Chalk is the most available building stone in north Lincolnshire. In the example shown above (some surviving old farm buildings in Barton parish) squared blocks of chalk laid in courses and bonded by lime mortar have survived intact, while nearby chalk rubble has been used in another part of the wall not coursed and bonded […]

The picture above shows one of my most prized possessions found 30 years ago in long grass on the site of what was, until the Reformation, a large Cistercian monastic complex at Meaux on the eastern edge of the River Hull valley, east of Beverley (technically then a stolen artefact!). This block of carved chalk rock

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