BBC Finds Banksy's 'Secret' Hull Mural in Norfolk Storage

By Daniel Okafor

A BBC investigation has located a vandalized Banksy mural in storage in Norfolk, more than 120 miles from the Scott Street Bridge in Hull where the artist painted it in 2018. The future of the 22-foot-wide work is unknown.

The mural shows a young boy in a helmet, raising a wooden sword with a pencil fixed to its tip. He shouts "draw the raised bridge!" while appearing to sit on a graffiti writer's tag. The gag works on two levels: the bridge, closed to traffic since 1994 because of its poor condition, has stood frozen in a raised position awaiting demolition, and Banksy attaches an actual writing implement to a mock weapon — the pen as the mightier sword.

What happened to the mural?

Vandals painted over the work in white shortly after it appeared. A fast-acting window cleaner rushed to save it, according to The Guardian. Some found it ironic that Hull, named the UK's "city of culture" in 2017, failed to protect the piece in the first place.

Banksy, as usual, offered no explanation. Some observers read the work as a commentary on Brexit: the referendum took place in 2016, and Hull voted 68% to leave the European Union, according to CNN. That reading fits, or it doesn't. The bridge is coming down either way.

Why is its location a secret?

Hull City Council filed a tender to pay a company some £60,000 ($79,420) to move the mural to the city's Trinity Market and to build and install a display case for it there. The council has not replied to repeated BBC requests asking whether the contract was ever awarded.

The mystery got its official gloss in 2025, at a meeting of a council committee. Asked where the artwork was, Angela Blake, the city's assistant director of major projects, replied: "It's a secret." Chris Jackson, the council's executive director for regeneration, added: "I'm not sure we're allowed to say."

Local councilor Rosie Nicola put it more bluntly. "Nobody will tell us where this painting is and when it's going to be put on display," she told the BBC. "It's wrong."

Who is moving it, and at what cost?

The engineering firm Alan Wood and Partners secured a £900,000 ($1.2 million) contract to dismantle the bridge and preserve the artwork, the BBC reports. That is fifteen times the sum earmarked for relocating and displaying the mural itself — a comparison that tells you where the demolition budget ends and the art budget begins.

The Scott Street Bridge has been closed since 1994. The mural painted on it in 2018 survived vandals, a window cleaner's rescue and a bridge dismantling. Whether it survives Hull's bureaucracy is now the open question.

Does anyone know who Banksy is?

The artist has remained anonymous for years, with periodic rumors about his identity catching fire. In March, a Reuters special report claimed to reveal his given name and backstory. The mural in Norfolk, wherever precisely it sits, remains the more concrete fact.

For now, the piece sits in storage, its display case presumably undelivered, its council presumably not commenting. Trinity Market waits.