Chapter I: Part 1

Transcriber’s Note:

This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. Bold and blackletter fonts, used for inscriptions, are delimited with ‘=’.

Illustrations and maps are indicated as , and have been positioned to fall between paragraphs. On several occasions, the order of the illustrations is reversed, to better follow the text.

The footnotes, which were marked using the typical symbols (e.g., asterisks), have been numbered consecutively for uniqueness, and placed following the paragraph where they appear. On several occasions (44.8, 48.10, 59.13, 259.59), a single footnote is referenced multiple times in the text.

Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.

THE STORY OF THE
EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE

_A COMPANION VOLUME._

_304 Pages, Crown 8vo, with 56 Illustrations._
_Cloth Boards_, =1/8= _net_.

YORK
IN ENGLISH HISTORY

BY

J. L. BROCKBANK, M.A.,

AND

W. M. HOLMES.

_A typical Press Opinion._—"We have nothing but praise for this charming book. It has well been said that ‘to master thoroughly the story of the city of York is to know practically the whole of English history,’ and the authors of this new history have demonstrated the truth of this opinion. No pains have been spared by the publishers to give the letterpress a perfect setting; binding, paper, illustrations, and general finish are alike admirable."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

LONDON: A. BROWN & SONS, Ltd., 5 Farringdon Av., E.C.
And at Hull and York.

THE PRIDE OF THE EAST RIDING.
BEVERLEY MINSTER FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
]

THE STORY OF
THE EAST RIDING OF
YORKSHIRE

BY

HORACE B. BROWNE, M.A.

_WITH ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY
ILLUSTRATIONS_

LONDON

A. BROWN & SONS, LTD., 5 FARRINGDON AVENUE, E.C.
AND AT HULL AND YORK

---

1912

PRINTED AT BROWNS’ SAVILE PRESS,
SAVILE STREET AND GEORGE STREET, HULL.

TO THE
BOYS AND GIRLS
OF THE EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE,

IN THE HOPE THAT THE STORY OF THE LIVES OF THEIR
FOREFATHERS MAY INSPIRE THEM TO HELP IN
ROLLING ONWARDS THE WHEELS OF
PROGRESS THAT HAVE BEEN IN
MOTION EVER SINCE THE
FIRST LIVING BEING
CAME INTO
EXISTENCE.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes herein to acknowledge his indebtedness:—

(1) To the published works of local historians, and to the publications of local learned societies, into all of which he has delved, and from many of which he has ‘lifted’ such local records as it served his purpose to use.

(2) To MR. JOHN BICKERSTETH, of the East Riding County Council, for valuable help in the chapter on _How the East Riding Governs Itself_, and in the general planning of the book; to MR. JOHN SUDDABY, for much information that is embodied in Chapters XXIV.-XXVII.; to the WARDENS OF THE HULL TRINITY HOUSE, and MR. E. J. HESELTINE for extracts from the records of the Trinity House; to MR. J. H. HIRST, Hull City Architect, for the draft of the illustration on p. 167; and to MR. W. G. B. PAGE, for revising the proofs of _The East Riding Roll of Honour_.

(3) To COL. MARK SYKES, M.P., CANON GRIMSTON of Stillingfleet, ALDERMAN JOHN BROWN, DR. J. WRIGHT MASON, MRS. WATSON, of Hedon, MR. W. MORFITT of Atwick, the CURATOR of the Hull Museums, and others, for permission to take photographs of objects in their possession.

(4) To the EDITOR of the Transactions of the East Riding Antiquarian Society, the Hull Scientific Club, and the Hull Museum Publications, for the loan of several blocks; to PROFESSOR COLLINGWOOD and the EDITOR of the ‘Yorkshire Archæological Journal’ for the loan of blocks for the illustrations on pp. 55, 63, 64; to MR. T. A. J. WADDINGTON of York, and the EDITOR of the ‘Port of Hull Annual’ for that of the blocks used on pp. 236 and 248; and to the HEAD-MASTERS and HEAD MISTRESSES of the East Riding Schools for that of the blocks used in Chapter XXX.

(5) To his friend, MR. E. HAWORTH EARLE, and to his colleagues, MR. C. BAZELL and MR. J. V. PUGH, for reading the proofs of the entire book and correcting many errors that would otherwise have escaped detection.

(6) To his friend and old pupil, MR. C. W. MASON, for the great amount of time and care which he has bestowed upon the taking of special photographs.

(7) To the PUBLISHERS of the book, who have placed in his hands every possible facility for enriching its pages with whatever illustrations they thought would prove of interest, and who have thereby produced a book which it is hoped will reach the high-water mark of excellence in artistic production.

HYMERS COLLEGE, HULL,

1912.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. WHAT THE EAST RIDING IS 1

II. HOW THE EAST RIDING WAS MADE 3

III. MEN OF THE STONE AGE 8

IV. MEN OF THE BRONZE AGE—THE ANCIENT BRITONS 20

V. MEN OF THE IRON AGE—THE ROMANS IN EAST YORKSHIRE 29

VI. OUR ANCESTORS 40

VII. HOW THE MEN OF THE NORTH BECAME CHRISTIANS 47

VIII. THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN 56

IX. IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 892 65

X. TWO FAMOUS BATTLES OF LONG AGO 74

XI. HOW THE NORMANS CAME TO YORKSHIRE 85

XII. HOW OUR ANCIENT PARISH CHURCHES WERE BUILT 95

XIII. THE BIRTH OF HULL AND THE ROMANCE OF THE DE LA POLES 111

XIV. MONKS, NUNS, AND FRIARS 123

XV. SAINT JOHN OF BEVERLEY AND HIS MINSTER 135

XVI. SANCTUARIES 145

XVII. HOW TWO KINGS OF ENGLAND LANDED AT SPURN 155

XVIII. LIFE IN A MEDIÆVAL TOWN 162

XIX. THE TRADE UNIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 179

XX. THE SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES AND THE PILGRIMAGE 188
OF GRACE

XXI. HOW THE GREAT CIVIL WAR BEGAN AT HULL 202

XXII. HOW HULL WAS TWICE BESIEGED 212

XXIII. SOME ANCIENT EAST RIDING FAMILIES 223

XXIV. STAGE COACH AND RAILWAY 238

XXV. ENGLAND’S THIRD PORT—THE MODERN GROWTH OF HULL 253

XXVI. FAMOUS SONS OF THE EAST RIDING 269

XXVII. SHIPS OF THE HUMBER 284

XXVIII. FOLK-SPEECH OF THE EAST RIDING 301

XXIX. HOW THE EAST RIDING GOVERNS ITSELF 311

XXX. EAST RIDING SCHOOLS 321

XXXI. THE EAST RIDING ROLL OF HONOUR 344

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

THE PRIDE OF THE EAST RIDING _Frontispiece_

THE THREE RIDINGS OF YORKSHIRE 2

ONE OF THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF THE EAST RIDING 4

