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A new tourist attraction showcasing Hull’s Tudor history could start next year if plans get the go ahead, authorities have confirmed.

Proposals for the wire and mesh reconstruction of parts of the fortress at the South Blockhouse site are set to be lodged later this year, with construction potentially beginning next summer. Hull City Council’s culture and leisure portfolio holder Coun Rob Pritchard said a public consultation will be launched, showing detailed designs for the site.

Plans for the attraction at the site of the fortress built during the reign of Henry VIII come as findings from an archaeological dig are being prepared for publication. The 11-week dig which took place last summer came as part of a street upgrade scheme from National Highways, which is helping to fund the proposed attraction together with the council.

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The site is set to be transformed to give a sense of the fortress in its heyday, with proposals worth £1.25m involving landscaping the site close to the remaining corner of a later 17th Century citadel.

Wire and mesh recreations of sections of the Tudor-era building will be installed to show the scale of the original fortress and some of its structures. The metal structures have been chosen over rebuilding parts of the fortress because the necessary foundations would damage the existing archaeological remains.

Exposing the original remains or covering them with glass has also been ruled out because of potential damage from weathering, moss and algae growth.

Hull Castle, which included the South Blockhouse, was built between 1541-3 following Henry VIII’s visit to the city. The blockhouse itself would have featured a stone tower and bastions or gun platforms for cannons. The South Blockhouse was repaired in 1643 during the Second Siege of Hull by Charles I’s Royalist forces in the English Civil War.

The later 17th Century Hull Citadel and the earlier Tudor fortifications were torn down in 1864 as the city expanded during the Industrial Revolution – but the demolition was incomplete, as shown by last year’s community dig and earlier excavations which have uncovered the remains of walls, earthworks and even a cannon.

Coun Pritchard said: "The detailed designs for the South Blockhouse visitor attraction are currently being developed and the planning application is expected to be submitted this winter. The landscaping and installation work on the South Blockhouse site is anticipated to start in summer 2024.

“The digital design will include a variety of content so that everyone can visit, explore, and learn about the South Blockhouse from anywhere in the world. Engagement activities will take place for the next year, to give as many people as possible opportunities to explore the history of the South Blockhouse and help us shape the stories we will tell on the site and online.

“More broadly, the publication of the archaeology results from last year’s amazing community archaeology dig will be complete by the end of 2024, including making the findings available and accessible to different audiences.”