Holderness: around the Lambwath valley

A breezy, but mild day with sunny spells. I take bus 24 to Skirlaugh. After leaving the bus, I cross the road and take Church lane.  The walk today takes me around the middle section of the Lambwath valley, at the site of the medieval Lambwath Mere. We have met the Lambwath Stream in this Holderness series before, in the Skirlaugh to Wawne and the Skirlaugh to Hornsea walks. The Jackdaws and Rooks calls put the background sound around the pretty St Augustine's Church. I walk around the church. There are signs for a woodland walk and also educating the public about the efforts to grow a meadow amongst the old headstones. The Lambwath Stream runs just by the church, although it is barely running. Its banks are lined with mature trees and bushes. After leaving the church, I follow the lane and then take a public right of way on the edge of the village. Soon, I rejoin the stream, although it is hidden in its deep banks. There are some large ashes lining its course. 

Skirlaugh's St Augustine's church.

Woodpigeon at Skirlaugh Church.

A Grey Squirrel looks down from its tree. They don't appear to be common in Holderness.

A pair of Rooks was checking the nest.

The Lamwath Stream by the Church.

Red Admiral.

The public footpath goes up the side of the gentle valley along a copse and then on the southern flank of the Rise estate. The path follows Wood End Farm track and then I continue on the road towards Withernwick. There is steady traffic every few minutes. At Whitedale, I cross the Trans Pennine Way.

There was no bull to be seen.

A large Ash stump with Dryad's saddle.

The footpath follows the Lambwath for a while.

The restored Whitedale Station building.

Several Rooks were feeding in the garden of the station house.

The Yew lined walk theough Whithernwick Churchyard.

St Alban's Church at Withernwick.

After a quick stroll around the village and the church, I take a right of way from Straits Farm that takes me towards the Lambwath meadows. A tractor is tilling a field, followed by a cloud of rooks and gulls. I spot a Wheatear on the field, they are migrating now. I cross a hedge and get a sweeping view across the valley giving broad views of the meadows. Perfect spot for lunch!

The approximate extent of the Lambwath Mere. Note that it was longer, and of a similar width to Hornsea Mere, the last surviving mere of Holderness.

The old Lambwath Mere

The source of the Lambwath Stream is east of the village of Aldbrough, a few meters from the beach, on the soft boulder clay cliffs 20 m in height. The incline of the Holderness landscape means that the stream flows west, skirting the village. The stream forms a narrow and sinuous valley 10 m deep over the sea level, which soon widens in a long basin, what used to be Lambwath Mere (see image above). As other meres in Holderness, this mere formed after the ice melted, as a proglacial lake. A layer of peat lies under its sediments as in other meres. In historical times it provided fish and reeds for neighbouring villages.  It is likely that drainage patterns downstream contributed to the draining of the mere in medieval times, although changes in sea level might have also contributed. The mere became silted and simply, disappeared. However, and despite the many parallel drains now in existance, the fields still are seasonally flooded, and several of them are managed traditionally as flower rich hay meadows, with some formerly arable fields in the basin being restored as neutral, species rich wet meadows. Part of the old mere basin, is now a SSSI, just south east of Withernwick. This area seems to call for stream restoration measures to elevate the course of the stream and connect it with its floodplain and slow the flow, blocking drainage ditches. We might be a long way to reintroducing Beavers in East Yorkshire, but these ecosystems engineers would be ideal to bring new life to these ancient meadows.

A Wheatear on a just tilled field.

A footpath sandwiched between ditches and hedgerows crosses the valley. It has flagstones at some point.

The Lamwath stream with the meadows on its floodplain.

Small White.

I climb to the rim of the valley again and walk on the road along Marton and New Ellerby, then I take the Hornsea rail trail and make it to Skirlaugh with some time for a coffee at the Lazy Bean before my bus back home. 

More information

Sheppard, J. A. (1957). The medieval meres of Holderness. Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers), (23), 75-86.