PHYSIOGRAPHY OF THE EAST RIDING. I9 



Ridingf may be mapped out into three well marked geo- 

 graphical areas, which, it may be stated, are entirely 

 dependent upon distinct geological formations. 



I. The Plain of Holderness.— The Plain of Holder- 



ness is about 160,000 acres in extent. Holderness, geo- 

 graphically, is rather larger than the old seigniory so 

 called, and for the purposes of this work is held to include 

 all the land south and east of the Wolds. Although 

 denominated a plain, being usually low lying and nowhere 

 above i6o feet above sea level, it is by no means of one dead 

 level as is frequently imagined, but in many places is thrown 

 into gentle indulations, as at Paull (Paghill), Keyingham, 

 Sutton, Rise, Brandesburton, and Skipsea. The numerous 

 place names in Holdernessian topograph)- indicating this 

 feature are evidence to the stranger who may never traverse 

 the region. Thus there are many "holmes," "hills," 

 " barffs " (probably an alternative of " broughs "), and 

 "rises," which will be recognised in the appended topo- 

 graphical lists. In the landscape many a hamlet or farm- 

 stead marks the site bearing one or other of these names.. 

 Geologically, Holderness is a remarkably interesting example 

 of a Boulder Clay district, its undulations being due to the 

 irregular accumulations of moraine debris left by the great 

 ice cap and glaciers of the Pleistocene Epoch. The 

 hummocky appearance of the district, the contents of the 

 gravels and clay with their far-travelled Cumbrian, West 

 Riding, and Norwegian boulders, sub-arctic fossil shells, 

 and peculiarly scratched and smoothed stones, all point 

 to ice as the agent of 'construction which helped most of 

 all to form the land now constituting Holderness. In the 

 hollows between the "rises" and hills above mentioned, 

 there have formerly existed many small lakes (meres or 

 "mars"), the natural resultants of the region being Covered 

 with ice. These have nearly all vanished owing to natural 

 filling up and artificial drainage, but their former presence 

 is proved by their present marshy conditions or peaty 

 subsoil, as well as by the many place names incorporating 

 the words "mar" and "mere,"e.^., Marton, Marfleet, and 

 Sand-le-mere. 



Besides these evidences the old beds of lakes are often 

 well exposed in cliff sections on the coast, where their 

 existence has been revealed by the erosive action of the sea. 

 At Barmston Drain mouth, Skipsea and Atwick Gaps, Out 

 Newton, and Holmpton, there are well-known instances of 



