36 DESCRIPTION OF THE STRATA. 



the oeean, but is nearly synonymous with mere* Both tertn^ are 

 united in the name Sea-mer, that belongs to two places in our district, 

 neither of which borders on the sea. Seamer in Cleveland coidd not 

 be so named from its maritime situation, being more than twelve miles 

 from the shore. 



That a considerable mere has existed at Skipsea, appeai-s from 

 what has been said of the remains that are found there : and the idea 

 is corroborated by the well known fact, that a large tract of land, on 

 which stood Hyde, Hai'tburn, and perhaps other towns or villages, 

 has been swept away from that part of the coast by the violence of 

 the ocean. That tract of land, forming the barrier of Skipsea mere, 

 and probably of another mere near Barmston, being destroyed, the 

 sea broke into these meres, and iheir boggy substratum became ex- 

 posed to the waves. ' 



Hornsea formerly belonged to a chain of meres, some of which 

 have been drained, or otherwise exhausted, on the land side, while 

 one at least has been destroyed by the sea. The decayed vegetable 

 remains existing on the shore opposite to Hornsea, point out the site 

 of a mere in that direction; and on the contrary side were the meres 

 of Wassand and Seaton. The privilege of fishing in the meres of 

 Hornsea, Wassand, and Seaton, as also in that of Agnes Burton, was 

 given to the monks of St. Mary's abbey at York.t The name of the 

 last place, Agnes, was formerly written Agnese or Agnesea; having 

 the same termination as Hornsea and Skipsea, and for the same rea- 

 son,— the existence of a mere at the place which it designated. We 

 may remark also, that (Seaton, like Seavaev, did not derive its name 

 from the ocean, but from the mere or lake on which it stood. 



* The word sjo in ttie ■Scandinavian languages signifies a lake as well as the sea; and the 

 Saxon word y^e. might be used in the same way : yet the ancient names of places in our district 

 teem to be more Danish than Saxon. See Hist, of Whitby, Vol. I. p. 82,83, 84. Vol. II. p. 89'?; 



t Drake's Eboracum, p. 593, 606. 



