Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 1414 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| THE EAST RIDING | 1959 | 1959-01-01 |
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Details
Original Format: 16mm Colour: Colour Sound: Sound Duration: 21 mins 8 secs Subject: Urban Life Rural Life Industry Architecture Agriculture |
| Summary In his film The East Riding, filmmaker A.R. Smith focuses on the industrial landscape of the Riding including the agriculture and fishing industries. Also featured is the architecture in Beverley, Hull, and the villages in the surrounding area. |
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Description
In his film The East Riding, filmmaker A.R. Smith focuses on the industrial landscape of the Riding including the agriculture and fishing industries. Also featured is the architecture in Beverley, Hull, and the villages in the surrounding area.
Title: ‘The East Riding’ ‘Filmed and edited by A R Smith’
The film opens with a map of the whole of the East Riding, and then specifically Beverley and the surrounding area. In Beverley, the Cathedral and the North Bar can be seen. Buses and...
In his film The East Riding, filmmaker A.R. Smith focuses on the industrial landscape of the Riding including the agriculture and fishing industries. Also featured is the architecture in Beverley, Hull, and the villages in the surrounding area.
Title: ‘The East Riding’ ‘Filmed and edited by A R Smith’
The film opens with a map of the whole of the East Riding, and then specifically Beverley and the surrounding area. In Beverley, the Cathedral and the North Bar can be seen. Buses and cars are parked in the Market Square and town centre. The commentary points out that Beverley is the administrative centre of the East Riding. There is also footage of Church of St Mary’s, constituting a vicarage in 1269.
At the shipyards, wooden scaffolding and ladders surround a trawler which is under construction. The commentary notes that the ships are towed to Hull for fitting out. Beverley is then shown from the Westwood, and the commentary goes on to note its reputation for horse breeding, the commentary accompanying footage of the stables. On the Westwood, horses are led across the grassland, and people make their way to the racecourse where a race takes place. Buses are parked near the stand.
In the village of Bishop Burton, there is a duck pond where a small girl catches fish with a fishing net. Then four miles to the north is South Dalton. The village can be seen including the spire of St Mary’s Church and the nearby country lanes. Then westward seven miles is the village of Warter. Here there is a bridge over the river, the Church of St James, ornamental cottages, and the war memorial. Sixteen miles to the north east is Burton Agnes where a family cycles past the duck pond. The war memorial in this village is also shown, and the gatehouse of an Elizabethan house can be seen in the background. On to Welton, twenty four miles south west, a woman passes by in front of St Mary’s Church while riding a horse. The commentary speaks of stock farming, and this is accompanied by footage of sheep on the Wolds and cows and bulls grazing in fields nearer the towns.
The map then shows the East coast, pointing out the way to Bridlington. Here the harbour is full of boats while the tide is in, and the beach is crowded with people. Onto Flamborough Head, the lighthouse and coastline can be seen. People are out walking along the coastline, and some sit on the grass. A fishing boat is hauled in and moored on the steep, sandy bank along with a line of other boats. Fishermen unload their catch of crabs in boxes onto a sledge which is hauled up by a rope. A couple look over to the sea from on top of the cliff, and a helicopter passes by overhead as the top of the lighthouse fades from view.
The map is shown again, and it is onto Holderness and its agricultural industry. There are potatoes growing in fields, and the flowers and potatoes are shown in close up. The potatoes are dug up by a machine which pulled by a tractor. A woman bags the harvested potatoes. In another field, peas are harvested and bagged up. These too are shown in close up.
Back to the map showing the East Riding, and the commentary notes the thousands of acres of land which are used to grow corn. Fields of barley, oats and wheat are shown in close up. At the Skidby Windmill, the wheat field is harvested by a horse drawn harvester. This is contrasted with a tractor pulled harvester and a Massie-Harris combined harvester at work. Bales of straw can be seen in the field along with a hare which runs across.
In Hull, “the eastern gateway to Britain”, there is a sign for Kingston-upon-Hull and a large monument of a woman on a chariot flanked by lions. Guildhall Road is shown from high up, followed by Queen Victoria monument with cars and pedestrians. More city centre streets are featured including Hepworth’s and Hammond’s stores. From high up there is a panoramic view of Hull’s industrial area including the River Hull. The commentary lists all the types of industry which are prevalent in the area. .