RELICS OF THE ICE AGE 6

SKULL AND ANTLERS OF A RED DEER 7

BONE IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS FROM BARROWS ON THE WOLDS 9

SECTION OF HOWE HILL, DUGGLEBY 12

POLISHED FLINT KNIFE FOUND IN DUGGLEBY HOWE 14

FLINT IMPLEMENT AND WEAPONS 15

UNFINISHED STONE ADZE HEAD AND WHINSTONE AXE HEAD 16

FOOD VESSEL FROM A BARROW ON ACKLAM WOLD 17

THE RUDSTONE MONOLITH 18

THE EARLIEST KIND OF AXE USED IN EAST YORKSHIRE 19

BRONZE CELT OR AXE HEAD FOUND AT SWINE 21

PLAN OF A BARROW ON CALAIS WOLD, AND IDEAL RESTORATION
OF THE SITE OF BURIAL 23

BRITISH GOLD COIN FOUND AT ATWICK 24

HOW A BRITISH CHIEFTAIN’S WIFE WAS BURIED IN GARTON
SLACK 25

A BRITISH WAR CHARIOT 26

EARTHWORKS AT SKIPSEA BROUGH 28

STATUE OF A ROMAN SOLDIER IN THE YORK MUSEUM 30

SECTION OF A ROMAN MILITARY HIGHWAY 31

ROMAN ROADS AROUND THE HUMBER 35

ROMAN PIG OF LEAD FOUND AT SOUTH CAVE 36

ROMAN ‘PENS’ FOUND AT BROUGH 36

RELICS OF ROMAN FEASTS FOUND AT EASINGTON 37

A ‘SAFETY-PIN’ SIXTEEN HUNDRED YEARS OLD 38

DESIGN OF THE PAVEMENT OF A ROMAN VILLA AT HARPHAM 39

IRON KNIFE AND BRONZE SPOON FROM AN ANGLIAN CEMETERY 45

CHILD’S TOYS FOUND IN A BURIAL VASE AT SANCTON 45

‘FINDS’ IN AN ANGLIAN CEMETERY NEAR GARTON GATEHOUSE 46

GOODMANHAM CHURCH (From an Old Engraving) 52

TWO SIDES OF AN ANGLIAN CROSS SHAFT AT LEVEN 55

DANISH SETTLEMENTS IN A PORTION OF NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE 60

DANISH CROSS HEAD AT NORTH FRODINGHAM 63

DANISH SUN-DIAL BUILT INTO THE WALL OF ALDBROUGH
CHURCH 64

PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF STAMFORD BRIDGE 81

HOLDERNESS IN THE DOMESDAY BOOK 93

A NORMAN FONT IN KIRKBURN CHURCH 96

A PISCINA IN PATRINGTON CHURCH 97

PART OF THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE TOWER OF HOLY TRINITY
CHURCH, HULL 99

FILEY CHURCH, SHOWING THE LINES OF THE ORIGINAL ROOF 100

THE ‘BEVERLEY IMP’—ST. MARY’S CHURCH, BEVERLEY 101

DIFFERENT FORMS OF ARCHES 103

‘NORMAN’ AND ‘EARLY ENGLISH’ SOUTH DOORS 105

PART OF THE SOUTH WALL OF THE CHURCH AT
GARTON-ON-THE-WOLDS 106

‘CHURCHWARDEN’ RESTORATION AT WELWICK CHURCH 108

A GROTESQUE ‘POPPY-HEAD’ AT HOLY TRINITY, HULL 109

BRASS OF THOMAS TONGE, RECTOR OF BEEFORD 110

ARMS OF KINGSTON-UPON-HULL 111

SILVER PENNY COINED AT HULL IN THE REIGN OF EDWARD I. 112

PHOTOGRAPH OF THE HULL CHARTER 113

EFFIGIES OF SIR WILLIAM AND DAME KATHERINE DE LA POLE 117

ARMS OF THE DE LA POLES 118

COMMON SEAL OF THE CORPORATION OF KINGSTON-UPON-HULL 119

SEAL OF EDMUND DE LA POLE 121

PEDIGREE OF THE DE LA POLES 122

ARMS OF BRIDLINGTON PRIORY 123

A CISTERCIAN MONK 124

A BENEDICTINE NUN 125

PLAN OF THE CISTERCIAN ABBEY OF KIRKSTALL 127

THE PRIORY CHURCH, BRIDLINGTON 129

A CORNER OF THE CLOISTER COURT AT KIRKHAM PRIORY 131

THE BAYLE GATE, BRIDLINGTON 132

A WHITE FRIAR IN HIS STUDY 133

ARMS OF BEVERLEY MINSTER 135

BEVERLEY MINSTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 137

‘EARLY ENGLISH’ DOORWAY IN THE SOUTH TRANSEPT 138

SMALL ‘DECORATED’ DOORWAY AT THE WEST END 139

PART OF THE ARCADING ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE NAVE 141

‘HEY-DIDDLE-DIDDLE, THE CAT AND THE FIDDLE’ 142

PLAN OF BEVERLEY MINSTER 143

SANCTUARY CROSS AT BISHOP BURTON 147

THE BEVERLEY FRITH-STOOL 150

SANCTUARY KNOCKER AT ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH, YORK 151

