WILGILSLAND  The homepage of Pete and Jan Crowther
 

Why Wilgilsland?
Wilgils was the first known resident of a peninsula at the mouth of the Humber
He was a hermit, who lived on the peninsula in the late 7th century.
Like its successors the peninsula was probably washed away by the sea.

We have been living at Kilnsea, near Spurn Head, East Yorkshire, since 2001, having been associated with the area since the early 1980s. Kilnsea is a small hamlet of less than 30 households, boasting an excellent pub, (the Crown and Anchor), but little else in the way of amenities. Spurn Head (or Point) is a long curving peninsula at the end of which is a small community of lifeboat crew and their families. It also has a disused lighthouse and is the base for the Humber Pilots and the VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) which controls shipping entering and leaving the Humber. Where we live, at the northern end, it is only three-quarters of a mile wide, so that we have good views of both the North Sea and the River Humber with its busy maritime traffic. The peninsula further south narrows to a sandy spit only a few yards wide before broadening out into a spoon-shaped Point.

About me! I was born in Hull into a seafaring family and was brought up in Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire. After completing full-time education I spent two happy years in the Royal Navy as a Coder Special when I learnt Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists at Crail, