114 



COAST CHANGES AT HORNSEA. 



T. SHEPPARD, F.G.S. 



(plates vn. to XI.). 



For centuries the question of the erosion of the Holderness 

 coast has been a serious one for those who own the land or 

 are in other ways connected with the seaboard. The action 

 of the sea in washing the soft clay cliffs away at an average rate 

 of seven feet a year, has wrought many changes in the district. 

 Lakes have been tapped and drained, towns and villages have 

 been washed away, lands have been flooded and destroyed, 

 islands have been formed, and have again disappeared ; impor- 

 tant ports have sunk into insignificance, and small villages 

 have sprung into importance. 



The story of all these vast changes is a fascinating one, 

 though a long one. In the present notes, however, which form 

 merely a single chapter in the history of the lost towns of East 

 Yorkshire, it is proposed to refer to the changes that have 

 occurred at Hornsea, a place which occupies a position about 

 the middle of the coast, and is now a quiet watering place and 

 holiday resort. 



In early times there were two meres at Hornsea. One was 

 subsequently washed away, its site being where the beach now 

 is. A section in the old mere bed was exposed a few years ago, 

 and was described in this journal at the time. Later the 

 place became important as a port. It had a substantial pier, 

 and, apparently, a haven. Notwithstanding many costly 

 repairs, the pier was washed away by the sea. So important 

 was the port of Hornsea in the middle ages, that the dues paid 

 there represented a sufficiently tempting amount to cause 

 serious disputes between the different bodies who considered 

 they were entitled to share them. 



In addition to Hornsea proper, there were townships at 

 Hornsea Beck and Hornsea Burton, practically all of which 

 have been swept away. 



According to Poulson, the Holderness historian, Hornsea 

 Burton was ' dilapidated ' in 1840, though during the time of 

 the Domesday Survey (1086) it was a place of some importance, 

 and had two carucates of land under the plough. Even so 

 early as 1200 a grant of fourteen oxgangs was made from 

 Galfrid de Oyry's land, which was valued at 100 shillings 

 yearly : a considerable amount in those days. From ' Kirby's 

 Inquest ' in the thirteenth century, we learn that the heirs of 

 Gilbert de Mapleton ' held in Hornsea Burton six carucates 

 of land, equal to about 720 acres. As a result of the wearing 

 away by the sea, there were in 1852, 409 acres only, and to-day 



