, Sheppard : Coast Changes at Hornsea. 117 



^' the distance from the north-east corner of Robm Maudley's 

 house, at the seaside, to the edge of the chff, along the balk, 

 next the ditch, it was 61 yards 4 inches. April 2nd, 1759, . . . 

 the distance was then 50 yards, so that in one year and five 

 months the sea had gained 1 1 yards and 4 inches ; at the same 

 time the distance from the beacon to the edge of the cliff was 

 just 19 yards. The foundations of the house alluded to were 

 washed away in 1785, and the beacon was removed about 14 

 years before that." 



In the year 1786 the distance from the church to the sea- 

 side was measured by Mr. John Tuke, surveyor, of York, when 

 it was found to be due east 11 13 yards. Mr. Harrison took the 

 distance from the cliff in 1759. The distance from the church 

 *(east end) in December 1876, was only 1000 yards, making a 

 deficit of 133 yards from the period of its admeasurement by 

 Mr. Tuke." In 1895, according to the Ordnance Survey, the 

 distance was 898 yards. 



In a letter written by the rector of Atwick, dated September 

 19th, 1787, he states, " the place where the stream dyke empties 

 itself into the sea for about eight months in the year, when 

 there is a current from the Mere is . . . called the Beck ; near 

 this beck the town was situated. Two or three years ago the 

 Beck took another current to the sea 140 yards south, and from 

 the place where Robt. Maudley's house stood by the sea, over- 

 flowing its banks, and filling up with sand its antient course, 

 so that Mr. Bethell's manor is increasing in the same propor- 

 tion as Mr. Constable's is decreasing. . . . Hornsea Beck 

 has now altogether disappeared." 



There was a bridge over Hornsey Beck in 1440. 

 In 1390, Robert Ticlot of Hornsea Beck willed to his wife 

 Johan a ship called " Fartoft," in order that she might make 

 provision in the church of Hornsea for her own soul and the 

 souls of her father and mother. He also left a small vessel, 

 called " Maudlin," to his brother, and another to John Skelton 

 for the same purpose. These early references indicate that 

 vessels were safely harboured at Hornsea. It is also interesting 

 to notice that the one private token issued in Hornsea by 

 Benjamin Rhodes, and bearing the date 1670, has a repre- 

 sentation of a full-rigged ship on the obverse. 



Even as early as 1257 Henry III, granted a charter to 

 the abbots and monks of St. Mary's, York, for the holding of a 

 market at Hornsea every Monday, which was continued until 

 the end of the eighteenth century. Up to the time of the 

 dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII., Hornsea, " with 

 its tithes, trade, and fisheries was the most valuable possession 

 of the abbey."* In addition to the ship's tolls, the land tithes, 



* Fretwell'.s Hornsea, 1894, p. 37. 

 1^1 z April ; 



