Flamborough Head and the Village of Flamborough Quiz

Answer: East

The word 'Riding' comes from the Vikings, and is derived from Threthingr, meaning a third (as in fraction, not ordinal). In 1974 the government, for some completely unfathomable reason, wiped out over 1,000 years of history and abolished the Ridings. Flamborough was then apparently in 'Humberside', a meaningless bureaucratic invention that meant nothing to anyone. Thankfully, in 1996, the East Riding of Yorkshire became a Unitary Authority (whatever one of those is) and Flamborough 'returned' to East Yorkshire again. (Don't tell the government, but most of the inhabitants never, ever called it Humberside...)

Answer: South

The three Ridings were North (Scarborough and, unsurprisingly, the North York moors are in the North Riding), East (e.g. Bridlington, Kingston upon Hull), and West (e.g. Leeds and Holmfirth, where "Last of the Summer Wine" was filmed). If you are *certain* that you have heard of South Riding, you are correct. It is the title of a novel by Winifred Holtby.

Answer: Spurn Point

Spurn Point, on the north bank of the Humber, is approximately 50 miles from Flamborough. Besides Thornwick Bay, North and South Landings, you can also get to the beach at the Lighthouse (Selwicks Bay).

Answer: Dane's Dyke

Always a very popular spot for playing on the beach (which is made up of big chalk stones, not sands, and is great for finding fossils) or making swings and dens in the woods, Dane's Dyke has nothing to do with the Danes. In fact, it was designed to cut about five square miles of peninsula off from the mainland.

In the south and from the air, it is very visible (check out Google Earth!), but in the north it is hardly noticeable. In 2002, Dane's Dyke was declared a local nature reserve.

Answer: John Paul Jones

The Bonhomme Richard was named in honour of Benjamin Franklin, who had written 'Poor Richard's Almanac', published in France as 'Les Maximes du Bonhomme Richard'. After an extremely bloody battle off Flamborough Head, John Paul Jones captured HMS Serapis, but lost his own ship.

All the wrong answers are also famous American sailors.

Answer: A clinker-built fishing boat

In 1909 six people were drowned in a fierce storm within sight of North Landing. The three-man crew of the 'Two Brothers' perished trying to save the three-man crew of 'The Gleaner', which had been capsized by a huge wave. The Cross family lost three family members.

A coble is the traditional fishing boat of Flamborough. Clinker-built means that the planks overlap, and the cobles are normally very stable in the unpredictable North Sea.

Answer: A smuggler

Robin Lythe's cave is at North Landing, and I have been in it many times. The opening on the land side is easily walkable at low tide, and the seaward side gives you a great view out to sea. It is about 50 feet high with a domed roof. Some of the legends of Robin Lythe have him clinging to a rock in the cave after a shipwreck, and others have him storing contraband there. Apparently it is haunted by a ghostly figure unloading goods from a small boat...

Answer: Collecting birds' eggs

With no modern climbing equipment, and sheer cliffs of up to 400 feet, it must have been a job for the fittest. The rewards, however, were great, with a dozen eggs from seabirds, like gulls, puffins, guillemots, and razorbills, fetching a shilling (just over £4 today) and them being able to collect up to 400 eggs at a time. Climming has, of course, become illegal since then.

Answer: Bridlington

From the cliffs of Flamborough, as you go south the rocks become softer, so Bridlington Bay has been formed. In rough weather, especially with winds from the north, many ships can be seen sheltering in Bridlington Bay in the lee of Flamborough cliffs. All the incorrect answers are north of Flamborough.

Answer: Rats

Apparently the village suffered a rat infestation, because of the cold wet winter and farmers consequently being unable to get rid of their stubble. The plague made all the national newspapers. The village has pleaded for this not to put tourists off (tourism is one of Flamborough's main sources of income). Of the wrong answers: there is an abundance of crabs and lobsters in Flamborough's seas; and, gribbles are tiny marine isopods, from the family Limnoriidae, that eat wood and seemed to infest the fishing boats every summer that I lived at home.