East Yorkshire and York : A Heritage Shell Guide

Discover East Yorkshire and York with this Heritage Shell Guide.

Here is an introduction to the towns, villages and buildings of the East Riding of Yorkshire, the City of Kingston upon Hull and the City of York.

Written in the tradition of the famous Shell Guides, it is a glorious and insightful delve into the familiar, York and the little-known, East Yorkshire.

Shell Guides were the brainchild of John Betjeman in the 1930s when people began to explore the country by car.

They were designed to offer a frank and honest view of a county.

As well as being an introduction and gazetteer the Heritage Shell Guide Trust has introduced maps and colour illustrations to these legendary guides.

As well as York's remarkable heritage, this guide also celebrates East Yorkshire including: Dramatic chalk cliffs near Flamborough teem with bird colonies; The rolling Wolds, much painted by David Hockney; The ghostly marshland landscape of Spurn Head which guards the Humber estuary; Historic buildings of the maritime city of Hull and town of Beverley; York's famed Gothic Cathedral, fortress gates and narrow medieval streets.

These are just a few of the highlights of a region just waiting to be explored!

Let your Heritage Shell Guide to East Yorkshire and York help you uncover the beauty of this dramatic landscape.

Shell County Guides: their history - The original series was the brainchild of John Betjeman.

He thought there was a market for a plain-speaking guide - the 1930s was a new era when people began to explore the country by car.

So, he approached the head of publicity at Shell, Jack Beddington; Beddington had artistic friends like Rex Whistler and Graham Sutherland who thought Betjeman's plan was excellent.

The first Guide was Cornwall in which Betjeman frankly said Newquay had "20thcentury style...corrugated rows of villas, enormous hotels, flashing shops and Pierrots..." so readers knew what they were getting!

His authors were artists, playwrights and academics like Norman Scarfe (Suffolk) who had a great affection for their county.

He advised Juliet Smith (Northamptonshire) to pick out the buildings she liked, and "don't be afraid of saying that a place is hideous!" Ultimately the policy was a little gentler: to take the visitor by the hand and show them what was worth seeing in a place.

In 1937 Betjeman linked up with John Piper who was erudite, unflappable, calm and business like; they wrote Shropshire together.

In 1960 Piper became joint editor and in 1967 editor of the series.

His ability to paint buildings with latent emotion was matched only by accomplishment in making stained glass for colleges, churches and cathedrals.

But he favoured monochrome for photography which leached interest in the face of colour.

Shell ended the series in 1984. One of Piper's favourite photographers, Peter Burton, produced a Shell-style North Yorkshire in 2001.

This led to the formation of the Heritage Shell Guide Trust to continue the work Shell so nobly began, now funded by donations.