Bridlington Augustinian Society – The History of Sewerby Village.

Bro Rick Hudson’s illustrated talk was the about history of Sewerby village. A brief look at relevant geology was followed by a review human history through the ages up to the present day.

First he explained how ancient salt layers and the chalk buried cliff feature led to today’s nearby successful natural gas and water industry activities.

Bro Rick then pointed out where stone, bronze and iron age archaeological finds have been made in the Sewerby parish area.

The Roman Road Research Association believes that a Roman road led from Malton to a camp at Sewerby. Bro Rick showed map and lidar data that supports this, and referred to evidence of the camp and other Roman finds. This included possible Roman burials first found when the railway was constructed.

Perhaps the most famous archaeological find in Sewerby is the Anglo Saxon graveyard just south of Sewerby Park. Bro Rick showed pictures of the amazing finds.

Later, Sewerby became part of the Viking world and this is probably when the village got the name “Siwardbi”.  Siward came to England to serve King Canute around 1016 AD as Earl in charge of the southern half of Northumbria, and “bi” is a Viking settlement. Earl Siward and his son feature in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Bro Rick gave a brief review of ownership of Sewerby through the medieval period and the little that is known of the medieval village. Today’s village properties date back to no earlier than the 1600’s   Some are in a conservation area and some are “listed”. Bro Rick took us on a tour.

The village fields were enclosed just after 1800. Bro Rick described the changes culminating in the rerouting of roads, removal of cottages near the hall, and the building of the “Great Wall of Sewerby” along Church Lane. The 1800’s also saw the building of the church, school and vicarage and the coming of the railway.

The 1900’s saw major housing developments starting with the development of the Riviera estate by Boulton and Paul, and ending with Tay Construction’s Seagate View estate in the 1990’s. Bro Rick ended with a review of current village activities and conservation designations.

The Vote of thanks was given by Joan Turner who praised Bro Rick Hudson for his excellent talk.