page_title: History of the East Riding of Yorkshire
section_title: Administrative history
hierarchical_section_title: History of the East Riding of Yorkshire / Administrative history
caption_attribution_description: English: The old and revised boundaries of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England
context_page_description: The East Riding of Yorkshire is a local government district with unitary authority status, and is a ceremonial county of England. It is named after the historic East Riding of Yorkshire which was one of three ridings alongside the North Riding and West Riding, which were constituent parts a Yorkshire ceremonial and administrative county until 1974. From 1974 to 1996 the area of the modern East Riding of Yorkshire constituted the northern part of Humberside.
context_section_description: The East Riding originated in antiquity. Unlike most counties in Great Britain, which were divided anciently into hundreds, Yorkshire was divided first into three ridings and then into numerous wapentakes within each riding. The ancient wapentake system is not used in the modern day, though it is an important part of Yorkshire's cultural heritage. Within the East Riding of Yorkshire there were seven wapentakes (including Hull), two of these were further sub-divided into divisions, thus;
  The separate Lieutenancy for the riding was established after the Restoration, and the ridings each had separate Quarter Sessions.
  For statistical purposes in the 19th century an East Riding of Yorkshire registration county was designated, consisting of the entirety of the poor law unions of Beverley, Bridlington, Driffield, Howden, Hull, Patrington, Pocklington, Sculcoates, Skirlaugh and York, thus excluding parts of the historic riding around Norton and Sherburn (which are also excluded from the modern district), but also including the city of York and environs (more usually associated with the West Riding). These poor law unions formed the basis of rural sanitary districts in 1875.
  A county council for the East Riding of Yorkshire was set up in 1889, covering an administrative county which did not cover the county borough of Hull, but otherwise had the same boundaries as the historic riding. Apart from Hull the East Riding contained two municipal boroughs, Beverley and Hedon.
  Under the Local Government Act 1894 the rest of the administrative county was divided into rural districts and urban districts. The rural districts were based on the rural sanitary districts, with Beverley Rural District, Bridlington Rural District, Driffield Rural District, Howden Rural District, Patrington Rural District, Pocklington Rural District, Riccal Rural District, Sculcoates Rural District and Skirlaugh Rural District being formed as-is.
  Several other rural districts were formed by divisions of rural sanitary districts to conform to the administrative county borders : Sherburn Rural District and Norton Rural District came from Scarborough and Malton RSDs respectively (otherwise in North Riding); Riccal Rural District from Selby RSD (otherwise in the West Riding); and Escrick Rural District which was previously part of York RSD (which covered all three ridings). Urban districts were Cottingham, Great Driffield, Filey, Hessle (from 1899), Hornsea, Norton, Pocklington and Withernsea (from 1898).
  The East Riding's only large town is Hull, a major port. Hull's population of which rose rapidly in the late 19th century : quadrupling from about 60,000 in 1851 to 240,000 in 1901. Other towns in the riding did not have similar growth and remain small: Bridlington's permanent population remained largely static in the same period, increasing from 6,000 to around 7,000.  By 1971 the riding had a population of slightly over 500,000.  In comparison, the West Riding (including county boroughs) saw extensive urbanisation and the formation of several conurbations, and had a population of nearly 4,000,000 in 1971, and the North Riding a population of about 700,000. Beverley was once a town of some importance, with St. John's College and Beverley Minster. The college was suppressed along with the monastery in the 16th century (see Dissolution of the Monasteries) and the town entered a decline in relative importance, although gaining a charter of incorporation in 1573, having previously been under the Archbishop of York. Beverley benefited somewhat from the proximity of Hull during the Industrial Revolution, and became the county town for the East Riding administrative county in 1892.
  Bridlington obtained municipal borough status in 1899, having become a resort town (as had Hornsea and Withernsea), although not matching the population growth of Scarborough further up the coast in the North Riding.
  The county districts underwent a major reorganisation in 1935 :
  Derwent Rural District formed from most of Escrick RD, Riccal RD and part of Howden RD (which continued in existence
caption: East Riding of Yorkshire boundaries – historic riding (pink and blue), modern county (pink & red)
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