.
The East End alleyway that Enola runs through an archway into as the police got closer was just off this part of the High Street, and is just one of many alleyways and lanes leading off the historic shopping street.
Another short walk brought me to Hull’s Guildhall on Alfred Gelder Street, where the Police Station scenes following Enola’s arrest were filmed, including Sherlock (Henry Cavill) attempting to bail her out. Scenes were shot both outside and inside the building. The courtroom location is actually slightly late for the setting. ‘Enola Holmes 2’ is set in 1885, while the Guildhall is Edwardian. It was completed in 1914, at the location of the earlier, Victorian guildhall building. It is still a functioning civic building, so wandering its halls to take photos was out. However, I managed to take photos from outside of the building, and through several side doors with window panels.
I then spent some time browsing nearby shops before making my way back to Hull Station, passing both a 'Doctor Who' named Gaming and Sci-Fi shop and a statue of local poet Philip Larkin.
From here I caught a train to Scarborough, my base for the night. My evening was spent at the Stephen Joseph Theatre (unfortunately a few weeks too early for the latest Alan Ayckbourn premiere) watching ‘Blonde Bombshells of 1943’ by Alan Plater, an excellent prequel to his 2000 TV film ‘The Last of the Blonde Bombshells’ (the latter featuring two Radio Mrs. Hudsons – Judi Dench & June Whitfield).
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