Yorkshire Wolds

The Yorkshire Wolds are low, rolling hills in East Yorkshire, stretching from the Vale of York to the North Sea. Made of chalk formed in the Cretaceous period, they form an arc from Ferriby near Hull to Filey on the coast. The hills rise to Bishop Wilton Wold, the highest point at 246 metres, and drop sharply to the Vale of York on the west. Dry valleys cut into the slopes, many formed during the last ice age, with few streams visible on the surface. The Gypsey Race, the northernmost chalk stream in Europe, flows through the Great Wold Valley and often disappears in dry spells. The Wolds are recognised for their unique farming system where livestock graze the valleys while crops grow on the hills. Flamborough Head features cliffs over 130 metres high, home to Bempton Cliffs, an RSPB reserve with England’s only mainland gannet colony. Danes Dyke, a prehistoric earthwork on Flamborough Head, consists of double ramparts and a deep ditch. Rudston’s churchyard holds Britain’s tallest standing stone, while Willy Howe is a Bronze Age burial mound between Wold Newton and Thwing. Driffield, the largest town in the Wolds, serves as a central market hub. Nearby villages like Nafferton and Wansford mark the boundary between chalk hills and clay lowlands. The landscape includes traces of prehistoric people, such as barrows at Willerby Wold and Sharpe Howes. The area’s dry valleys and fertile benches create a quiet, rolling countryside, free from glacial till except near the coast.