Danes Dyke. Another strange day out.

Thursday 7th June 2018 found Gill (the trusty navigator and chip eater) and I on our first foray of 2018. The terrible Spring weather, holidays and other things keeping us out of 'exploration mode' and in our respective homes for some time. The 7th was the first opportunity to go out.

Looking at the list of possible 'adventures' (local history forays) it was decided to visit to Danes Dyke, a place I'd long heard of but never visited. Part of this decision was coloured by the need to deliver a package to a house near Wansford, Driffield, E.Yorks. This is a place I used to fish in the 1960s and as such held many memories for me. The 'adventure kit' of tape measures, 'poking' rod and surveying rod, secateurs etc was not taken. We have learned slowly about what to take after an early outing necessitated cutting nettles back with Gill's nail scissors!

So to Driffield. A pleasant run in not too bad weather. We found the house we were looking for rather by good look as we nearly turned round at the last moment to retrace our steps. A couple out walking their dog gave us the final clue we required. That job being done we stopped by the cannel head to have a look. A very pleasant area which must have once bustled with activity, with barges shipping out produce, through the various locks, from the hinterland to the River Hull and southwards to Hull its self.

Standing on a culvert I was delighted to see a trout of about 1.5 lb shoot out and glide to the centre of the canal, its dark back and no longer visible silvery sides helping to camouflage it against the floating weeds.

The Diffield Navigation as the canal is called was opened in 1770 and has two parts, the northern canal section and the southern part which runs of the River Hull. The whole of it is 11 miles long. Historically the northern canal section was further divided into the Old Navigation and the New Navigation, these concepts being based on the removal of a bridge and the building of a lock. These two parts were managed separately for a long time being finally amalgamated in 1888. Even after the railway arrived in Driffield in 1846 the canal remained profitable into the 1930s but essentially closed to commercial traffic in the 1951. The water is fishable but while I used to fly fish there in the 1960s I haven't fished there since. In those days a days ticket was 5 old shillings and could be got from the post office (now gone) when it opened. Fly fishing was not easy because of the weeds and the telephone line behind you. The wires were festooned with snagged flies!

Driffield Navigation, Canal head

Driffield Navigation

And so on to Danes Dyke via Bempton. Here, by chance, we visited St Michael's church few yards off the main road (B1229) through Bempton, (TA1910972099). A grade II listed building originating from the 13 Centuary but modified throughout it's existence. St Michael's church was a chapelry of Bridlington until 1441.

Passing the west end to where we could park, the eagle eyed Gill noticed a well cut bench mark on the west face of the square tower. These being one of our interests I looked it up on the Bench Mark site only to find it had been spotted by someone else so we couldn't claim it! The mark was made in 1891 at a height of 226.3 ft.

The tower corners of the church stand on huge stones providing the corner foundation, a common building technique in those days, which set the orientation of the building. The base of the tower could be 13th C but the upper part is 14th C. It contains two bells from about 1361. The chancel is 1892 and the south porch is about this time too.

Bench mark on St Michaels church, Bempton

It is quite easy to see that the tower and nave on the left is a different date to the chancel on the right. However, the entrance porch although about the same age of the chancel blends in better. The path across the grave yard leads to the entrance porch on the south sides. Mind the step when entering!

The four nave arches on each side are a little erratic with either circular or octagonal pillars, also differing in the stone out of which they are made. The circular ones are chalk and the octagonal ones are oolite, a sedimentary stone made of 'spherical' grains.

St Michael's church, Bempton

(Creative Commons Geograph.org.uk)

The chancel of 1829 is separated from the nave by a simple wooden screen of three arches and of about the same date The north and south arches may differ slightly in width putting the apex of the central one slightly to the left of the coat of arms above it.

The nave and chancel of St Michael's, Bempton

The original roof seems to have been under drawn with rather vivid red panelling which makes the church feel squatter but was probably done for heating reasons.

Just as we leaving the church we came across a miniature horse being washed! These apparently are different from Shetland ponies. They need to be 34-38 inches tall and first noted in the 1600s. They are often kept as pets. Beyond that I 'know nothing'.

A miniature horse

And so on to Danes Dyke.

This earthworks (TA211307320) runs north south across Flamborough head and is about 2.5 miles long and isolates about 5 square miles of headland to the east. In its original construction it must have been a serious barrier to attackers from the west being both a ditch and a bank probably topped with a palisade. The bank was constructed from a layer of compacted stones overlain with chalk blocks and rubble which were then covered with turf and soil. All this to a height of 4-5 metres and a base width of about 20 metres. On the west side there is (was) a ditch partly produced by material removal to build the bank. Though much obliterated by the passage of time it is though it was about 12 metres wide and 3-4 metres deep. At the southern end the dyke ends in a ravine which goes down t the sea but at the northern end it ends at the cliff top just south of the RSBP centre at Cat Nab, Bempton Cliffs. It is more easily seen at the southern end at the Danes Dyke Nature Reserve (148 acres). At the southern end there are a series of dyke 'off shoots' to the west.

Danes Dyke runs north south across Flamborough Head

(Courtesy of Google Earth)

There are two convenient areas to see Danes Dyke, or what is left of it. The small road to the car park is off the B1255 about 1 mile past Marton. It is labelled Danes Dyke. there is a good car park and kiosk and parking for the day was £2.90. Just adjacent to the car park Danes Dyke can be seen but very much obliterated by trees. It is not too difficult to clamber up to the top but much more difficult to walk along it because of nettles, brambles, trees etc. Along this fist section the dyke seems to be cut by what could have been an entrance or may have been made more recently. It is of course cut again by a road running to Crofts Hill on the Bridlington Road and again a little more north by the B1255. Even in it's decayed state you can appreciate the effort the community put in to its building.

Looking west along the bank of Danes Dyke.

Very little of this section was easy walking

From the south end of the Dyke we went to the north end. This intersects the Bempton Cliff about a quarter of a mile south of the SPBS visitors centre through which you have to pass to get to the cliff path conveniently. To pass through to follow the cliff path you need not pay if you don't park in the SPBS car park.

The form of chalk cliffs makes them slightly resistant to erosion which maintains their prodigious verticality. Being adjacent to the North Sea the weather can be variable and on our visit it was not warm but it was windy.

Bempton cliffs.

The weather can be variable

These cliffs support an immense bird population and are the only mainland breeding ground for gannets in Britain. They are seen in great flocks nesting on the cliff.

Gannet landing at nest

And of course the comical Puffins

Danes Dyke is not easy to make out at the northern cliff end. A bank and ditch can just be made out when there but is rather lost in a photo.

The petering out north end of Danes Dyke.

A bank and ditch can just be made out

But who built it and when? Well it certainly it wasn't the Danes! Various dates have been put forward for its construction from late bronze age to Roman times with modifications in the 9th and 10th centaury. It has been compared to the longer Offa's Dyke in on the Welsh boarder.

Not only is the dykes building date unknown but the community who it protected are also lost in the mists of time. I understand very little of any archaeology has been found that relates to a community living east of the dyke, which is extraordinary given the effort that must have been used to construct it with primitive hand tools. Perhaps future work will 'unearth' more of its secrets.

Chris Coulson

June 2018