Main content

Archaeologist, Ben Robinson visits the Yorkshire coastal village of Flamborough and discovers its historic chalk buildings.

Archaeologist, Ben Robinson visits the east coast village of Flamborough which sits on a rugged headland sticking out into the North Sea. A largely unassuming village today, it was once effectively cut off from the rest of the country by a five-metre-deep, two-and-a-half-mile long man-made dyke, re-enforced and fortified with local chalk.

As Ben discovers when he visits two of the village's most prominent structures, chalk plays a large part in the history of Flamborough. Built from chalk in the 1350s, Flamborough castle is now in ruins, but once belonged to an influential local family called the Constables. Using modern technology, Ben will build up a picture of what their vast, fortified estate might once have looked like.

Local historian and archaeologist Andrew Jones shows Ben around the village鈥檚 most imposing surviving chalk building. Constructed
in 1674 and standing 87 feet tall, Flamborough Tower was built with the purpose of improving ship to shore navigation but would ultimately be used by local law enforcers in a bid to prevent smuggling.

Ben also takes to the North Sea with local fisherman Richard Emmerson to see for himself some of the secret nooks and crannies that smugglers would have used to hide their valuable contraband in days gone by.

Available now

29 minutes

Signed

Last on

Mon 5 Jun 2023 19:30

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Ben Robinson
Executive Producer Pam Cavannagh
Executive Producer Dympna Jackson
Production Company Purple Productions

Broadcasts