Concept

Yorkshire Wolds

Summary
The Yorkshire Wolds are hills in the counties of the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire in Northern England. They are the northernmost chalk hills in the UK and within lies the northernmost chalk stream in Europe, the Gypsey Race. On the western edge, the Wolds rise to an escarpment which then drops sharply to the Vale of York. The highest point on the escarpment is Bishop Wilton Wold (also known as Garrowby Hill), which is above sea level. To the north, on the other side of the Vale of Pickering, lie the North York Moors, and to the east the hills flatten into the plain of Holderness. The hills are separated by many dry dales, formed during the last ice age and where many springs rise. The largest town in the Wolds is Driffield, with other places including Pocklington, Thixendale and Kilham, the original 'capital' of the Wolds. The highest village on the Yorkshire Wolds is Fridaythorpe at above sea level. The market town of Beverley lies on the eastern slopes, along with the village of Molescroft. The hills are formed from a series of pure marine limestones formed during the Cretaceous period, known collectively as the Chalk Group. The outcrop has the form of an arc running north from Ferriby on the Humber estuary west of Hull northwards past Market Weighton to the Malton area where it swings eastwards towards the North Sea coast between and Bridlington. Here the Chalk forms cliffs, most notably at Speeton Cliffs, Bempton Cliffs and Flamborough; Flamborough Headland is designated a Heritage Coast. To the south of the Humber Gap, where the chalk provides stable footings for the Humber Bridge, the same formations continue as the Lincolnshire Wolds. The rock succession in stratigraphic order i.e. youngest/uppermost first, is this: White Chalk Subgroup Flamborough Chalk Formation Burnham Chalk formation Welton Chalk Formation Grey Chalk Subgroup Ferriby Chalk Formation Hunstanton Chalk Formation The thin Hunstanton Chalk and Ferriby Chalk formations form the lower parts of the west and north facing Wolds scarp but it is the overlying Welton Chalk Formation which forms the greater part of these slopes.
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