Constable Moby
When a large bull sperm whale measuring 58½ ft in length beached itself at Tunstall on Thursday 28th April 1825, it soon aroused a great deal of public interest. Among those who studied it was eminent Hull physician, Dr James Alderson, who studied and dissected the whale before writing a scientific paper on the subject, was eventually knighted in 1869 and ultimately appointed Physician extraordinary to Queen Victoria.
The whale was claimed by Sir Thomas Aston Clifford Constable through his rights as Seignior of Holderness. A few years later, the Constable family mounted the skeleton on an iron structure and placed it on display in the parkland. Scientists, writers and tourists flocked to see it.
Eventually, however, interest dropped off. By the mid-20th century the whale was almost forgotten, lying under the grass here where you stand. The Burton Constable Foundation rescued it following 1992, housing it in the Stables where it is once again on display today.