Historic church still top landmark for navigators

Hull, the 11th in the series of Pevsner city guides, is written by a local husband and wife team, the historians Drs David and Susan Neave.

The guide explores the Old Town with its medieval churches, 17th and 18th century merchants' houses and later commercial and public buildings, as well as its waterfront and new developments like The Deep.

Dr David Neave said: "As a symbol of importance from the Middle Ages to the present day it is one of the few cities that has a continuous role of being a centre of population and economic activity. Quite a lot of other cities are upstarts – like Leeds and Sheffield."

Some 10 pages in the new book are devoted to Holy Trinity Church, which dates back to about 1300 and was where the abolitionist William Wilberforce was baptised.

The church, described by leading church historian Christopher Wilson as one of the greatest of the great medieval parish churches in England, is the earliest large brick building in the country.

The book debunks one myth – that Ye Olde White Harte pub in the Old Town was where Sir John Hotham resolved in 1642 to bar King Charles 1 from the town, triggering the English Civil War. The plotting did happen – but in 1688 when Protestant William of Orange landed, and the deputy Governor plotted to overthrow the Catholic governor of Hull.