The Gypsey Race is a winterbourne stream that rises to the east of

Wharram-le-Street Wharram-le-Street is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wharram, in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. Until the 1974 local government reorganisation Wharram-le-Street was part of the East Riding of Yorksh ...

and flows through the villages of

Duggleby Duggleby is a hamlet in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It was historically part of the East Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. It is north-east of York and south-west of Scarborough. Duggleby is part of the civ ...

Kirby Grindalythe __NOTOC__ Kirby Grindalythe is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated about south-east of Malton. The village lies in the Great Wold Valley and the course of the winterbourne stream th ...

West Lutton West Lutton is a village in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately east from Malton, and within the Yorkshire Wolds. It was historically part of the East Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. The hamlet of ...

East Lutton East Lutton is a hamlet in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately east from Malton, and within the Yorkshire Wolds. It is historically part of the East Riding of Yorkshire. The village of West Lutto ...

Helperthorpe Helperthorpe is a village in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. The village lies in the Great Wold Valley and the course of the winterbourne stream the Gypsey Race passes through it. History The village is mentioned in the Dome ...

Weaverthorpe Weaverthorpe is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is south-west of Scarborough. History Bronze Age settlements have been found at nearby Cowlam, which is to the south. It was one of the lead ...

, Butterwick, Foxholes, Wold Newton,

Burton Fleming Burton Fleming is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies close to the border with North Yorkshire. The village is situated approximately north-west of Bridlington and south of Filey. History Burton F ...

Rudston Rudston is a small village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Driffield and Bridlington approximately west of Bridlington, and lies on the B1253 road. The Gypsey Race (an intermittent stream) r ...

and Boynton. The stream flows into 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 ...

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 ...

harbour. It is the most northerly of the Yorkshire chalk streams. The Gypsey Race rises in the Great Wold Valley through a series of springs and flows intermittently between

and West Lutton where it runs underground in the chalk aquifer before re-surfacing in Rudston. It has been known during very wet conditions for the stream to re-appear at Wold Newton some north-west of Rudston. Water from the aquifer running between West Lutton and Wold Newton also heads south to re-appear at Elmswell feeding

West Beck West Beck is the common name given to the upper section of the old River Hull, as it rises in the foothills of the Yorkshire Wolds. After reaching Frodingham Beck at Emmotland, it becomes called the River Hull. It is noteworthy for being the ...

and the

River Hull The River Hull is a navigable river in the East Riding of Yorkshire in Northern England. It rises from a series of springs to the west of Driffield, and enters the Humber Estuary at Kingston upon Hull. Following a period when the Archbishops o ...

. According to folklore, when the Gypsey Race is flowing in flood (The Woe Waters), bad fortune is at hand. It was in flood in the year before the Great Plague of 1665–66, the restoration of Charles II (1660) and the landing of William of Orange (1688), before both World War One and

World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, plus the bad winters of 1947 and 1962. The stream also badly flooded the village of Burton Fleming in 2012 when the water was deep in places. Villagers in Boynton have an annual duck race on the stream in May. Hundreds of yellow plastic ducks are paid for and race the Race in aid of funds for the village hall.

Pictures

File:Gypsey Race Burton Fleming 5 (Nigel Coates).jpg,

File:Gypsey Race Burton Fleming 3 (Nigel Coates).jpg,

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gypsey Race Rivers of North Yorkshire Rivers of the East Riding of Yorkshire Yorkshire Wolds