Unitary authority in northern England created in 1996 from part of the former county of Humberside.
Area 2,416 sq km/933 sq mi
Towns Beverley (administrative headquarters), Driffield, Goole, Hornsea, Bridlington
Features Humber Estuary to south of authority spanned by Humber Bridge (1981), the longest single-span suspension bridge when built; North Sea to east; Flamborough Head chalk cliffs; Spurn Head dynamic spit at mouth of estuary; River Hull; River Ouse; Holderness Peninsula; The Wolds; Hornsea Mere; Beverley Minster (13th century); the 15th-century All Saints Tower (34 m/110 ft) at Driffield; Sledmere House 18th-century mansion with grounds laid out by English landscape gardener Capability Brown; Rudstone has Britain's tallest standing stone (8 m/25 ft); Sewerby Hall (Bridlington) Georgian mansion including museum dedicated to the aviator Amy Johnson; Hornsea Pottery; Withernsea Lighthouse (1892; with a height of 39 m/127 ft) including museum; site of the Battle of Stamford Bridge (1066)
Industries chemicals, pottery, agriculture, agricultural machinery and services, passenger vehicle components, bakery products
Population (2001) 314,100
Famous people St John of Beverley, William Kent
© RM 2009. Helicon Publishing is division of RM.