HENRY OF LANCASTER’S CROSS 161

PRESENT SEAL OF THE BOROUGH OF HEDON 162

NORTH BAR WITHOUT, BEVERLEY 163

PART OF A FOURTEENTH-CENTURY PLAN OF HULL 165

HIGH STREET, HULL 166

SECTIONS OF A MEDIÆVAL AND A MODERN STREET 167

PARISH STOCKS PRESERVED IN BEVERLEY MINSTER 169

ARMS OF THE HULL TRINITY HOUSE 172

A MIRACLE PLAY IN THE OLDEN TIME 174

NOAH’S ARK 175

A FOURTEENTH-CENTURY ‘SHOW’ 177

BEAR-BAITING 178

THE BEVERLEY MINSTRELS 185

ARMS OF THE HULL MERCHANTS’ COMPANY 186

THE GATEWAY OF KIRKHAM PRIORY 190

RUINS OF THE EAST END OF THE CHURCH 191

BADGE OF THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 193

HOWDEN CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH 196

HOWDEN CHURCH—RUINS OF THE CHAPTER HOUSE 198

ALL THAT REMAINED OF MEAUX ABBEY IN 1900 201

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF KYNGESTON-VPON-HVLL, A.D. 1640 206, 207

KING CHARLES I. AT THE BEVERLEY GATE,
KINGSTON-UPON-HULL 211

SIR JOHN HOTHAM 216

MEDAL STRUCK IN MEMORY OF SIR JOHN HOTHAM 219

HULL’S WATER GATE 221

WRESSLE CASTLE 225

THE PERCY TOMB, BEVERLEY MINSTER 230

BURTON CONSTABLE HALL 232

BRASS OF SIR THOMAS DE ST. QUINTIN IN HARPHAM CHURCH 233

BURTON AGNES HALL 234

EFFIGY OF A KNIGHT IN PLATE ARMOUR AT SWINE 235

EFFIGY OF A KNIGHT IN CHAIN ARMOUR AT HOWDEN 236

COAT-OF-ARMS OF THE STRICKLANDS 237

ON THE ROAD IN 1812 238

HULL AND YORK COACHING BILL, A.D. 1787 241

COACHING ROADS AND EARLY RAILWAYS 243

PISTOLS AND HOLSTERS FORMERLY USED ON THE HULL AND
PATRINGTON COACH 245

THE FIRST TIME-TABLE OF THE HULL AND SELBY RAILWAY 248

THE HULL AND BEVERLEY STAGE COACH 251

ON THE ROAD IN 1912 252

WHITEFRIARGATE BRIDGE AND THE VICTORIA SQUARE, HULL 255

PLAN OF DOCKS WEST OF THE RIVER HULL 258

PLAN OF DOCKS EAST OF THE RIVER HULL 259

THE WILSON LINER ‘ESKIMO’ GETTING UP STEAM 260

GRAIN SHIPS DISCHARGING THEIR CARGOES 261

AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY ON THE WAY TO RUSSIA 264

A STEAM TRAWLER 265

N.E.R. RIVERSIDE QUAY 267

THE GARDEN VILLAGE, HULL 268

JOHN ALCOCK, BISHOP OF ELY 270

JOHN FISHER, BISHOP OF ROCHESTER 272

ANDREW MARVELL 273

BIRTHPLACE OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE 275

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE 277

SIR TATTON SYKES 281

CHARLES WILSON, FIRST BARON NUNBURNHOLME 282

ARTHUR WILSON 283

AN ANCIENT ‘DUG-OUT’ FOUND IN NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE 285

A VIKING SHIP ON A CHURCH DOOR 286

ANCIENT SEAL OF THE CORPORATION OF HEDON 287

ENGLISH WARSHIPS IN THE TIME OF THE ARMADA 289

A NEWS SHEET OF 1837 291

THE HULL WHALER ‘TRUELOVE’ 293

THE FIRST STEAMSHIP BUILT ON THE HUMBER 295

A HUMBER PILOT BOAT 297

SHIPS OLD AND NEW—THE ‘SOUTHAMPTON’—‘BAYARDO’ 299

ENTRANCE TO THE OLD HARBOUR 300

ANCIENT ARMS OF BEVERLEY 311

MODERN ARMS OF BRIDLINGTON 313

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS IN THE EAST RIDING 314

THE HEDON MACE—THE OLDEST CIVIC MACE IN BRITAIN 316

CREST OF THE EAST RIDING COUNTY COUNCIL 318

COUNCIL CHAMBER AT THE COUNTY HALL, BEVERLEY 320

ARMS OF BEVERLEY GRAMMAR SCHOOL 322

ARMS OF HOWDEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL 322

ARMS OF BRIDLINGTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL 323

ARMS OF HULL GRAMMAR SCHOOL 324

ARMS OF POCKLINGTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL 325

AT SCHOOL IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY 325

PART OF THE SEAL OF A LINCOLNSHIRE GRAMMAR SCHOOL 326

ANCIENT COCK-FIGHTING BELL OF POCKLINGTON SCHOOL 328

A BOYS’ PLAY-GROUND IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 330

THE OLD GRAMMAR SCHOOL, HULL 333

THE HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, BRIDLINGTON 335

SEAL OF THE GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL, HULL 336

BRIDLINGTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL 339

ARMS OF HYMERS COLLEGE 340

HYMERS COLLEGE 341

A TYPICAL SCHOOL ON THE YORKSHIRE WOLDS 342

A MODERN CITY COUNCIL SCHOOL 343#

MAP OF THE EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE _End Cover_

THE STORY OF
THE EAST RIDING OF
YORKSHIRE.

I.
WHAT THE EAST RIDING IS.

That an English county which is nearly as large as the ancient kingdom of Wales should become divided into separate portions for the purposes of local government is only what one would expect. But it is not obvious why the number of these portions should be three, and there is even an air of mystery about the name given to them. ‘North Riding,’ ‘West Riding,’ ‘East Riding’—what is this word ‘Riding’?

For the answer to this question we must go back many centuries, to the time of the hardy Norsemen who, as we shall see, settled in such large numbers in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It was common among the Norsemen of old to divide lands into three portions for the purposes of government, and their name for each portion was _thrithjungr_.[1]

Footnote 1:

_Thríth-yunger_

This mysterious word means in our tongue ‘a third part,’ and from it arose the English word THRIDING as companion to _feorthing_, another word which we use to-day in a very slightly altered form. But the difficulty of pronouncing distinctly and easily the combination ‘North Thriding’ is evident, and the troublesome word suffered the same fate as commonly then befell the troublesome man—it got, quite naturally, beheaded.

