CHANGING HORIZONS COASTAL CHANGE AND THE FISHING INDUSTRY IN HOLDERNESS On the edge, where the plain of this story is about coastal erosion Holderness meets the North Sea*, in which the sea takes from the nature really makes its presence land, erasing buildings, fields, felt. Fishermen and farmers rise roads, and forcing communities to with the sun which casts its pink- disperse. The other half is about red light on the caravans, houses what people take from the sea: the and farms standing on the cliff fish which provide food, and top. When the tide is high the low all-important livelihoods. This thud of the waves crashing project represents the work of against clay cliffs is felt like a many people who have shared heartbeat through the earth, and their stories, their photographs at each low tide people stroll, fish and their ideas to make a picture and play on a beach imperceptibly of a coast which keeps on changed by the last tide. Clods fall changing. Many interviews were from the cliff, exposing stone recorded and filmed digitally, and fragments and pebbles to daylight research was undertaken to bring for the first time in many together the sources of local thousands of years. history – pre-existing books, pamphlets and resources. The People are shaped by the publication of this booklet landscape in which they live, and coincides with that of a in the coastal communities of the documentary film on DVD and , the the web which present one landscape changes noticeably interpretation of the fascinating within lifetimes. The aim of the archive of material gathered Changing Horizons project, during the project. More funded by LEADER Coast, Wolds, information about where to access Wetlands & Waterways and East the film and the various resources Riding of Yorkshire Council, has produced by the project can be been to record that change, as found in the back of the booklet. experienced by people who live on and near to the edge, and those *see map at the back of the who fish off it, bringing booklet generations together. One half of

Cover image: Fishing from Easington, 1960s, courtesy of Mike Welton Right: Redvers & Wally Clubley, Easington, 1930s, courtesy of Mike Welton COASTAL CHANGE Communities on the Holderness earthy cliffs are eroded at their coast are well aware of how their base with each tide and especially land is constantly being lost to the during storms - the sea dissolves sea; it has always been part of life the clay and moves the material here. That over 30 settlements south in a process called have been consumed by the 'longshore drift'. Some of the waves since Roman times is well material helps maintain known and the rollback of farms, Lincolnshire’s beaches, prevent caravan parks and villages as the flooding, and forms Point, sea advanced has gone on through which protects the Humber the ages. Estuary and Hull. As the base of the cliffs are undercut the land at The Holderness Plain which the top falls and slips down in meets the sea between Bridling - chunks giving the cliffs their ton and Spurn Point, is made of distinctive craggy shapes. glacial till, or ‘boulder clay’. This material was left behind by Brian Williams came as a young glaciers which crept south over man from Hull to explore the the bed of what we now know as coastline, and has since devoted the North Sea, and melted at the much of his time to trying to Above: Easington coastline flooded looking north, 1953, courtesy Mike Welton end of the last Ice Age some understand the causes and Left: Artist’s impression of the North Cliff, Hornsea 15,000 years ago. The distinctive processes of coastal erosion. He can be found wandering the slow-motion off the cliff down to beaches photographing erosion in the beach. The road signs warn of progress and publishes his a road’s closure due to cliff col - findings on his website. He lapse but Easington farmer Peter describes the process as a kind of Lusmore, who has felt the ground “fast geology”. His impression is moving under his combine that those who walk the beaches harvester, wryly observes: “the and the cliffs of East Riding are road never has been a road to privileged to be able to observe the anywhere other than [the] cliff sea regaining its original territory. edge!”