Comments on: Clifton’s Burdyke bubbling up: York floods, 2015

By: Lisa @YorkStories

Lisa @YorkStories — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 20:21:04 +0000

Yes, I think I’ve read references to this, but not the name ‘St Peter’s Lake’ – another nice local naming. St Peter’s School moved to Clifton in the 1840s, so clearly that was a fairly recent name for the place. And interesting that it was advertised more widely too in the papers. Thank you Martin

By: Martin Hammond

Martin Hammond — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 14:06:23 +0000

Another anecdote Lisa – the flood-prone Ings where Bur Dyke met the Ouse were used regularly for ice skating in the late Victorian period, which tells us something about the changing climate as well as the changing landscape. This area was known in winter as St Peter’s Lake and details of how to reach it were publicised in the skating summaries in the Leeds Mercury, Yorkshire Evening Post and other regional newspapers.

By: Lisa @YorkStories

Lisa @YorkStories — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 21:13:34 +0000

Very interesting and helpful information Martin, thank you.

‘Fettes Ings, Le Fetting, Futzing, Pettis Meadow or Little Ing’ — wonderful old names!

By: Martin Hammond

Martin Hammond — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 10:50:13 +0000

The playing fields alongside Bur Dike where it discharges into the Ouse were formerly Ings, i.e. winter-flooded hay meadows, as was much of the land along the river. The Bur Dike meadows were various known as Fettes Ings, Le Fetting, Futzing, Pettis Meadow or Little Ing: I guess this was a corruption of Norman French originally, these being the ‘little Ings’ in contrast to the ‘great Ings’ upstream. A perambulation of the City boundaries in 1455 mentions a bridge over a watercourse on the Little Ings, which presumably refers to a crossing of Bur Dike. These fields were still mapped as ‘Ings’ on early 19th century estate maps, so presumably flooded regularly.
Interestingly, one of the fields at Clifton Backies alongside Bur Dike still has a flora typical of floodplain hay meadows, so streamside areas upstream of Water Lane may also have flooded historically. Bur Dike has such a small catchment that back-up of river water from the Ouse (rather than downstream flow) would have been the cause of flooding, hence the pumping station.