* * * * *

A glance at the small map on this page will show how the county of Yorkshire is divided. By no means are the three Ridings equal in area, the East Riding being far the smallest. In order of size they stand as follows:—

West Riding 2,766 square miles.
North Riding 2,128 " "
East Riding 1,172 " "
—-—-—-—-—-—-—
6,066 square miles.

The map shows another point of contrast between the three Ridings. Whereas the West and North Ridings have numerous ranges of hills and correspondingly numerous water-channels, the East Riding is, with the exception of its northern extremity, an eastward extension of the ‘Vale of York’ and very nearly as flat as the proverbial pancake. Its only rivers are the Hull and the Derwent, and the latter for more than half its course forms the boundary of the Riding.

An uninteresting part of the county it looks to be, does it not? But, nevertheless, it has an interesting history behind it, and men and women have been born and bred in it—men and women who have helped to make our country what it is to-day. Who they have been, how they have lived, and what they have done in the ages before we ourselves were born, it is the purpose of the following pages to show.

II.
HOW THE EAST RIDING WAS MADE.

Stand on the very highest point of the white limestone cliffs that stretch northwards from Flamborough Head, and realise that you are standing on what was once the bed of the sea.

Strange though this be, it is nevertheless true. Countless ages ago what now towers up 450 feet above sea-level had over it the ceaseless rolling of the waters of the ocean, and during countless ages it was slowly formed out of the shells and teeth and bones of the creatures that lived in these waters.

Men who know tell us that the layer of chalk at the bottom of the ocean to-day is composed principally of the remains of creatures so minute as to be visible only by the aid of a microscope, and that this layer grows in thickness at the rate of not more than one-tenth of an inch per year. They tell us also that the layer of chalk which extends under our county is not less than 1200 feet in thickness, and thus a simple calculation will help us to form some idea of the extent of time necessary for its formation. But however long this time actually was, it came to an end with a tremendous upheaval of a portion of the ocean bed, and the formation of a new area of ‘dry land.’

All the coast line of the East Riding, however, does not consist of chalk cliffs. North of Bempton and Speeton lie cliffs of sandstone and clay, which have yielded the fossil remains of living beings that once inhabited the water and the shore. Such are the belemnites and ammonites—the ‘thunderbolts’ and ‘St. Hilda’s snakes’ we may have heard them called—and the _Ichthyosaurus_, whose skeleton was recently discovered embedded in the clay cliffs at Speeton and may now be seen in the Hull Museum. Not a very handsome gentleman in the flesh he must have been, unless appearances are deceptive.

ONE OF THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF THE EAST RIDING.
Actual length about twelve feet.
]

Again, walk southwards from Flamborough Head, and the chalk cliffs are found to get less and less in height until they disappear altogether, and their place is taken by cliffs of clay. Then these disappear, and are succeeded by the long, flat bank of sand and shingle which is known as Spurn Point; and if we round this point and follow the river bank, we find it nothing but mud and clay until we get past the mouth of the river Hull. At Hessle the chalk cliffs break out once more, and we know, from investigations, that the bed of chalk comes to the surface completely westwards of a line drawn from Flamborough to this point.

Draw on a map of the East Riding a line from Sewerby, through Driffield and Beverley, to Hessle, and you are drawing the line of the old sea-beach when the upheaval previously mentioned had taken place. This was the shore of a land inhabited by races of animals now found living only in tropical regions. The elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and hyena ranged the land for food, and bones of these creatures have been found in considerable numbers in the caves that exist at Kirkdale in the North Riding.

* * * * *

Then came a great change. The climate of Northern Europe became colder and colder till there prevailed what scientists call the ‘Great Ice Age.’ This was the time of formation of huge glaciers which spread from the mountains of Scandinavia, Scotland, and north-west England southwards and eastwards into the sea, until they met and made its whole area a slowly moving mass of ice. With the ice were carried sand, gravel, clay, boulders torn from projecting rocks, and bones of Arctic animals, such as the walrus, the reindeer, and the Irish elk; and as the ice gradually melted, all these were deposited at the base of the line of chalk cliffs, or even on the summit of the cliffs where these were low. From the gravel pits at Burstwick excavations of ballast for the embankments of the North Eastern Railway brought to light animal bones in such quantities that many tons were sold to chemical manure manufacturers, and it is probable that many tons still remain undiscovered.

_Photo by_] Relics of the Ice Age. [_C. W. Mason_

]

A walrus tusk from Kelsey Hill and the tooth of a mammoth from the cliffs at Atwick.[2]

Footnote 2:

The weight of this tooth is 9½ lbs. One side has been worn down and
polished smooth by the friction of the ice in passing over it.

In this way was formed the ‘great mass of gravel, clay, and sand ... east of the Yorkshire Wolds’ which we know as the Plain of Holderness. Here is what one of our foremost local geologists has to say of its beginnings:—

‘Let us imagine the probable appearance of East Yorkshire on the final melting of the ice. Huge fans or sheets of gravel occur at Bridlington and other places as a result of the floods. Rounded hillocks of gravel and clay stand out in all directions; the hollows in between are filled with water, forming miniature lakes or meres. Of animal or plant life there is little or none. The climate gradually becomes milder; at first Arctic plants and animals exist in small numbers. Later, the margins of the meres become clothed in vegetation; peat is eventually formed, and huge trees of Oak and Fir thrive. The Red Deer, Beaver, Short-horned Ox, Otter, and Wild Horse, haunt the woods, and finally primitive man makes his appearance.’

SKULL AND ANTLERS OF A RED DEER FOUND IN THE HORNSEA
PEAT-BED.
]

III.
MEN OF THE STONE AGE.

What sort of man was it who first inhabited Holderness and how did he live? Artists in his day were few and far between, and the few who did exist in Europe gave pleasure to themselves and to their companions by drawing portraits of reindeer and horses on pieces of bone. To draw portraits of their fellows was probably the last thing they would think of doing. Reindeer and horses are graceful creatures, but the artists’ fellows were anything but graceful.

