Hedon is a small town and
civil parishIn England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and in some places the lowest tier of local government, below districts and counties. A civil parish can alternatively be known as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council; and in a limited number of...
in
HoldernessHolderness is an area of the East Riding of Yorkshire, on the east coast of England. An area of rich agricultural land, Holderness was marshland until it was drained in the Middle Ages. Topographically, Holderness has more in common with The Netherlands than other parts of Yorkshire...
in the
East Riding of YorkshireThe East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire is a local government district with unitary authority status, and it is a ceremonial county of England. It is named after the historic East Riding of Yorkshire , which also constituted a ceremonial and administrative county until 1974...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is situated approximately east of
Kingston upon HullKingston upon Hull , almost invariably referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located 25 miles from the North Sea on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary...
city centre. It lies to the north of the A1033 road at the crossroads of the B1240 and B1362 roads.
It is particularly noted for the parish church of St Augustine, known as the 'King of Holderness', which is a Grade I listed building.
According to the
2001 UK censusA nationwide census, commonly known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census....
, Hedon parish had a population of 6,322.
Hedon is not mentioned in the
Domesday BookThe Domesday Book is the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or William the Conqueror...
which leads to the belief that it is a new town created by the Normans as a port.
Hedon is a small town and
civil parishIn England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and in some places the lowest tier of local government, below districts and counties. A civil parish can alternatively be known as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council; and in a limited number of...
in
HoldernessHolderness is an area of the East Riding of Yorkshire, on the east coast of England. An area of rich agricultural land, Holderness was marshland until it was drained in the Middle Ages. Topographically, Holderness has more in common with The Netherlands than other parts of Yorkshire...
in the
East Riding of YorkshireThe East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire is a local government district with unitary authority status, and it is a ceremonial county of England. It is named after the historic East Riding of Yorkshire , which also constituted a ceremonial and administrative county until 1974...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is situated approximately east of
Kingston upon HullKingston upon Hull , almost invariably referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located 25 miles from the North Sea on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary...
city centre. It lies to the north of the A1033 road at the crossroads of the B1240 and B1362 roads.
It is particularly noted for the parish church of St Augustine, known as the 'King of Holderness', which is a Grade I listed building.
According to the
2001 UK censusA nationwide census, commonly known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census....
, Hedon parish had a population of 6,322.
Hedon is not mentioned in the
Domesday BookThe Domesday Book is the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or William the Conqueror...
which leads to the belief that it is a new town created by the Normans as a port. Hedon was at its most prosperous in the 12th and 13th centuries and at one time was the 11th largest port in England. The decline of the port came with the development of the port of
HullKingston upon Hull , almost invariably referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located 25 miles from the North Sea on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary...
and the building of larger ships which were unable to get down the small river to Hedon.
Hedon was given its first charter by
Henry IIHenry II, called Curtmantle ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France...
in 1158 and was granted improved ones by
King JohnJohn , King of England, reigned from 6 April 1199 until his death. He acceded to the throne as the younger brother of King Richard I, who died without issue...
in 1200 and
Henry IIIHenry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for fifty-six years from 1216 to his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
in 1248 and 1272.
Edward IIIEdward III was one of the most successful English monarchs of the Middle Ages. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into the most efficient military power in Europe...
granted the most important charter which gave the town the right to elect a mayor.
The town was a
parliamentary boroughParliamentary boroughs are a type of administrative division, usually covering urban areas, that are entitled to representation in a Parliament. The term came into use in the 19th century in the United Kingdom, when certain boroughs were disenfranchised, becoming merely municipal boroughs. The two...
until it was disenfranchised under the
Reform Act 1832The Representation of the People Act 1832, commonly known as the Reform Act 1832, was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of the United Kingdom...
. It still enjoyed its borough status granted by its charters until 1974 when it was removed in a reorganisation of local government.
To the west of the town, there used to be a racecourse which boasted the longest 'straight' in the country at the time. After popularity waned, it was developed into an aerodrome in 1910. This was closed in both World Wars 1 & 2 but many famous pilots including
Amy JohnsonAmy Johnson CBE, was a pioneering English aviatrix. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, Johnson set numerous long-distance records during the 1930s...
landed there. After the Second World War it was developed into a
speedwayMotorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway or flat track motorcycle racing , is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit...
track for a short time but is now home to cattle.
The
Hull and Holderness Railway|}The Hull and Holderness Railway was a branch line in the East Riding of Yorkshire, which connected the city of Kingston upon Hull with the North Sea coast at Withernsea.-History:...
opened in 1854 which ran from Victoria Dock in Hull to
WithernseaWithernsea is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, and forms the focal point for a wider community of small villages in Holderness. Its most famous landmark is the white inland lighthouse, rising around 127 feet above Hull Road...
going through Hedon. The station was built to the north of the town and it proved a vital part of Hedon's transport system for a century. In 1964, Hedon lost the railway line when
British RailBritish Railways , which later traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the British railway system from the nationalisation of the 'Big Four' British railway companies in 1948 until privatisation in stages from 1994 to 1997...
ways appointed
Lord BeechingRichard Beeching, Baron Beeching , commonly known as Doctor Beeching, was chairman of British Railways and a physicist and engineer...
to stop losses and decided to close all branch lines that weren't making a profit.
Hedon became the subject of national media attention in August 2000 when a freak mini-tornado in the
Humber estuaryThe Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal River Ouse and the tidal River Trent. From here to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank...
caused flash floods and even hailstones to drop on parts of the town.
Hedon was also affected by the widespread floods that occurred in the
UK in the summer of 2007The 2007 United Kingdom floods were a series of destructive floods that occurred in various areas across the country during the summer of 2007...
. The areas of Hedon affected included the Inmans Estate and most areas near the Burstwick drain. The nearby village of
BurstwickBurstwick is a village and civil parish in the Holderness region of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated about east of Hull city centre. It lies on the B1362 road.According to the 2001 UK census, Burstwick parish had a population of 1,813....
was the worst affected place in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
There have recently been plans to create a country park around the Hedon Haven to the south of the town.