Best of Hidden East Yorkshire, from lost rivers to ghostly monks

Have you heard of the humble servant who tried to kill a king, or the mysterious monument where fairies are said to dwell?

Over the past year, the Hidden East Yorkshire podcast has been digging deep into the history and folklore of the region.

Whether uncovering the medieval rivers that once flowed through Beverley, or discovering why the "ghosts" of medieval monks are linked to a Hull housing estate, the series has shed light on fascinating and little-known stories from the past.

Here, we have picked five of the best episodes from 2025. The full list is available on the podcast's homepage.

Rivers and streams once flowed through Beverley, helping to shape the market town, but many have since been covered over.

So what happened to these medieval waterways and why were women publicly punished at a pond in the town centre?

Researcher Kloskk Tyrer, who has been exploring the town's history, said the waterways became notorious for pollution and "would have been pretty stinky".

One of them, Walker Beck, still follows its original medieval course through the town, albeit now underground.

Almost 500 years ago, a humble domestic servant from rural East Yorkshire attempted to kill King Henry VIII by performing the ritual of a "black fast".

Mabel Brigge, from Holmpton, seems to have believed that the fast, which involved only eating bread and drinking water, could help her perform magic against others.

When the "plot" was uncovered, Mable was tried and executed.

But as Hidden East Yorkshire has heard, she may have been a pawn in a much bigger game played out in the wake of a failed rebellion against the king.

Legend had it that anyone who ran around Willy Howe nine times without stopping and then put their ear to the ground would hear the singing and dancing of fairies.

The neolithic barrow – a large artificial hill of earth and stones built over a burial ground – sits within the so-called Wold Newton Triangle, which is home to a rich folklore and tales of the paranormal.

The triangle is thought to be the third most important area of ritual monuments in Britain, after Salisbury Plain and Orkney.

Fascinating legends are attached to landmarks, such as the Rudston Monolith and Gypsey Race stream, as Hidden East Yorkshire found out.

When Henry VIII visited Hull in the early 1540s, he decided his "king's town" needed much better defences.

He ordered the construction of a series of castles and fortifications, including the South Blockhouse, which stood where the River Hull meets the Humber Estuary.

It had "enormously thick" brick walls and was bristling with cannon, according to Ken Steedman, a project manager at Humber Field Archaeology.

The ruins of the defences, which were later known as the Citadel, were torn down in the 19th Century and now lie under a coach park near The Deep.

For years, residents of the Bransholme estate in Hull have reported seeing ghostly figures wearing monks' habits or robes.

The "figures" have been connected to waterways including the Foredyke Stream and Holderness Drain.

But why monks? A few miles to the north of Bransholme are the remains of Meaux Abbey, which was founded in about 1150 and demolished in 1542.

Whatever people think they might have seen, the stories have helped to keep the history of the abbey alive.

Listen to highlights fromHull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look Northor tell us about a story you think we should be coveringhere.

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