As far as we know, the first inhabitants of Holderness were a race of short, dark-haired men, who depended for their food and clothing on the animals of the forest and the mere, who pursued their prey and fought one another with weapons of stone, and who lived in dwellings built on piles driven into the bed of a lake in exactly the same way as the New Guinea islanders live to-day.

Something definite about their dwelling-places we know; for what is appropriately called a _lake-dwelling_ was discovered thirty years ago at Ulrome. This was a structure made of tree trunks laid side by side and held together by piles driven into the bed of what was then a large mere.

A, B. Hammer head and pick made from the shed antlers of
a red deer (1/1, 1/4).

C. Bodkin or needle (1/1).

D. Dagger made from a man’s thigh-bone (1/3).

On this rough sort of platform, which measured 90 feet by 60 feet, dwelling-places had been constructed, and a ‘popular watering-place’ it must have been; for there was evidence that it had been built in the first place by a race of people whose tools were of flint and bone, and that this race had been ousted many years later by another more advanced race who had weapons and tools of bronze. That the dwellers here were mighty hunters and mighty eaters was proved by enormous accumulations of animal bones under and around the platform. That they were also cannibals is likely from the presence of human bones among this refuse.

* * * * *

So much for the ‘lake-dwellers’ of Ulrome. Up on the Wolds there were men living a somewhat different life. These hunted and ate the same kinds of creatures, and they used the same kinds of weapons, but their dwellings were dug out of the soil—shallow circular or elliptical pits each covered over with a conical roof of branches and turf, supported on a central post; or deeper troughs covered over with sods and scrub laid on slabs of chalk, so that the roof was level with the surrounding earth and indistinguishable from it.

Of the former kind of _pit-dwelling_ an example has been discovered in the hollow known as Garton Slack, the pit measuring rather less than 9 feet by 6 feet in length and breadth, and 5 feet in depth; while one of the latter kind has come to light under Kemp Howe, a few miles north of Driffield.[3] The underground chamber here measured 25 feet by 4½ feet, had a depth of 6 feet at its deeper end, and was approached by a sloping passage 11 feet in length, the entrance to which would doubtless be hidden with scrub. The roof had been supported on six upright posts, and for twelve feet along one side of the chamber ran a stone ledge—this last being evidently a luxury.

Footnote 3:

Groups of circular _pit-dwellings_ have been discovered at Bempton and
at Atwick—the latter by Mr. William Morfitt, whose house at Atwick
contains many ‘treasures’ which he has unearthed in the district
around Hornsea.

It is probable that these two kinds of dwellings may have been respectively the summer and winter houses of the same people. For the Roman historian Tacitus says of the ancient tribes on the other side of the North Sea:—

Besides their ordinary habitations, they have a number of
subterranean caves, dug by their own labour and carefully covered
over with soil, in winter their retreat from cold and the repository
for their corn. In these recesses they not only find a shelter from
the rigour of the seasons, but in times of foreign invasions their
effects are safely concealed.

Of the men who lived on the Yorkshire Wolds we know a great deal; for it was their custom to raise over the burial places of their chiefs circular mounds of earth, some still very large, others now only a foot or two high. The relative size of a burial mound, which we speak of either by the Latin name _tumulus_ or by the English names _barrow_ and _howe_, marks the importance of the chieftain whose body or ashes once lay under it.

These _tumuli_, or barrows, are very plentifully strewn over the Yorkshire Wolds, and for more than fifty years the late Mr. J. R. Mortimer, of Driffield, devoted all his leisure time to their excavation. The results of his labours are to be seen in his private museum—the Mortimer Museum—and details of his ‘finds’ are recorded in his large book on the _Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire_, some of the illustrations in which are here reproduced.

A general idea of how a barrow has been constructed, and of what it may contain, can be gained from the illustration on the next page.

Howe Hill, Duggleby, is one of the larger barrows, built on a sloping hillside, and having at its base a diameter of 125 feet and at its flattened top one of 47 feet.

A-K. Skeletons in position as buried.
O. Cremated remains. Y. Band of blue clay impervious to
water.

W. Inner mound of clay. Z. Outer mound of chalk.

X. Bed of chalk grit. * Probable summit of the barrow when
built.

From the diagram we see that the bodies first interred have been placed at the bottom of a cavity dug out of the solid chalk. This hole not proving large enough for the numbers to be buried, an extension has been begun, but not finished. Time was evidently pressing, for some bodies have been buried above the surface of the ground. They have been placed in different positions, but the legs of all have been bent at the knees and all are enclosed in a low mound of clay. Above this lie the remains of numerous other bodies, which have been burnt before burial; and over them comes a twelve-inch layer of a blue clay which is impervious to water. Then a large mound of soil and pieces of chalk has been raised over all, the mound being originally much higher than it is to-day.

Such has been the building of Howe Hill. But it must not be thought that all barrows contain the remains of a large number of bodies. Most contain one only, and the body has either been buried as it was when life left it or been burnt and the calcined bones gathered up in an earthenware vessel, or pinned in a skin garment. The eight full-grown skeletons discovered under Howe Hill are those of men, and we may suppose that they represent a chieftain and his relatives killed in the onslaught by a hostile clan. The cremated bodies, forty of which were discovered in the digging of a trench through the barrow, would be those of his dependants, who died fighting in defence of their lord and master.

* * * * *

But the barrow contains evidence of the lives of the people of the time as well as of their deaths. Scattered through the soil under the band of blue clay were found many broken bones of the ox, roebuck, red deer, fox, goat, and pig, the remains of the burial feast; and among these were human bones which had quite evidently been broken and cooked. It is horrible to think of the people of our East Riding as having once been cannibals, but the evidence to that effect is indisputable.

Here and there were also found portions of the weapons with which the defenders of the settlement had fought—the hammer head shown on page 9, made from the shed antler of a red deer, and the broken javelin head of flint shown on page 15. In this barrow was also found the wonderfully made flint knife represented below—an implement fashioned out of a piece of flint with no other tools than such as are mentioned below, and yet fashioned so delicately that its greatest thickness is only one-sixteenth of an inch.