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it seems Aside from military installations, to be visitors who react with the it is arguably only since the most alarm and surprise to the expansion of tourism in Victorian ‘news’ of how quickly the edge times that there has been a moves. Locals are used to the old pressure for more permanent pillbox observation posts and the infrastructure along the seafront. caravan bases toppling in Top: People on the beach at Turmarr Bottoms, 1930s, courtesy of Mike Welton The caravan parks are still sea from their house when they Below: Advert for the Floral Cafe, courtesy of Bob Butler important. Each row of trailers moved to Aldbrough cliff top 27 take their turn with the privilege years ago, and were advised that of a coveted sea view. Unlike more they had 40 to 60 years of safety. urban resorts, the traces of the When the property is deemed to original seaside tourism be unsafe due to its proximity to infrastructure are now only the cliff edge, a legal notice will be accessible through the memories served, and the property of those who holidayed there. removed. Kathy and her husband Changing tastes mean that these now find themselves in the kind of scenes are unlikely to position of gambling on the return in the way they are likelihood of no longer being alive remembered. to see that day. They have already turned down the offer of a grant Although the process of erosion is to aid their relocation, while the generally accepted in the region, waves crash into the cliffs less over the years there has come a than 40 metres away. The postwar period saw a deliveries of tea down steel steps time for so many when they must dramatic increase in the from the cafe up above. Edith face the difficult decision of To the big question “what should occupation of the cliff top for Grantham who still lives on the planned retreat or ‘sticking it out’ be done about erosion?” everyone several reasons: a shortage of cliff top and loves it, despite until the bitter end. Their decision holds an opinion. Only the sea homes following the war, the having recently temporarily lost cannot be helped by the fact that remains ambivalent. Peter increase in car ownership, people vehicle access to her house, says historic erosion rates cannot be Lusmore recalls how generations being able to afford holiday “There’s no community up here used to make accurate predictions of farmers took care to drain their homes, and increasingly choosing anymore, there are only about on the distance the sea will ad - land to the east, and south to retire to the coast. John Penn half a dozen houses. The rest have vance in any given spot in any towards the Humber, to prevent remembers a thriving seasonal vanished”. given year. Kathy Bartle and her water from going over the cliffs community in Aldbrough. He and husband couldn’t hear or see the and speeding up erosion. his brother would stay for six weeks in the summer, with their father coming on weekends. His family graduated from bell tent in the ‘50s, to frame tent then a car - avan and finally a cabin in the ‘80s. There was always something going on and people made their own amusements including a sports day and associated shows and dressing up. The beach was some way below the high cliffs but serviced by a winch for boats and regular Above: North Cliff Road, Aldbrough, circa 1920s - 30s, courtesy of Bob Butler Below: Hornsea after the storm, 1906, courtesy of Joe Gelsthorpe THE FISHING INDUSTRY Fishing runs deep in the character compound and literally dig their of the Holderness coast. Dr Robb route down to the beach, Robinson of the University of sometimes repeatedly during a Hull speculates that it is East Yorkshire’s oldest activity, probably predating agriculture. He makes the observation that it is the last human activity in which hunting skills provide a living. To make a living a They staked thorn hedge protected fishery. However, fisherman needs a profound trimmings on the beach in people are only just coming to knowledge of the territory and of temporary groynes, even though understand the role that the the habits of his prey as well as a they knew their efforts only longshore drift plays in a highly mastery of his tools, not to season. The shifting shoreline slowed the pace of change. John complex and important natural mention luck and courage. certainly doesn’t allow for the Whittle tells of how the great system. Andrew Gibson who building of piers or harbours so storm of 1906 precipitated the looks after Spurn Point for the The story of fishing is not entirely boats must be launched from the building of a permanent sea wall Yorkshire Wildlife Trust points divorced from that of coastal beach where it is accessible. at Hornsea, the implication of out that although people ‘settle’ erosion. The Holderness fishery Having to launch off the beach which is that the town might one here, the coast is, and always has comprises defended launches, has affected the size and shape of day become a peninsular. been all about movement. He such as Hornsea and , boats, which in turn has Schemes abound from reefs of points out that people are and unprotected launches such as influenced the approach to fishing tyres and groynes of scrapped beneficiaries of this system too. Easington. There the fishermen on this coast and its economic cars, to elaborate defences a T h e lo ng shore drift deposits sand are forced to roll back their organisation. couple of miles out on Spurn. In turn Spurn protects to create a giant the deep water channel of the Humber through which 16% of the nation’s gross product is shipped.

