East Riding of Yorkshire
The
East Riding of Yorkshire is a
local government district with
unitary authority status, and a
ceremonial county of
England, in the
United Kingdom. It is named after the
historic East Riding of
Yorkshire (one of three
ridings alongside the
North Riding and
West Riding), which also constituted a ceremonial and administrative county until 1974. From 1974 to 1996 the area of the modern East Riding of Yorkshire constitued the northern part of
Humberside.
As a ceremonial county, it borders
North Yorkshire,
South Yorkshire and
Lincolnshire, and includes the city of
Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority. As a district it borders
North East Lincolnshire (over the
Humber estuary),
North Lincolnshire (over the Humber and on land), Hull,
Doncaster,
Selby,
York,
Ryedale and
Scarborough.
The East Riding unitary authority is the both the largest district and unitary authority in England by area: by population it is the second largest
non-metropolitan district (unitary or not) in England, after
Bristol.
Geologically the East Riding is split into two parts, the western part is the
Yorkshire Wolds, a chalk formation which extends from the
Humber at
Ferribry to the coast at
Flamborough Head, a chalk headland. The south-east of the district is the low-lying coastal plain of
Holderness, which faces east to the
North Sea, and to the south drains into the Humber estuary. South of Flamborough Head is
Bridlington Bay, which features a number of beaches, and at the far south-east of the district is the
Spurn peninsula.
The coastline has retreated noticably in the last 2,000 years with many former settlements now flooded, particularly
Ravenser Odd, which was a major port until its destruction in the
14th century. [
1] [
2]
Erosion remains a concern in the area. Works on upgrading sea-defences started in Withernsea in 2005,
[Rough seas delay defence project - BBC News] and village of Kilnsea is also to have defences upgrade.
[Flood defence for seaside village - BBC News]. Visitors have been warned by the Humber Coastgard to be very careful on coastal paths near Flamborough Head. [
3]
The district is generally rural, with no towns approaching the size of Hull. There are a few market towns such as
Beverley,
Goole,
Driffield,
Pocklington and
Market Weighton, and the coatal towns of
Hornsea and
Bridlington. In the south the district contains areas such as
Hessle which are part of the Hull urban area but outside the city boundaries.
The East Riding district drains mostly into the Humber. The eponymous
River Hull drains the area north of Kingston.
The district is entirely
parished: Hull has no parishes. From 1996 Beverley had Charter Trustees to maintain the charter of the
borough of Beverley: these were replaced by a Beverley Town Council in 1999. See also:
List of civil parishes in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
According to the 2001 census, the district had a population of 314,113, and the most populous parishes are Bridlington (34,000), Goole (17,000), Beverley (17,000), Cottingham (17,000, part of the Hull urban area),
Hessle (15,000, by Hull), Driffield (11,000),
Anlaby with Anlaby Common (10,000, by Hull),
Hornsea (8,000) and
Willerby (8000, by Hull),
Pocklington (8,000) and
Elloughton-cum-Brough (7,000). Half the district's population reside in these 11 parishes, with the other half living in the other 160 parishes. In comparison, Hull's population according to the same census was 243,589. The population density of the district is around 135 people per square km, which makes it the least densely populated unitary authority after the
Isles of Scilly,
Rutland and
Herefordshire.
The population of the East Riding is skewed to be older than average for England, with 18.4% of the people in the 2001 census being over 65 compared to 15.8% in England generally. There is a particularly strong deficit in the number of young adults. [
4]
The district is one of the least
ethnically diverse, with the census reporting 98.8% of the inhabitants being white. Hull itself is also quite monoethnic for a city of its size, with the census reporting 97.7% white.
The East Riding originated in antiquity. The separate Lieutenancy for the riding was established after the
Restoration, and the ridings each had separate
Quarter Sessions.
For statistical purposes in the
19th century an East Riding of Yorkshire
registration county was designated, consisting of the entirety of the
poor law unions of Beverley, Bridlington, Driffield, Howden, Hull, Patrington, Pocklington, Sculcoates, Skirlaugh and York, thus excluding parts of the historic riding around
Norton and
Sherburn (which are also excluded from the modern district), but also including the city of York and environs (more usually associated with the West Riding). These poor law unions formed the basis of
rural sanitary districts in
1875.
|
The administrative county, shown with borders from 1965-1974 (Hull not indicated). |
A county council for the East Riding of Yorkshire was set up in 1889, covering an
administrative county which did not cover the
county borough of Hull, but otherwise had the same boundaries as the historic riding. Apart from Hull the East Riding contained two
municipal boroughs,
Beverley and
Hedon.