POLISHED FLINT KNIFE FOUND IN DUGGLEBY
HOWE (1/1).
]

A clever workman he must have been who made this wonderful knife. But such beautifully wrought implements are very rare. Only one similar knife—found in a barrow at Aldro—was known to its discoverer, and he had himself superintended the excavation of no fewer than two hundred and eighty-eight barrows.

The weapons and tools which have been buried with their owners are more commonly of the rougher types figured on the opposite page. They include knives, chisels, spear heads, saws, and arrow heads, all made from flints by the processes of chipping and flaking, with hammer heads, picks, needles and daggers of bone.

Compare the figures A and B given on page 9 with the illustration of the antlers of a red deer on page 7, and see how cleverly the hammer head and the pick have been fashioned. Equally clever has been the adaptation of a bone in the making of the very primitive dagger figured at D on the same page. But in this case it has been not the antler of a red deer that has been brought into use, but the thigh-bone of a man.

FLINT IMPLEMENT AND WEAPONS.

A. Chisel from Aldro (1/1). B. Barbed arrow head from
Grimston (1/1) C. Javelin head from Duggleby Howe (1/1).
]

So far we have spoken of weapons and implements of bone and of flint. Others were then in use made of whinstone and greenstone, such as the axe heads figured overleaf. Notice the different arrangement of the cutting edge in these two implements, and notice also that in the first one the hole intended for the insertion of a wooden handle has, for some reason or other, not been finished. Perhaps the maker was killed before he had time to finish it, or perhaps he grew tired of his work and threw it away. At any rate this unfinished adze head was found loose on the surface of the ground, and not buried under a howe as was the other.

UNFINISHED STONE ADZE HEAD
PICKED UP ON ACKLAM WOLD (1/1).
]

WHINSTONE AXE HEAD FROM
A BARROW ON CALAIS
WOLD (2/3).
]

Weapons and implements of stone! May we not justly call their makers MEN OF THE STONE AGE? They lived before man knew how to dig metals from the earth, and how, having obtained them, to melt and mould them to his wish.

But besides these weapons which have lain buried with their owners for some thousands of years, there are yielded up by the barrows earthenware vessels of different sizes and shapes. Some, like that shown below, are wide-mouthed and have a thick rim; others are narrower, and their rim is not thickened. Then others have an overhanging rim; and others, again, are small, only an inch or two in height, and have from two to six holes perforated in their sides. All are marked with simple patterns, made by pressing the pointed end of a stick or the thumb-nail into the moist clay, or by pressing round it a twisted thong of hide. There has been no glazing and no attempt to make use of artificial colour.

Each of these vessels has had its particular use. The first-named vessels, which are by far the most common, are always found to be stained with some decomposed matter on the inside of the bottom, and their use has undoubtedly been as _food vessels_. So also we may consider the second group to be _drinking vessels_. The food and drink which these two contained when they were buried have been intended for their owners in the new life to come, when food and drink would be again required. The vessels of the third kind are always found to contain remains of a body which has been cremated before burial—hence their name _cinerary urns_—and the last-named and smallest, which are found with them, have probably been used to hold the precious spark of fire which lit the funeral pyre.

Let us leave these howes and barrows and examine another example of the work of the Men of the Stone Age. Close to the wall of the village church at Rudston stands a huge upright stone, or monolith. Twenty-five feet is its height above the ground, and sixteen feet its girth, while it is said to be embedded in the ground as deep as it is high above the surface. Its weight is estimated as not far short of forty tons. What is it doing in a village churchyard, and who put it there? When and how was it placed where it now stands?

It is impossible to give any definite answers to these questions. A century ago, however, the village people answered them all very easily. The Devil, they said, objected to the building of the church, and flung this stone to destroy it before its completion. But his aim was not so accurate as it was intended to be, and the missile missed its mark. Asked for a proof of their wonderful story, they would point to the stone itself. There it was for everyone to see. What further proof could be needed?[4] Whether we believe this legend or not, two things are certain. First, that the stone is as old as the barrows in the surrounding wolds; secondly, that there is no rock of the same nature nearer to it than Filey Brig and the Brimham Rocks. Was it brought down by the great ice sheet and then erected by the men of the Stone Age to serve some purpose in their heathen rites, or did they bring it up from Filey or down from the hills of the North Riding on wooden rollers? Perhaps it is not more difficult to conceive of their doing this than of their raising such a huge barrow as that which stands unopened at the foot of Garrowby Hill—a mound 250 feet in diameter at its base and 50 feet in height.

Footnote 4:

The ‘Devil’s Arrows’ is the name by which three similar huge stones
are known at Boroughbridge.

IV.
MEN OF THE BRONZE AGE.

THE ANCIENT BRITONS.

With the coming of Julius Caesar to Britain in the middle of the first century before the birth of Christ, we reach the time in the history of our country when definite facts about its people begin to be recorded.

Thus we know from Caesar’s own writings that the Britons lived in houses like those of the Gauls, that they had great numbers of cattle, that they used copper coins, that many of the inland tribes did not grow corn but lived on milk and flesh and went clothed in skins, that in war time they dyed their bodies with a blue stain to give them a more terrible aspect, and that they wore long hair on their heads and their upper lips.

So also, with regard to their religion, Caesar tells us that their priests were called Druids; that if any crime had been committed, or if there were any dispute about an inheritance or a boundary, it was the Druids who gave judgment; that they had vast stores of learning, all of which was committed to memory and none committed to writing; and that their chief doctrine was that the soul of man did not perish, but passed after death into another body, so that no man should fear death.

BRONZE CELT OR AXE HEAD FOUND AT SWINE.
]

From these accounts we see that there had been great progress made since the times described in the last chapter. This was due to the migration westwards of a new race of people—the Kelts—who had gained a knowledge of the use of metal, and who, consequently, had weapons and implements made of bronze instead of stone. Their greater knowledge gave them greater power, and the extinction of the men of the Stone Age was only a question of time. For not often was the bronze-weaponed warrior slain by a weapon of stone.

But the account written by Julius Caesar refers to the inhabitants of the southern parts of our island. ‘Many of the inland tribes do not grow corn, but live on milk and flesh and go clothed in skins.’ This passage may be taken as true of the tribes living north of the Humber, known—so later Roman writers tell us—as the BRIGANTES, the wildest and most savage of the tribes inhabiting Britain.

