The Holderness Historian

Notes from an isolated country

The Wages of Sin

I’m back at the British Legion tomorrow night to talk about sin! We’ll be looking at what St Augustine’s church can tell us about the medieval concept of sin (including an exciting new discovery I’ve made), the history behind the stories of Hedon’s wrongdoers, and the punishments that were meted out from public humiliation to…

May Day! May Day!

Happy May Day! The first day of May in the 21st century rather passes us by, but it was cause for a fine celebration in Holderness for centuries. After the miserable winter we’ve had, it’s a joy to see the fields and hedgerows bursting into life; before the days of electricity and central heating, this…

The Grieving Tide

Rain, rain, rain. It feels like that’s all the sky has done for sixth months, although Spring finally seems to be on its way. The countryside has been awash: trackways calf-deep in mud and whole fields underwater, reminding us that humans’ clever drainage projects will never quite vanquish the prehistoric meres of Holderness. This has…