Hedon is a town and civil parish in Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately 5 miles (8 km) east of Hull city centre. It lies to the north of the A1033 road at the crossroads of the B1240 and B1362 roads. It is particularly noted for the parish church of St. Augustine, known as the 'King of Holderness',[2] which is a Grade I listed building.[3]

In 1991, the town had a population of 6,066,[4] which had risen to 6,332 by the time of the 2001 UK census.[5] By the 2011 UK census, Hedon parish had a population of 7,100,[1]

History

St. Augustine's Church, Hedon
Hedon Town Hall

Hedon is not mentioned in the Domesday Book which leads to the belief that it was a new town created by the Normans as a port.[6] Hedon was at its most prosperous in the 12th and 13th centuries and at one time was the 11th largest port in England.[7] The decline of the port came with the development of the port of Hull and the building of larger ships which were unable to get up the small river to Hedon.[8][9]

Hedon was given its first charter by Henry II in 1158 and was granted improved ones by King John in 1200 and Henry III in 1248 and 1272. Edward III granted the most important charter which gave the town the right to elect a mayor.[10]

In 1415 Hedon was granted an important charter, which let the town have burgesses and other ministers and also gave the town a mace. This mace, held in Hedon Town Hall, is now the oldest surviving mace in the country, and is clearly a weapon of war.[11]

The town was a parliamentary borough until it was disenfranchised under the Reform Act 1832.[12] It still enjoyed its borough status granted by its charters until 1974 when it was removed in a reorganisation of local government.[13]

To the west of the town, on the Twyers Estate, was a racecourse. The course staged its first meeting on 24 August 1888, with Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale in attendance on the second day, and racing continued until 1895. The racecourse was re-opened in 1906 but closed permanently after racing on 11 September 1909.[14] After closing it was developed into an aerodrome officially opened in 1929 by Prince George, Duke of Kent.[15] It was the arrival point of Hull-born aviator Amy Johnson on her record-breaking solo flight to Australia in 1930, where she began a triumphant homecoming.[16] After ten years of operation, the aerodrome closed during Second World War, 1939–1945. Afterward, the site was briefly used as a motorcycle speedway track. Attempts were made in the late-1950s to reopen it for flying, which failed,[17] and the land has been used as grazing for cattle. A plaque commemorating the memory of the airfield was installed at the nearby Kingstown Hotel in July 2017.[18]

The Hull and Holderness Railway opened in 1854 which ran from Victoria Dock in Hull to Withernsea, through Hedon. The station was built to the north of the town and it proved a vital part of Hedon's transport system for a century. In 1965 Hedon lost its passenger service when British Railways appointed Lord Beeching to stop losses, and closed branch lines not making a profit. The line from Hull as far as Hedon remained open for goods until 1968.[19]

Hedon became the subject of national media attention in August 2000 when a freak mini-tornado in the Humber Estuary caused flash floods and hailstones to drop on parts of the town.[20]

Burstwick Drain

Hedon was also affected by the widespread floods that occurred in the UK in the summer of 2007; areas affected included the Inmans / Westlands Estates and most areas near the Burstwick drain. A nearby village, Burstwick, saw the most homes flooded in the East Riding of Yorkshire.[21][22]

There have been plans to create a country park around the Hedon Haven, south of the town.[23] There is an open-air concrete skate park in the south of the town between Draper's Lane and the Burstwick Drain.[24]

Controversy

In late 2023, following a growing pattern in East Yorkshire by communication providers intending to provide their own services via their own individual infrastructure,[25] wooden poles to provide internet connections to Hedon were erected on behalf of MS3 Networks.[26] Changes to the law from April 2022 meant planning consent was not needed.

In early 2024, some poles were identified by Historic England to be in violation of the required scheduled monument consent, a criminal offence, as the area was considered to have Scheduled Monument status. MS3 Networks' CEO stated their services could save residents "...more than £1m per year".[27] Previously in late 2023, MS3 poles in the Longhill area of Hull were felled by unknown members of the public, after protests by residents unhappy with the new poles.[28]

Notable people

References

  1. ^ a b UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Hedon Parish (1170211196)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  2. ^ The Diocese of York. "Deanery of South Holderness". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2007.
  3. ^ Historic England. "Church of St Augustine (1346568)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  4. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002). Neave, David (ed.). Yorkshire : York and the East Riding (2 ed.). London: Yale University Press. p. 453. ISBN 0-300-09593-7.
  5. ^ UK Census (2001). "Local Area Report – Hedon Parish (1543504239)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  6. ^ Beresford 1971, p. 131.
  7. ^ Edwards, James Frederick (1987). The Transport System of Medieval England and Wales – a Geographical Synthesis (PDF). usir.salford.ac.uk (Report). Salford: University of Salford. p. 144. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  8. ^ Beresford, Maurice; St Joseph, John Kenneth (1979). Medieval England : an aerial survey (2 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 220. ISBN 0-521-21961-2.
  9. ^ "A flourishing port long before Hull". infoweb.newsbank.com. 8 April 2005. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  10. ^ Beresford 1971, p. 142.
  11. ^ Winn, Christopher (2010). I never knew that about Yorkshire. London: Ebury. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-09-193313-5.
  12. ^ "Genuki: HEDON: Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892". www.genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  13. ^ "Hedon MB through time | Census tables with data for the Local Government District". visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  14. ^ Pitt, Chris (2006). A Long Time Gone (Rev. and updated ed.). Halifax: Portway. pp. 92–95. ISBN 1901570622.
  15. ^ Spooner, Stanley, ed. (18 October 1929). "Prince George opens the Hull Municipal Aerodrome". Flight Magazine. Vol. XXV, no. 1086. London: Flight. pp. 1117–1118. ISSN 0015-3710.
  16. ^ Barrymore Halpenny, Bruce (1982). Action Stations 4; Military airfields of Yorkshire. Cambridge: Patrick Stephens. p. 86. ISBN 0-85059-532-0.
  17. ^ "How Hull could have had its own international airport". 18 September 2016. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  18. ^ "28/07/2017, Andy Comfort – BBC Radio Humberside". BBC. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  19. ^ Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
  20. ^ McCarthy, Michael (22 August 2000). "Snow, hail and a freak twister hit the Humber". The Independent. Archived from the original on 9 May 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  21. ^ "Call for more permanent pumping stations". infoweb.newsbank.com. 28 June 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  22. ^ Flooding; House of Commons oral evidence. Flooding: TSO. 2008. p. 450. ISBN 978-0-215-51488-2.
  23. ^ "Our GBP17m dream is flowing again". infoweb.newsbank.com. 8 April 2005. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  24. ^ "Hedon – Drapers Lane Skatepark". www.eastriding.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  25. ^ David Davis MP calls on broadband companies to end poles row BBC News, 11 October 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2024
  26. ^ Broadband row in Hedon as MS3 Networks plans to install poles BBC News, 7 October 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2024
  27. ^ 'Poles in Hedon medieval town installed without consent' BBC News, 10 January 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2024
  28. ^ Controversial Hull MS3 broadband poles chopped down BBC News, 21 November 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2024
  29. ^ Miller, Judith; Hill, Mark (2016). Collectables handbook & price guide 2016–2017. London: Hachette. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-78472-249-4.
  30. ^ Browning, T B. "Campbell, Sir Alexander". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4466. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  31. ^ "Tribute to tragic opera singer Amy Black". Hull Daily Mail. 8 December 2009. Archived from the original on 11 December 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  • Gazetteer – A–Z of Towns Villages and Hamlets. East Riding of Yorkshire Council. 2006. p. 6.

Sources

External links