The parks of Hull are featured next showing the bandstand, flower beds, and lily pond at East Park. The film then goes to St Andrew’s Dock where workers unload fish from a trawler. The bobbers swing baskets of fish over the dock and unload them into kits. Some of the fish are filleted and frozen. A long line of full kits stand on the quayside. A map shows some of the eleven docks. At one of the docks there is a large ship, and many cars are waiting to be shipped. The commentary lists the main products exported through the docks, and ships are loaded and unloaded with some of these exports including timber. There are also foreign ships which have docked such as Naomi, Panama and the Baltic Arrow, which are surrounded by the massive cranes.
Then it is onto Hull pier and the terminal for river steamers. The ferry crosses the river, and the commentary mentions that a bill has recently been passed through Parliament which will begin construction the Humber Bridge. Princes Dock has several small ships moored in it, including the Bell. Near Queens House in Paragon Street and among the flower beds is a model of a future, single span Humber Bridge. The site for the new bridge is shown on a map.
There is a brief scene of the River Hull near its source before returning to Beverley. The film ends at Westwood with the Cathedral in the background.
The End
Context
This film was made by a keen filmmaker, Albert Smith, who lived in Skidby, East Yorkshire. Albert left a sizeable collection of extremely well made films, often revealing his interests in wildlife and travel. As with this film they often took a documentary form, breaking up his subject into headings inserted into the films as intertitles. The films that the YFA have date form 1956 to 1970, and include a film on The Changing Face Of Skidby from 1967. Albert was brought up on a diary farm on...
This film was made by a keen filmmaker, Albert Smith, who lived in Skidby, East Yorkshire. Albert left a sizeable collection of extremely well made films, often revealing his interests in wildlife and travel. As with this film they often took a documentary form, breaking up his subject into headings inserted into the films as intertitles. The films that the YFA have date form 1956 to 1970, and include a film on The Changing Face Of Skidby from 1967. Albert was brought up on a diary farm on the Colne Valley in West Yorkshire, his father also having been brought up on a farm. From an early age he remembered delivering milk twice a day, even on Christmas day. He later went into business selling buying and selling livestock from the farms in the East Riding at markets in Beverley, Driffield and Hull – East Ridng Livestock Supplies, taken over by his brother and nephew.
He would always take his cine camera with him wherever he went and used to get farmers to let him know of ay interesting bird nests on their farms which he would then go and film. As he worked to commission he could manage his own time, enabling him to film as he wanted. Through his job he got to know the East Riding well, and he brought his knowledge and interest in farm animals to this film. If there was anything he found interesting happening somewhere that he hadn’t seen before, such as the crab fishing at Flamborough, off he would go and film it. As a member of Hull Cine Club he was spurned on to complete his films by the annual competitions that they ran. See also the Context for A Bedtime Story, also made in 1959. The East Ridings is of course one the three historic Ridings of Yorkshire going back to the Danish Viking invasion of 886 AD which established the Kingdom of Jórvík. The word ‘riding’ comes from Norse þriðjungr, meaning a third; and these administrative units were subdivided into smaller ones called wapentakes. East Riding is bounded in the north by a line that starts a couple of miles east of York in the east, and which slopes north east through the Wolds, meeting the coast about half way between Flamborough Head in the south and Filey in the north. The Ridings were made into County Councils in 1888, not losing this status until the local government re-organisation in 1972-4, seeing the establishment of Humberside. This changed again when the East Riding district was formed on 1 April 1996, which gained an area in the south east, but lost large areas to the north. For administrative purposes this lost Hull, although of course this is part of the ceremonial county. The area gained was Goole and the surrounding area, formerly part of the historic West Riding, which may account for its absence form this film, made in 1959. The old boundary took in the whole of the Wolds, more or less where the A64 runs, whereas the new boundary cuts through the Wolds. Many of the villages seen in the film, like South Dalton, Warter and Bishop Burton, have remained almost untouched in the sixty years since the film was made. Although some, like Welton, have had new housing developments. Coincidently there are three churches of St Mary’s on view, each quite different with their own interesting features. The one at South Dalton has a 200ft steeple, whilst the one at Beverley has a carving of a white rabbit that may well have been the inspiration for John Tenniel’s illustration of the rabbit Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland'. Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) had family links with the area – his uncle was rector at Burton Agnes and Harpham from 1833 to 1840, his grandfather lived at Hull, and his father was married in Hull. So the story is not that fanciful: there is a good chance he would have visited the Church in Beverley, and he did adviseJohn Tenniel on finding sources for his illustrations (and there is a resemblance – to my eyes anyway – between the medieval carving and the illustration). The rabbit with his pilgrim’s staff and scribe, thought to have been carved around 1325, is evidence of the strong Christian heritage of the area. In fact Beverley began life as a monastery in 705. This history has been revealed further by the recent discovery that part of St Peter and St Paul's Church, near Stamford Bridge, is thought to be 1,100 years old, 300 years older than previously believed. The focus on agriculture in the film reflects the importance this has for the area, which accounts for 12% of all agricultural land in England. Many things have changed in agriculture since this film was made, one of which that Albert notes is the switch from sheep to pigs. The film also reflects the relative mix of arable and horticultural crops. It has the highest level of very good quality agricultural land (Grade 2) in Yorkshire, including the famous Yorkshire broad acres. Historically the area has suffered from drainage problems, although from the 17th century there has been coastal reclamation, drainage and enclosure, with help from Dutch engineers.The practice of warping was also introduced by the Dutch in the 18th century and the addition of tidal silts substantially increased the fertility of the soils. Yet despite the continuing importance of agriculture, as one policy document puts it: “Increasingly, farmers are looking to diversify beyond agriculture to supplement incomes. This includes activities such as holiday accommodation and other tourist developments, equestrian businesses, farm shops and craft workshops.” (Towards a Sustainable Coast) Although not as well known as North Yorkshire as a holidaying area, nevertheless the East Riding has many attractions with a diverse landscape - there are six broad landscape character areas, as defined by the Countryside Agency. Among these is the Yorkshire Wolds, a chalk plateau rising almost 300m above sea level. The film shows glimpses of the many natural sites of local, national and international importance, including the coast and estuary having a variety of scenery and habitats. Many of these have been classified as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The Westwood today hasn’t got much in the way of a wood: many of the oak trees that made up the large old wood were felled in 1584 to build ships as England drifted into war with Spain. Horse racing on the Westwwod goes back to the formative heyday of the sport in the mid 18th century when many courses were started, and the Jockey Club was formed in 1752 – see the Context for Pontefract Races (1954). The racecourse is still thriving, and the tradition of horse breeding had been enhanced by the Equestrian School at Bishop Burton. If anything the strong association with horses has grown in the intervening time, with the highly rated Equestrian Centre at Bishop Burton and the recently opened Olympic standard Bishop Burton Arena. When the film turns from the rural to the urban, there are some marvellous shots of Hull, especially of St Andrew’s Dock. This makes for an interesting comparison with other film of the dock, such as St Andrew’s Dock (1962), and the Harrison Compilation. Other fascinating historic aspects of the film include the flower bed model for a single span Humber bridge – showing just how far the idea for this goes. But Albert Smith seems to give pride of place to showing the impressive Hammonds store on the corner of Paragon Square. Although named after Henry Hammond, who had had a drapery shop near North Bridge from 1831, his business had been taken over by James Powell & Sons in 1889. When the store opened in 1916 it became famous for its thousands of feet of brass tubing that enabled money to be transferred pneumatically. The store was one of many places badly damaged by bombing, especially along King Edward Street and Prospect Street, on 7th May 1941 – as were Bladons, Edwin Davis’, the Co-op, the Prudential building and Thornton Varleys (now Debenhams). It was rebuilt after the war and re-opened in May 1952. Well after this film was made, in September 1972, it was transferred to House of Fraser. They, rather foolishly, renamed the store to ‘Binns’, only to change it back in 1989. As local historian John Markham states: "It's clear now that Hammonds isn't just a shop – it's an institution, not just a large department store but an integral part of Hull's history." In his book on the store, John Markham has collected together some nice stories of those who used and worked there. Being a silent film, it naturally focuses on places rather than people, for anyone wanting to rectify this imbalance a fascinating book by local historians Mave and Ben Chapman have collected together many of the interesting personalities of East Riding. But for an overall picture of East Riding from half a century ago this film could hardly be bettered. References John Markhams (editor), Philip Brown’s Bevereley: A guide to its history, Humberside libraries and Arts, Hull, 1989. Mave and Ben Chapman, East Riding Yesterday: a Glimpse of the past, Smith Settle, Otley, 2002. John Markham, Hammonds of Hull: a store of good things for family and home Beverley, Highgate, 2004. Riding of Yorkshire Rural Strategy The Countryside Character Initiative - Yorkshire and the Humber Towards a Sustainable Coast The East Yorkshire Local History Society The Pilgrim Rabbit |