Under the
Local Government Act 1894 the rest of the administrative county was divided into
rural districts and
urban districts. The rural districts were based on the rural sanitary districts, with
Beverley Rural District,
Bridlington Rural District,
Driffield Rural District,
Howden Rural District,
Patrington Rural District,
Pocklington Rural District,
Riccal Rural District,
Sculcoates Rural District and
Skirlaugh Rural District being formed as-is.
Several other rural districts were formed by divisions of rural sanitary districts to conform to the administrative county borders :
Sherburn Rural District and
Norton Rural District came from Scarborough and Malton RSDs respectively (otherwise in North Riding);
Riccal Rural District from Selby RSD (otherwise in the West Riding); and
Escrick Rural District which was previously part of
York RSD (which covered all three ridings). Urban districts were
Cottingham,
Great Driffield,
Hessle (from 1899),
Hornsea,
Norton,
Pocklington and
Withernsea.
The East Riding's only large town is Hull, a major port. Hull's population of which rose rapidly in the late
19th century : quadrupling from about 60,000 in 1851 to 240,000 in 1901. Other towns in the riding did not have similar growth and remain small: Bridlington's permanent population remained largely static in the same period, increasing from 6,000 to around 7,000. By 1971 the riding had a population of slightly over 500,000. In comparison, the
West Riding (including county boroughs) saw extensive urbanisation and the formation of several conurbations, and had a population of nearly 4,000,000 in 1971, and the
North Riding a population of about 700,000. Beverley was once a town of some importance, with
St. John's College and
Beverley Minster. The college was suppressed along with the monastery in the
16th century (see
Dissolution of the Monasteries) and the town entered a decline in relative importance, although gaining a charter of incorporation in 1573, having previously been under the
Archbishop of York. Beverley benefitted somewhat from the proximity of Hull during the
Industrial Revolution, and became the county town for the East Riding administrative county in 1892.
[Victoria County History: A History of the County of York East Riding: Volume 6: The Borough and Liberties of Beverley]Bridlington obtained
municipal borough status in 1899, having become a
resort town (as had
Hornsea and
Withernsea), although not matching the population growth of
Scarborough further up the coast in the North Riding.
The county districts underwent a major reorganisation in 1935 :
*
Derwent Rural District formed from most of Esrick RD, Riccal RD and part of Howden RD (which continued in existence)
*
Holderness Rural District formed from Patrington RD and Skirlaugh RD
*Sherburn RD abolished, split between Bridlington RD, Norton RD and part to Filey UD
*Sculcoates RD abolished, mostly to Beverley RD
*Great Driffield urban district made smaller and renamed Driffield, the rural part going to
Nafferton parish in
Driffield Rural District*an
urban district of
Haltemprice formed to cover the urbanised area west of Hull, from
Cottingham and
Hessle urban districts, and parts of
Sculcoates Rural District (including
Haltemprice,
West Ella and parts of other parishes)
*Pocklington urban district abolished and added to Pocklington RD
Both the administrative county and the historic Lieutenancy were abolished under the
Local Government Act 1972, on
April 1,
1974, with most of the riding going to form the northern part of
Humberside. Some parts became part of
North Yorkshire, with the borough of
Scarborough taking in
Filey UD and part of the
Bridlington Rural District, the district of
Ryedale taking in
Norton and the former
Norton Rural District, and the district of
Selby taking in the former
Derwent Rural District. Humberside also included northern Lincolnshire, and
Goole and the former
Goole Rural District, which are in the historic
West Riding.
The creation of a cross-Humber authority was unpopular, despite the promise of the
Humber Bridge (which ultimately opened in 1981), and identification with Yorkshire and the East Riding remained strong (for example, North Wolds District Council change its name to East Yorkshire District Council in the early 1980s, with Beverley also taking the name 'East Yorkshire Borough of Beverley'. This culminated with the
local government review in the
1990s, which saw Humberside abolished and the northern part form two
unitary authorities.
The East Riding district was formed on
April 1,
1996 from the former districts of
East Yorkshire,
Beverley and
Holderness, along with the northern part of the
Boothferry district, including the Goole area which forms part of the historic West Riding (attaching it to the districts of
Selby or
Doncaster were proposed but rejected). The ceremonial county, the area in which the
Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire represents
the Crown, was re-established the same day, covering Hull as well as the district.
The present East Riding Council is on a four-yearly cycle and had elections for all seats in
1995 (a year before it came into its powers, as a
shadow authority),
1999 and
2003. The next elections will be in
2007. At the 2003 elections the
Conservative Party gained a plurality of seats but
not overall control of the council, which has been under NOC since its creation. The council has a leader-and-executive system, the leader being Stephen Parnaby of the Conservatives.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council is based in Beverley, as had
Humberside County Council been, and the East Riding County Council before that.