Left: Artist’s impression of Cowden Top right: Lobster pots at Hornsea 2013 Above: Easington fishermen, 1920s, courtesy of Mike Welton Below: Tending to crab pots, courtesy George Traves So whilst commercial fishing folk inshore fishing ground which is maintained certain aspects of a considered as one of the most im - traditional culture, they have al - portant for shellfish in Europe - ways kept an eye on an altogether fishing contributes some £35mil - more business-like changing hori - lion to the local economy. So zon. Holderness fishermen have whilst there are undeniable heroic responded to changes in both the and romantic qualities to the work economics and the ecology of there is also an economic nous at their ‘bit of sea’, particularly in play and a willingness to embrace what species they fish. Tradition - advances in technology wherever ally the year would see a seasonal an advantage is to be had. progress from crabs and lobster in the spring and summer, with a lit - Fishing remains a profession tle netting on the side, to white which fosters an up and coming fish in the winter. Since the for - generation, and fishermen take ward looking ‘seeding’ of lobster the training of young people seri - in the 1970s, alongside a number ously whether from within the Joe Gelsthorpe describes the and, not to be underrated, the of other factors (environmental family or not. Jordan Metcalfe, at simple ingenuity of the traditional ability to get to work with dry changes, policy intervention and Easington, has recently started on coble boat developed for the feet. new sustainable fishing practices), the boat named after him by his specific needs of fishermen on this local fishermen have had a prof - grandfather. coast and as far north as the Perhaps small crews contribute to itable catch all year round. They Scottish border. It is designed with the cultivation of a craft approach nurture a low impact, sustainable a flat bottom and a light to the industry on this coastline - construction so that it could be they trade on handed-down launched by hand or with the knowledge of a mysterious and help of a horse off the beach. It invisible landscape and it is not could also be sailed and operated only natural features that come by three men - just enough to do into play. According to Albert the work but not so many that the Langley some of the benign, un - profit shares became dersea gas installations can be unviable. The coble has since significant stopping off points for been superseded by the shellfish on their various catamaran but was adaptable migrations. Although steeped in enough to be motorised during tradition, fishing is subject to the early part of the 20th century many forces which bring about enabling them to go further and change: technology, legislation, faster. The other major the changing ecosystem beneath technology to have increased the water’s surface not to mention productivity is the now customers’ tastes and the indispensable tractor: to get boats accessibility of markets. into and out of the water quickly, John White of Withernsea ACCESSING THE PAST emphasises that his young crew of Nathan and Christian THROUGH ORAL HISTORY are taught to champion The exceptional physical qualities march of the sea on the land is a sustainable practices for the of this coastline have engendered constant geological reality amid all future of the fishery. The young communities with unique the ebb and flow of individual people lucky enough to get work to a very particular outlooks on the changing horizon, fortunes. in fishing are embarking on a family culture of solidar - outlooks which oral history as a career with considerable ity and superstition. Many form is excellent for Looking out from the beach to professional freedom. Whilst it’s of her recollections come handed capturing. Oral history is an where the land meets the sky, undoubtedly a tough job they get down from generations of fishing approach that places primary where fishermen now gather the satisfaction of doing folk within her own value on the memory and their catch, it’s amazing to think genuinely skilled work in an family. When her grandfather reminiscence of lived experience. that it was once all land. The extraordinary environment. returned from sea the children People share stories from their elements have left no trace for own lives or pass on stories which archeologists to unpick the in turn they have been told. human stories beneath the Unlike other kinds of history, oral waves. We can only speculate as history favours experience and to how the ripples of that perspective over what has been submerged experience affect written down and