Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HORNSEA

HORNSEA, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district, in Skirlangh district, E. R. Yorkshire. The town stands at the terminus of the Hull and Hornsea railway, ¾ of a mile from the sea, and 16 miles NE of Hull. It figures in records of the 13th century; was long a seat of country trade, with a weekly market; is now a favourite bathing resort for the people of Hull, Beverley, and the surrounding country; consists chiefly of four well built streets; is a coast guard station, and a fishing place; and has a postoffice‡ under Hull, a railway station with telegraph, a good hotel, several inns of different grades, a church, three dissenting chapels, a national school, a church estate of £118 a year, and charities £8. The church is chiefly of the early part of the 15th century; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a tower; stands over a vaulted crypt, said to have been at one time used as a receptacle of smuggled goods; and contains an alabaster tomb of 1430, of Anthony S. Quentin. The tower has been partly rebuilt; and a lofty spire, which surmounted it, was blown down in 1732. The railway was opened in 1864; and it has a station at Hornsea-Bridge, about ½ a mile from the town station. Fairs are held on 13 Aug. and 17 Dec.; and races have been run in July. Fine scenery lies around the town; and a chalybeate spring is at a short distance. The sea, in the neighbourhood, has been making great encroachments; is traditionally said to have been ten miles distant at and after the founding of the town; carried completely away, upwards of a century ago, a village called Hornsea-Beck; and has rendered the shore a broad band of loose, heavy, sloping sands, stretching beneath a line of cliff, and left bare for a considerable distance at low tides. Bathing machines are used on the sands, but require very broad wooden tires to protect them from excessive sinking. An opening to the sands, in front of the town, is called Hornsea-Gap. A lake, about 1¾ mile long, ¾ of a mile wide, and covering about 436 acres, lies west of the town; bears the name of Hornsea Mere; has a depth, in some parts, of about 10 feet; and abounds in pike, perch, and eels; but is undergoing much change, partly by depositions of vegetable matter from its shores, and partly by action upon it by the sea. The parish bears the name of Hornsea-with-Burton; and comprises 3, 160 acres of land, and 188 of water. Real property, £6, 880. Pop. in 1851, 945; in 1861, 1, 063. Houses, 246. The manor belongs to Lord Westbury. The living is a vicarage, united with the rectory of Long Riston, in the diocese of York. Value, £382.* Patron, the Lord Chancellor.—The sub-district contains also two other parishes, and five townships and two hamlets of others. Acres, 14, 327. Pop., 2, 529. Houses, 543.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Hornsea AP/CP       Hornsea SubD       Yorkshire AncC
Place names: HORNSEA     |     HORNSEA MERE
Place: Hornsea

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