Skipsea is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

coast of the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

, England. It is situated approximately south of

Bridlington Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...

and north of

Hornsea Hornsea is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The settlement dates to at least the early medieval period. The town was expanded in the Victorian era with the coming of the Hull ...

on the

B1242 road B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in G ...

at its junction with the

B1249 road B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in G ...

. The civil parish is formed by the village of Skipsea and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

Skipsea Brough Skipsea Brough is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north of Hornsea on the B1249 road. It forms part of the civil parish of Skipsea. Skipsea Brough is the location of Skipsea Castle which was bu ...

and

Dringhoe Dringhoe is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north of Hornsea on the B1249 road to the west of Skipsea Brough. It forms part of the civil parish of Skipsea Skipsea is a village and civil paris ...

. According to the

2011 UK census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...

, Skipsea parish had a population of 693, an increase on the

2001 UK census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

figure of 633. From the mediaeval era until the 19th century Skipsea was part of

Dickering Wapentake Dickering was a wapentake (which is an administrative division) of the historic county called East Riding of Yorkshire in England, consisting of the north-east part of that county, including the towns of Bridlington and Filey; its territory is n ...

. Between 1894 and 1974 Skipsea was a part of the

Bridlington Rural District Bridlington was a rural district in the East Riding of Yorkshire in England from 1894 to 1974. It covered a coastal area, and surrounded the municipal borough of Bridlington on its land borders. The district covered Flamborough and Flamborough H ...

, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Between 1974 and 1996 it was part of the Borough of North Wolds (later Borough of East Yorkshire), in the county of

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West ...

. Just to the west of the village, in Skipsea Brough, lies

Skipsea Castle Skipsea Castle was a Norman motte and bailey castle near the village of Skipsea, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Built around 1086 by Drogo de la Beuvrière, apparently on the remains of an Iron Age mound, it was designed to secure the newl ...

. Built in 1086, the

motte-and-bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

style castle has since been destroyed; however impressive earthworks remain. The coast near Skipsea, just over to the east, is the fastest eroding coastline in northern Europe.

History

The first recorded appearance of the name Skipsea is in the 12th century and the name is of Scandinavian origin, but the actual town-site has been in use much longer. This is of no real surprise, as this part of the English coast was frequented by Viking invaders before the Norman Conquest. There is some evidence that the name Skipsea refers to its original Viking meaning of "Ship Lake", but the closest literal meaning of Skipsea is "a lake navigable by ships". This name refers to the village's original location on the edge of a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

, which was suitable for navigation and eel-fishing, that was slightly inland from the sea. This land has since been lost because of erosion, making Skipsea a seaside Village. There is evidence of habitation dating back to the Stone and Bronze Ages because of the 19th century archaeological discovery of platforms, presumably for huts. The borough of Skipsea Castle was first recorded between 1160 and 1175 and may have been founded by

William le Gros, Count of Aumale William le Gros, William le Gras, William d'Aumale, William Crassus (died 20 August 1179) was Earl of York and Lord of Holderness in the English peerage and the Count of Aumale in France. He was the eldest son of Stephen, Count of Aumale, and hi ...

, who died in 1179. By the end of the 11th century, both

and a church had been built, which encouraged the growth of a small town. In the following 13th and 14th centuries, local markets and fairs were granted "variously for Skipsea town, Skipsea manor, and Skipsea Brough manor, presumably all the same and possibly by then meaning Skipsea village". The parish Church of All Saints was designated a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in 1966 and is now recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

, maintained by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

. The village is also famous for being a possible site for nuclear testing in the 1950s, yet the scientists at

Aldermaston Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basingstoke ...

relented after strong opposition by the local community. The

Royal Observer Corps The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December ...

used Skipsea as a site for a Cold War observation post. The site was active from October 1959 until its decommissioning in September 1991. The site lay derelict until it was restored by an enthusiast in October 2008. Currently, the economy of Skipsea is based on agriculture and tourism.

References

* {{authority control Villages in the East Riding of Yorkshire Civil parishes in the East Riding of Yorkshire Populated coastal places in the East Riding of Yorkshire