Yorkshire Wolds

The Yorkshire Wolds are a range of hills in the English county of Yorkshire. They are the highest area on the eastern England between the River Derwent to the west and northwest, the Humber in the south and the North Sea to the east. The range of hills runs in an arc of about Hull until some distance parallel to the North Sea in order to then swing east to the coast. He finally ends at the level of the small town of Filey.

  • 2.1 Northern Wolds and Flamborough Head
  • 2.2 Capital Wolds
  • 2.3 Southern Wolds
  • 2.4 Central Wolds
  • 2.5 Western Wolds

Geography

The Wolds rise steeply from the west in the plains around York ( Vale of York) up. The highest point in the area is 246 m (807 ft) above sea level. NN of Garrowby Hill. In the north, the Vale of Pickering joins - and on the opposite side are the North York Moors. In the east, the Wolds are excreted in the Holderness plain, on which in turn connects the North Sea coast. The largest city in the Wolds is Driffield, other places include Pocklington, Thixendale and Kilham.

The hillside area consists of Cretaceous rock. On the North Sea coast between Bridlington and Scarborough it ends up being the cliff. The most striking cliff represents the headland of Flamborough Head, which also marks the easternmost point of the Wolds. The southern Lincolnshire Wolds are separated by the Humber and viewed as a continuation of the Yorkshire Wolds.

The majority of the area consists of a steeply rising on the eastern edge, and westward gently sloping plateau. This is intersected by some flat, steep-walled valleys of glacial origin, however. The area is surprisingly well drained, resulting in mostly dry valleys. In fact, there are few streams and lakes within the Wolds. From the hills of the landscape seen by their shape makes a shallower impression than is the case in reality. The valleys are mainly used for livestock, while outweighs the cereal growing on the hills.

Climate

With its location in the north of the United Kingdom, the area is characterized by a temperate oceanic climate. Frequently migrating low pressure areas cause changeable weather, while the Gulf Stream for relatively mild temperatures makes. In the higher areas, it is a bit cooler than in the surrounding areas, and often in winter snow falls. On average, falling to 128 days in 729 mm of precipitation. January is usually the coldest and wettest month of December. The warmest month is August and the driest February.

Division of the area

Northern Wolds and Flamborough Head

The Wolds reach at Flamborough Head, the North Sea, where the cliff rises about 150 m from the sea. In the south of Flamborough is the tourist Bridlington, in the north the steep cliffs of Speeton, from where you can overlook the bay of Filey. Next in the hinterland of the Wolds has views across the Vale of Pickering.

The area is crossed by the Great Wold Walley. The current flowing through the valley stream called Gypsey Race flows near Bridlington in the North Sea. The valley runs first south and then in two orthogonal curves at Burton Fleming and Rudston to the east. In dry periods the river bed falls in some places dry; the water flows underground and continue to occur elsewhere again.

Another special feature of the area is the Danes Dyke, a large trench that extends over Flamborough Head. This double mound is about 20 m wide and 6 m deep and 5 m high from the ground up. The origin of the wall is unknown.

The Bempton cliffs are home to a seabird colony and are a nature reserve of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

Notable settlements are Flamborough, North Landing and South Landing. Reighton has many houses built of chalk rock. Hunmanby was once the largest in the area market; the houses of the village, set around a triangular marketplace. A handful of villages are located on the northern edge of the Wolds, whose territory is very fertile marshlands of the Vale of Pickering. Forden is with only a few farms and a small church, which dates back to the time of the Normans, one of the smallest municipalities of England. Wold Newton and Burton Fleming located in the Great Wold Valley. In Rudston is a huge monolith, which can be examined in the cemetery of the village. It is the largest standing stone in Britain.

Capital Wolds

On the sea-facing side of the Wolds between Bridlington and Driffield are some villages. These mark the boundary between the Cretaceous layers of the Wolds and the clay of Holderness. Driffield is centrally located in the crescent- like shape of the Wolds; because you can reach this city well from everywhere, it developed into an important market and is regarded as the capital of the Wolds. In its place there was already a prosperous trading center in the Middle Ages. In the area there were an Iron Age burial ground and two Anglican cemeteries and two Roman roads.

Notable villages are Nafferton, which is located off the A166 road and comes up with a beautiful mill pond fed by springs. Situated on the Driffield Canal Wansford has a church dating back to 1868. Agnes Burton In the ruins of a manor house dating from 1170 and a gatehouse ( Burton Agnes Hall ) from the Elizabethan age is.

Southern Wolds

In the south, the Wolds are narrowest. The Humber estuary separates the Yorkshire Wolds here of the Lincolnshire Wolds. In Roman times the estuary was crossed by a ford. Today he is spanned by the Humber Bridge. The area consists of farmland and many nice villages. Notable of these are Walkington village with a fountain and a church, Bishop Burton with its churches St Michael's and All Angels and Skidby with an intact windmill, which is an agricultural museum. North Newbald is situated on the western edge of the Wolds in a narrow valley and has a Norman church, dedicated to St Nicholas.

Central Wolds

The Wolds reach their highest point with the Garrowby Hill. To the west of the site slopes steeply into the Vale of York. Here are the markets Pocklington and Market Weighton. Along the escarpment of Garrowby Hall to Kilnwick Percy, Warter Priory and Londesborough Hall large parks are created. Kiplingcotes is the place of the horse race held annually Kiplingcotes Derby, the oldest horse race in England. 2009 was held for the 490th time. The village also lies on the once through the Yorkshire Wolds leading, today disused railway route of the York - Beverley Line.

Western Wolds

From Garrowsby Hill north to Ganton hillside region makes a bow, from which one can the Vales of York and the Vale of Pickering overlook. The villages are generally based on the outskirts of the Wolds and the upper parts of the Great Wold Valley. Rillington is a nice village with a flowing creek and a nearby park at Scampston. The twin villages of East and West Heslerton are both on the European Road A64. In West Heslerton there is a known archaeological site dating from different ages. Wharram Percy is one of the best known medieval deserted villages in the United Kingdom.

History and Archaeology

In the Wolds many archaeological finds were made. Distributed over the entire area exist archaeological sites from the Neolithic, Bronze and Roman times. The fertile limestone soil and good grazing land made ​​the colonization of the area for the people of the Neolithic attractive. In addition to Wessex and the Orkney Islands, the Yorkshire Wolds are the most important area of archaeological research of the Neolithic in the British Isles. Recent finds could be dated using radiocarbon dating to about the year 3700 BC. The monolith of Rudston a large further neolithic monument was identified. Four Cursus and a circle of stones were discovered near the Great Wold Valley.

The Romans reached the area around the year 71 AD Starting from a settlement on the north bank of the Humber, they built a road network, the branches of which led over the Yorkshire Wolds to York and Malton after. The indigenous population was initially only slightly influenced by the Romans, but it was in later years the culture of the Roman occupiers forced upon more and more. There are remains of Roman villas at Rudston, Harpham, Welton and Wharram -le- Street.

In the vicinity of Walkington in the southern Wolds exists an Anglo-Saxon execution site, the well-known only in northern England.

Yorkshire Wolds Way

The Yorkshire Wolds Way long-distance trail is one of the nine National Trails in the United Kingdom. The 127 km long trail begins at the Humber Bridge at Hessle (near Hull) and extends longitudinally through the Yorkshire Wolds up to Filey on the North Sea coast.

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