Hornsea
OS grid reference:- TA 203 476
The small seaside resort of Hornsea lies at at the eastern end of the Trans Pennine Trail. The town is famous for its former pottery factory, Hornsea Pottery, which closed in 2000.
Hornsea has an extensive Blue Flag sand and shingle beach. A long promenade with newly-landscaped gardens, old wooden breakwaters and plenty of parking. The Freeport Hornsea Outlet Village is modern and spacious and boasts a wide range of outlet stores, the shopping centre is designed as a village, with streets of shops radiating from a central square where food is available.
Bettison Folly, a Grade II listed building, was constructed in the nineteenth century by local businessman William Bettison and is decorated with locally made 'treacle' bricks.
Hornsea Mere and bird sanctuary are situated just to the west of the town and is a popular location for sailing. Hornsea Mere is the largest lake in Yorkshire and covers an area of 467 acres (1.89 km2), it is 2 miles long, 0.75 miles and stretches to 0.75 miles at its widest point. The mere is a centre for bird-watching and offers rowing, sailing, boat trips and fishing. It is a Special Protection Area for birds and is home to many species throughout the year, and is of international importance for a migratory population of gadwall. Its shallowness results in a diverse range of swamp and fen plants.
Honeysuckle Farm is a working farm and petting zoo situated just outside Hornsea, children can pet the animals, learn about farm life, sample the delicious home-made ice cream or take a shire horse cart ride around the farm. The farm has a large indoor play area with bales of straw for children to climb on and explore and is open from March to September.
Nearby Burton Constable Hall is an Elizabethan mansion set in 300 acres of parkland, with eighteenth and nineteenth interiors, over 30 rooms open to the public.
Charlotte Brontė visited Hornsea when she stayed with a former nursemaid who lived at 96 Newbegin, one of the houses in 'Swiss Terrace'.
Hornsea Museum
The award-winning Hornsea Folk Museum is full of interactive displays and houses the largest collection of Hornsea Pottery in the world.
The Hornsea Pottery was founded in 1949 in a small terraced house by brothers Colin and Desmond Rawson where they made plaster of Paris models to sell as souvenirs to tourists visiting Hornsea, the business continued to produce tableware and ornaments until April 2000.
The museum focuses on Victorian rural life and the local history of north Holderness. The Hornsea Museum building was originally a farm owned by a local family and dates to the seventeenth century. The museum currently occupies 3 buildings on Newbegin, housing an enormous range of local items and memorabilia.
It features a Victorian bedroom, a dairy, washhouse, workshops, barn, cart bays full of tools and implements from local industry, railway memorabilia, and an almost full range of Hornsea Pottery dating from 1949 to the factory’s closure in 2000.
Towns and Villages of Yorkshire