The Gypsey Race is a
winterbourne stream
that rises to the east of
Wharram-le-Street and flows through the villages of
Duggleby,
Kirby Grindalythe,
West Lutton,
East Lutton,
Helperthorpe,
Weaverthorpe,
Butterwick,
Foxholes,
Wold Newton,
Burton Fleming,
Rudston
Rudston is a small village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Driffield and Bridlington approximately west of Bridlington, and lies on the B1253 road. The Gypsey Race (an intermittent stream) r ...
and
Boynton. The stream flows into the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
in
Bridlington
Bridlington (previously known as Burlington) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is on the Holderness part (Flamborough Head to the Humber estuary) of the Yorkshire Coast by the North Sea. The town is ...
harbour. It is the most northerly of the Yorkshire chalk streams.
The Gypsey Race rises in the
Great Wold Valley through a series of springs and flows intermittently between
Duggleby and West Lutton where it runs underground in the chalk aquifer before re-surfacing in Rudston. It has been known during very wet conditions for the stream to re-appear at Wold Newton
some north-west of Rudston. Water from the aquifer running between West Lutton and Wold Newton also heads south to re-appear at Elmswell feeding
West Beck and the
River Hull
The River Hull is a navigable river in the East Riding of Yorkshire in Northern England. It rises from a series of springs to the west of Driffield, and enters the Humber Estuary at Kingston upon Hull. Following a period when the Archbishops o ...
.
According to folklore, when the Gypsey Race is flowing in flood (The Woe Waters), bad fortune is at hand. It was in flood in the year before the
Great Plague of 1665–66, the restoration of
Charles II (1660) and the landing of
William of Orange (1688), before both
World War One
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and th ...
and
World War Two
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisi ...
, plus the bad winters of 1947 and 1962.
The stream also badly flooded the village of Burton Fleming in 2012 when the water was deep in places.
Villagers in Boynton have an annual duck race on the stream in May. Hundreds of yellow plastic ducks are paid for and race the Race in aid of funds for the village hall.
Pictures
File:Gypsey Race Burton Fleming 5 (Nigel Coates).jpg, Burton Fleming
File:Gypsey Race Burton Fleming 3 (Nigel Coates).jpg, Burton Fleming
Notes
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gypsey Race
Rivers of North Yorkshire
Rivers of the East Riding of Yorkshire
Yorkshire Wolds