Abstract
‘Beach development along the Holderness coast, North Humberside, with special reference to ords’
PhD thesis, University of Lancaster
The main aim of this work is to study features found on the Holderness beach known as Ords. Ords are sections of low beach at the cliff foot, separated from each other by built-up sections of beach.
Three major questions are asked: What form do the ords take, and where are they found? How do they move? How do they originate?
A period of field study was undertaken during 1974/1975, including surveys of three selected ords. The results were analysed with the corresponding wind, wave and tidal data.
Two types of ord were found, northern and southern. The changes to the ords can be divided into short and long term changes.
In the short term the changes are confined to the small scale movements within the ord and include the week-to-week fluctuations of the lower beach ridge and the upper beach.
The long term changes are on a larger scale and include the southward movement of the whole ord feature during severe northerly storms.
In a review of similar features around the world, it is established that no feature of the same type has yet been identified. The mechanism of ord formation is discussed in the light of recent work and the most likely theory is the sheltering effect of Flamborough Head during northerly storms.
The effects of ord movement on the rate of cliff erosion is also discussed.