Both the East Riding and Hull are still covered by the
Humberside Police area and the
Humberside Fire and Rescue Service.
For representation in the
Parliament of the United Kingdom the bulk of the East Riding district is divided into three
county constituencies:
Beverley and Holderness,
East Yorkshire and
Haltemprice and Howden, which are all Conservative-held. One of Hull's three borough constituencies,
Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle, spills into the area, as does
Brigg and Goole, otherwise in
North Lincolnshire. All the Hull seats are Labour-held, with
Hull East being the seat of
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
The East Riding has only a small segment of
motorway. Part of the
M62 serves to link
Hull area to
West Yorkshire and the national motorway network, whilst the
M18 incidentally passes the district border near Goole. Primary roads in the district include the
A63,
A164,
A165,
A166, and the
A614.
Hull Paragon is a large railway station, served by lines to the west (the
Sheffield to Hull Line, running to
Sheffield and
Doncaster and the
Hull to York Line, running to
York and
Selby), and to the north (the
Yorkshire Coast Line, which serves
Scarborough). See
Railway stations in East Riding of Yorkshire.
Train operators active in the area include
Northern Rail,
GNER and
First TransPennine Express.
Hull Trains are an 'open access' operator established in 2002 running services from
Kings Cross. Access to London is by the
East Coast Main Line, reached at
Selby.
The
Humber Bridge, a road-only bridge, and part of the
A15, links
Hessle, west of Hull, with
Barton-upon-Humber in
Lincolnshire. West of this the next crossing of the river (the
Ouse at this point) are three bridges near
Goole, a railway bridge, the M62 bridge and the
A614. Ferries historically have linked
North Ferriby (called simply Ferriby on the Yorkshire side), with South Ferriby on the Lincolnshire side.
Humberside Airport, located on the other side of the Humber estuary, serves the region.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of East Riding of Yorkshire at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by
Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|
| 1995 | 2,708 | 299 | 896 | 1,513 |
| 2000 | 3,006 | 209 | 1,090 | 1,707 |
| 2003 | 3,783 | 233 | 1,106 | 2,444 |
includes hunting and forestry
includes energy and construction
includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
Hull is the main centre for national-level sport in the region.
Hull City F.C. are a
second-tier football team. There are two
Rugby league teams based in the town:
Hull FC and
Hull Kingston Rovers. Hull FC play in the European
Super League, with Hull Kingston Rovers in League One of the
National League.
The region is covered by the
BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and
ITV Yorkshire television regions. Local analogue radio stations include
BBC Radio Humberside and
Viking FM. A local
Digital Audio Broadcasting multiplex is based around Humberside.
Newspapers include the
Hull Daily Mail, owned by the
Northcliffe group. An
East Riding Mail has recently been launched as a sister paper to this. Other newspapers in the area include the
Beverley Guardian, the
Bridlington Free Press, the
Driffield Times and the
Goole Times |
Map showing roads and population centres in the East Riding of Yorkshire unitary authority. |
*
Beverley,
Bishop Burton,
Bridlington*
Cottingham*
Driffield*
Flamborough*
Goole*
Hedon,
Hessle,
Holme-on-Spalding-Moor,
Hornsea,
Howden*
Market Weighton*
North Ferriby*
Pocklington*
Riplingham,
Roos,
Rudston*
South Cave,
Stamford Bridge*
Withernsea*
Burnby Hall*
Burton Agnes Manor House,
Burton Agnes Hall*
Sewerby Hall*
Skipsea Castle*
Fort Paull*
Beverley Minster and
Beverley Friary*
Howden Minster*
Skidby Working Windmill*
Hornsea Mere*
River Humber,
River Hull,
Watton Beck,
River Derwent, Yorkshire,
River Ouse,
River Aire,
River Trent,
River Don*
Rudston Monolith*
Aire and Calder Navigation*
Driffield Navigation*
Leven Canal*
Market Weighton Canal*
Pocklington Canal*
Stamford Bridge*Yorkshire
Wildlife Trust*
Yorkshire Wolds*
Flamborough Head*
Spurn*
Wolds Way, a
long distance footpath*
RSPB Bempton CliffsSee also:
List of SSSIs in Humberside.
Image:Beverley on market day.jpg|Beverley on market dayImage:Beverley 2.jpg|BeverleyImage:Beverley Station.jpg|Beverley station
Image:Chalk Tower Flamborough Head 058031.jpg|Flamborough HeadImage:Humber Bridge.png|Humber BridgeImage:River Hull tidal barrier 1.jpg|River Hull tidal barrierImage:Skidby Working Windmill 1.jpg|Skidby Working WindmillImage:Spurn point with lighthouse.kirin.jpeg|Spurn*
Yorkshire colloquialisms*
East Riding of Yorkshire Council