Let us see what Mr. Mortimer’s discoveries have to tell us of these BRIGANTES. The most interesting discovery, perhaps, was that made in a barrow on Calais Wold, the highest point of the Yorkshire Wolds, 807 feet above sea-level. Here, on the mound being removed, a double row of stake-holes was exposed in the surface of the ground. These were from 3 to 15 inches in diameter, and were arranged in circles having diameters of 21½ and 28 feet. Outside these were four other stake-holes, and beyond these again a circular trench 100 feet in diameter, 3 feet 9 inches deep, 9 feet across at the top, and 1 foot across at the bottom. Within the double circle of stake-holes was a cavity cut in the chalk and containing a skeleton lying on its side, with its knees bent.

The plan on the opposite page shows the arrangement exactly, and the drawing which accompanies it gives Mr. Mortimer’s clever conjecture of the meaning of the stake-holes. The space enclosed between the inner and outer walls would be used, Mr. Mortimer thought, as a storage place for food, skins, and weapons. It would also serve to keep the inside living-room warm in winter.

‘We will bury our chieftain in his home, which no one after him shall have power to defile.’ So, probably, thought those who buried him. But, if so, time has played them false; for men of a race undreamt of and speaking a tongue of which he would understand hardly one word, have ruthlessly laid bare his burial place, and have carted away his bones to be measured with tape and pencil, and his skull to have its brain cavity estimated with grains of millet seed. What an insult added to injury!

A mighty chieftain he had doubtless been, and it must be his favourite weapon that lies buried with him, so placed that he should be buried as he slept—grasping its handle firmly in his right hand. One wonders how many of his enemies’ skulls that weapon of his had beaten in before its master ceased to use it. Perhaps it had been wielded against the Roman legions brought north of the Humber by Ostorius Scapula in A.D. 50. Who knows? If you would see the head of the weapon you must go to the museum at Driffield; its likeness you will find on page 16.

The Brigantes buried their dead chiefs just as the earlier tribes had done, and the photograph on page 25 shows very clearly the curious way in which the legs were doubled and the head bent back. This skeleton was obtained from a barrow in Garton Slack, and here is what its discoverer says of the pains taken to obtain it:—

‘Being desirous of possessing this skeleton in its entirety, we obtained a quantity of stiff, mortar-like material, scraped from the adjoining high road, with which we covered the remains, in order to keep all the bones in position. We then passed three broad pieces of sheet iron under it without displacing any of the bones. The remains were then lifted on a prepared board, and conveyed to Fimber. After being carefully cleaned, the skeleton was mounted in a glass case, and now, with its relics, and part of the ground on which it was found, forms a highly interesting relic in the museum at Driffield.’

The skeleton is that of a woman, and with it, you will notice, are two objects. There is no need to say what has been the use of the bone ornament lying behind the head, but the use of the flint implement placed before the jaw is not so obvious. This is one of a class of implements known to us as _scrapers_—roughly chipped pieces of flint used by the women of a household in scraping the insides of animal skins when preparing them for human wear, and in scraping the roots that went into the ‘stock-pot’ with the flesh of the animals that provided also garments and beds for the household.

_Photo by_] [_C.W. Mason_

British Gold Coin.
Found at Atwick by Mr. W. Morfitt (1/1).

]

In neither of these two barrows was there any sign of a bronze implement. Weapons and implements of bronze are rare among those found in the barrows of East Yorkshire, and the few discovered are dagger or knife heads and prickers. The Brigantes were far behind the Britons of the south in their knowledge of the use of metal; and at the time when the latter were making use of bronze, the wild and savage tribes of the north were content still to make use of greenstone and flint.

Personal ornaments, too, are rare, and were found accompanying only fifty-seven out of eight hundred and ninety-three burials that Mr. Mortimer excavated. They include dress-fastenings, such as rings and links of jet, and buttons of amber, jet and bone. With only one British interment was gold found, and of silver ornaments none were discovered at all.

* * * * *

Especially interesting to a Yorkshireman are the discoveries of what are called ‘chariot burials.’ The Britons were renowned for their war-chariots, of which the chieftain Caswallon is recorded to have had 4000 when he fought against Julius Caesar. To the Briton himself his chariot was known as an _essa_, a word which his Roman conquerors latinised as _essedum_. An _essedum_ was drawn by two horses, and driven by a charioteer who was very expert at running out along the pole between the horses. The _essedarii_, or charioteers, were held in high esteem among the tribal armies, and when they happened to be captured by the Roman soldiers were great favourites among the spectators of the gladiatorial shows.

On the death of a British chieftain who was a renowned chariot warrior, it was the custom for him to be buried in his chariot together with his horses and their trappings; and the East Riding has given more evidence of this custom than any other part of our country of equal area. The ‘Yorkshireman’ even then, it seems, loved a horse.

Remains of British chariot burials have been discovered at Hesselskew and Arras, near Market Weighton; at Beverley Westwood; at Danes’ Graves; and, most recently, at Hunmanby. In all these instances there have been interred two horses standing in their harness, and in the barrow opened at Danes’ Graves in 1897 there were _two_ human skeletons, proving that in this case the charioteer, as well as his chieftain, was buried.

Of course in all these interments the remains of the chariots themselves have been small, little existing but fragments of the bronze naves and iron rims of the wheels, and of the bridle bits of the horses. But these have been sufficient to show that the diameter of the wheels varied from 2 feet 8 inches to 2 feet 11 inches, and that the horses themselves were of a much smaller breed than those of to-day.

With three, at least, of these chariot burials, were also found remains of an iron mirror, a thing not found elsewhere. We are accustomed in these days of motor-cars to make use of mirrors for a knowledge of what is happening on the road behind the driver, and these remains point to a similar practice among the charioteers of the Brigantes. Really we are not, perhaps, so far advanced in the twentieth century as we thought we were.