recorded, so those who live on in the social history and ‘events’ landscapes which remain. Brian intertwine. It’s interesting, for Williams poignantly articulates it example, that Jack and Hilary as a ‘combined tale of woe’ - and it Pigott associate the great floods of evokes sadness to think of all 1953 with the fact that they went those villages lost. But this risks to the pictures that day, while sentimentalising a timelessly Peter Lusmore remembers it in ongoing process, which is actually Berna Moody was brought up in would wait in the yard to hear his relation to the washing away of largely dealt with by degrees of a fishing family and reminisces signature whistling and rush in to the ‘Bents’ - a dune-like stretch of ambivalence and pragmatism. about the risky nature of work at tell mother - a detail of family life grassland south of Easington. Part The sea has no feelings as it ebbs sea. She suggests this contributed that testifies to the relief that he of what makes oral history so and flows on its inexorable had returned home safely. Berna interesting is that it is alive and encroachment, and it is left to the adds stark context to this mem - complex and open to a multitude people of Holderness to adapt to ory by pointing out that several of interpretations, in no this constant change. Whether of her relatives were raised in hierarchical order. The you feel secure where you are, or the Sailors' Orphanage in Hull. researchers and filmmakers whether you feel the cliff edge involved in this project have approaching, it is worth interpreted things one way but remembering that every part of Middle: Coble boats on Hornsea hopefully you will have your own the land lost between here and beach, courtesy of Joe Gelsthorpe interpretation and your own the horizon once took its turn at stories to join with these. The being on the edge. Heritage Contacts Coastal Change East Riding Archives and Coastal Explorer Local Studies Service www.eastriding.gov.uk/coastalexplorer www.eastriding.gov.uk/leisure/ archives-family-and-local-history Institute of Estuarine & Coastal (01482) 392790 Studies, University of Hull www.hull.ac.uk/iecs Maritime Historical Studies Centre, University of Hull Urban Rim www.hull.ac.uk/fass/maritimehistory.aspx www.urbanrim.org.uk (01482) 305110 Maritime Archive Withernsea Museum www.yorkshirecoastmaritime www.withernsealighthouse.co.uk archive.co.uk (01964) 614834 Fishing Hidden Holderness www.hidden-holderness.org.uk East Yorkshire Local Food Network www.enjoy-eastyorks-food.co.uk Hornsea Civic Society www.hornseacivicsociety.org.uk Fisheries Local Action Group Visit Hornsea Civic Society www.eastyorkshirecoast.com on Facebook Hornsea Inshore Rescue Hornsea Museum www.hornsearescue.org.uk www.hornseamuseum.com (01964) 537340 (01964) 533443 Marine Management Organisation Withernsea Memories www.marinemanagement.org.uk Visit ‘Withernsea Memories’ group on Facebook Yorkshire Shellfish www.georgestoyle.com/ywt

Funders Yorkshire Wildlife Trust LEADER Coast, Wolds, www.ywt.org.uk Wetlands and Waterways www.ruralprogrammeseast Coastal Change & Fishing yorkshire.co.uk (01377) 208410 Environment Agency www.environment-agency.gov.uk East Riding of Yorkshire Council www.eastriding.gov.uk (01482) 393939 Changing Horizons tells the interwoven stories of coastal erosion and the fishing industry on the Holderness coast. Drawn from interviews with local people, the heritage beneath and above the waves is vividly brought to life. The Changing Horizons film can be viewed online through the Coastal Explorer website, www.eastriding.gov.uk/coastalexplorer Copies of the DVD are held by the East Riding Archives and Local Studies Service, the East Riding Library Service, and Hornsea Museum. CONTRIBUTORS Interviews were conducted with:

Kathy Bartle Sam Hindle Sam Risley Dawn Cantwell Andrea Hunter Jack Shepherd Carol & Dave Colley Clarice Jackson Aaron Smithies Easington Fishermen Albert Langley George Traves Jean & Eddy Emery Peter Lusmore Mike Welton Ashley Evans Charlotte Milne John White Joe Gelsthorpe Berna Moody John Whittle Andrew Gibson John Penn Brian Williams Edith Grantham Hilary & Jack Piggott Produced by Film Bee. Interviews and research by Peter RALi Studios and Film Bee Commissioned by East Riding of Yorkshire Council and the Changing Horizons Steering Group

The Changing Horizons project is funded by the Coast, Wolds, Wetlands & Waterways LEADER programme. Information about LEADER can be found at www.ruralprogrammeseastyorkshire.co.uk The LEADER programme is being financed by the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development and Defra as part of the Rural Development Programme for .