East Riding of Yorkshire

Introducing East Riding of Yorkshire

Its Viking roots still present in the name, the East Riding of Yorkshire (from Old Danish Thriding, or third) was one of three administrative regions of the Danelaw created in the 9th century – west and north ridings are now the slightly less evocative West and North Yorkshire.

The county’s beating heart is the tough old sea dog of Hull, a no-nonsense port that goes about its business with little fuss between the broad horizons of the Rivers Humber and Hull.

The expanse of the River Humber, with its soaring, powerful bridge, flows to meet the sea by a flat, deserted coast and the strange protuberance of Spurn Head. Further north up the coast, there are some classic, small seaside settlements: Bridlington and the rather-more-restrained Filey, and beyond that the drama of the Flamborough cliffs and Bempton Cliffs Nature Reserve. Inland, the respite from the largely flat and nondescript drained marshland comes with the Yorkshire Wolds, an area of gently rolling chalky hills between Hull, York and the coast. In between them and Hull is the county’s most attractive town, Beverley, with lots of 18th-century character, and an enormous medieval religious and cultural legacy.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009