_Photo by_] Earthworks at Skipsea Brough. [_C.W. Mason_

]

* * * * *

Further evidence of the Brigantes in the East Riding is to be seen in the wonderful series of entrenchments that are so noticeable in the Wold districts. Dikes, double dikes, and treble dikes once covered the whole of the Wolds, says Mr. Mortimer; in fact, in the area of 75 square miles which he explored there are 80 miles of earthworks existing to-day. These consist sometimes of one ditch and one rampart only, but commonly of three ditches and four ramparts; and in one case, in the neighbourhood of Huggate, the entrenchment consists of a series of six parallel ditches and seven ramparts.

By far the most remarkable of these ancient entrenchments is the so-called ‘Danes’ Dyke,’ which, 2½ miles in length, cut off the rocky promontory of Flamborough Head, and converted it into an impregnable fortress 5 square miles in area. In making it, advantage was taken of a natural ravine—a relic of the Ice Age—which ran down to the south; but in its northern portion, where the ground was naturally level, a huge ditch roughly 60 feet wide and 20 feet deep was dug, the soil from this being thrown up to form a dyke or rampart on its eastern face.

At Skipsea Brough, near Hornsea, may be seen other British earthworks, consisting of a central mound 70 feet high, having a flat top one acre in extent, and covering altogether an area of 5 acres, together with a series of entrenchments forming the segment of a circle. The outer rampart is half a mile in length. Other much smaller earthworks exist at the ‘Castle Hill,’ Sutton, and the ‘Giant’s Hill,’ Swine.

V.
MEN OF THE IRON AGE.

THE ROMANS IN EAST YORKSHIRE.

In the last chapter we saw that the later Britons had some knowledge of iron, as well as of copper and tin. But with the Romans the use of iron was much more extensive, and hence they may be called MEN OF THE IRON AGE.

The first Roman general to enter the territory of the Brigantes was Ostorius Scapula, who came north in A.D. 50. Twenty-eight years later came Julius Agricola, who penetrated as far north as the rivers Forth and Clyde. By Agricola the ancient British camp CAER EBURAC—the camp on the Ebura, or, by its modern name, the Ure—was made into a Roman walled city under the latinised name Eburacum.

From this time EBURĀCUM,[5] or EBORĀCUM as later Roman writers spelt its name, became the proud capital of Britain—_altera Roma_, a second Rome in importance. Here died the great Roman Emperor Severus in A.D. 211, and here was born the still greater Emperor Constantine, under whose reign Christianity was established in the Roman Empire.

Footnote 5:

Pronounced _Eb-oo-ráh-kum_.

STATUE OF A ROMAN
SOLDIER IN THE YORK
MUSEUM.
]

For nearly three and a half centuries the Roman armies ruled the land of the Brigantes, during which time great alterations were taking place in the lives of its people. Northwards came troop after troop of German and Italian soldiers to subdue and enslave the people of the land north of the Humber, and to wage incessant war against Rome’s enemies still farther north. And southwards marched troop after troop of the men of the Brigantes, on their way to Gaul and Italy and Spain, there to serve as Roman soldiers. In A.D. 117 came to Eboracum the famous Sixth Legion—LEGIO SIXTA, surnamed VICTRIX, the ‘All Conquering’—and Eboracum was its headquarters thenceforth till A.D. 406, when it was withdrawn to help in defending Rome against the enemies mustering on her threshold.

* * * * *

For the constant movement of troops the Roman invaders needed roads, and the military highways which they constructed across Britain remain foremost among the evidences of their occupation of the country. The fact that their roads have existed for so many centuries—centuries of hard use but of constant neglect—is due to the great care bestowed upon their construction.

When a Roman road was made, the first thing done was to mark out its course by the digging of two parallel ditches. This course was from 15 to 21 feet wide, and on it as the _gremium_, or foundation ground, was placed a layer of large stones 5 inches deep. This, known as the _statumen_, was followed by a fifteen-inch layer of broken stones cemented with lime. The _rudus_ thus formed was succeeded by the _nucleus_, a similar layer 10½ inches thick and constructed of small fragments of brick and pottery. Last came the _pavimentum_, made of large irregularly-shaped blocks of very hard stone fitted together and cemented with lime so as to form a perfectly even surface. The pavimentum was 5 inches thick, thus making a solid road raised about 3 feet above the level of the surrounding land.

Such was the usual method of construction of a Roman highway. Where the natural surface of the ground passed over was hard rock, the two lowest layers, or _strata_, were dispensed with; but where no safe natural foundation existed, the labour was increased by the driving of piles into the soft ground to afford this.

Over hill and down dale were constructed these wonderful roads. No obstacle save an impenetrable marsh or an unbridgeable river baulked the Roman engineer; and the outward distinguishing mark between the Roman road constructed sixteen centuries ago and its modern successor is often the fact that whereas the latter goes round a hill, and thus makes things easy for the traveller, the former climbs in a straight line right over the summit.

What engineering skill the Romans must have possessed to build their roads! Straight from one military station to another miles distant over the hills did they succeed in driving their road. How did they judge its direction so accurately? We know not. And what immense labour was needed for the construction of their roads! Think of the cohorts of Roman soldiers engaged in building them, and of the slave-gangs of Britons toiling under the lash of the task-master as they quarried the materials for the use of the soldiers working many miles away. So hard was the work of the Roman soldiers in Britain, we read, that they ‘wished for death to relieve them from their insupportable toil.’

But human life stood for little in those days. What Roman engineer cared whether thousands of lives were spent in the making of his road? His one concern was to build it in such a way that for centuries to come the Roman legions should be able to march, and the Imperial Post to ride, along its hundreds of miles at the greatest possible speed. One hundred and sixty-five English miles were covered by Caesarius, a Roman magistrate, in the space of one day on a journey from Antioch to Constantinople, the whole distance of 665 miles taking less than six days. There is little wonder that Rome had become ‘Mistress of the World.’

* * * * *

Let us now see what the Roman road-makers did in East Yorkshire. Stretching north from Londinium ran the military highway known in later times as ERMIN STREET. At Lindum Colonia this branched in two directions, both branches meeting eventually at Eboracum. Skirting the impassable marshes around the meeting-places of the Yorkshire rivers and the Trent, one branch reached Eboracum by bridges or fords across the Trent, the Don, the Aire, and the Wharfe, where now stand Littleborough, Doncaster, Castleford, and Tadcaster. The crossing-places were protected by military stations which have since grown into these towns.