July 2018

The picture above shows a rabbit (sorry picture upside-down – don’t know why) suffering from a viral disease called myxomatosis. When taking my dog on the Humber Bank and to the car-park at South Ferriby Sluice we encounter an active local wild rabbit population, but yesterday saw one suffering as above. Myxomatosis causes a lingering death across two […]

Another interesting recurring issue across the three Hull public parks (s.p.b.) in the 1880s and 1890s was that of anti-social behaviour (although, of course, that term was not used) as recorded in the minutes of the Parks Committee. Wilful damage to park property, usually pulling off of flower heads or damage to shrubs and trees, was much

Apparently last week was the national celebration of Public Parks Week (may not be the exact title), although the only sign I saw about it was at Central Park, Scunthorpe, and didn’t catch anything about it on the media. The issue of public parks is one close to my heart and, it seems to me

Sitting on a bench beside the Humber Estuary one evening recently noticed, on the incoming tide, two animals. One I pronounced a sea otter, having once heard from the late Miles Hopper, an eminent local naturalist, that they may sometimes be seen in the Estuary. Only its head was occasionally popping above water level so on that

Although at Wressle Castle it may have been possible to flood the surrounding land from the River Derwent in times of threat there is no evidence that this happened (s.p.b.s). However, defence was a primary consideration in determining the lay-out plan of earlier local castles. The Norman motte-and-bailey castles at Skipsea and Barrow (considered in a

The Northumberland Household Book compiled in the early 16th century provides lots of details about everyday life at Wressle and Leconfield Castles. Leconfield Castle was another of the Percy’s stately defended residences (Leconfield Castle has been discussed in an earlier blog in the context of Henry VIII’s Northern Progress). Dating from a time 100 years before