Author name: Richard Clarke

Above is a photo of part of an exhibit about fishing in Holderness taken in the Hull and East Riding Museum. The Bulletin (s.p.b.s) concludes with what I always think is a good example of not taking place-names at face-value. Skipsea, Hornsea, Withernsea and Kilnsea are by the sea – but when these place-names were […]

The sketch above is taken from the Bulletin (s.p.b.s) and given the caption ‘Fishing the mere in medieval times’. One point made in the Bulletin (s.p.b.s) is that the meres would have provided a range of resources for local settlers, reeds, wildfowl and fish (potentially). Later fish provided a staple food for ‘In the Church

There are two natural islands in Hornsea Mere, Swan Island (see a bit of above) and, the smaller, Lady Island. The photo above shows how meres developed in lower land between undulations which became vegetated. Even millennia ago the current-day Hornsea Mere would have been a large example, many would have been much smaller. From

In 1988 Humberside County Council Archaeology Unit published a Bulletin summarising their North Holderness Survey. To continue this section of my study I will precis their information before going on to precis the final chapter in Professor English’s book ‘The Lords of Holderness 1086 – 1260’. Inevitably the four unitary authorities that replaced Humberside County

Although strata of coal and chalk dip far below the surface the drift geology of Holderness is glacially deposited boulder clay. Two questions need some sort of an answer – What is clay? and what is boulder clay? Clay is a fine/dense grained soil where each particle has a moist skin. Clay tends to swell

Another source of evidence dealing with the history of the draining of the Hull Valley and west Holderness is the book the cover of which is shown above, Becks, Banks, Drains and Brains, The Drainage History of the River Hull Valley – this published in 2013 by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Given a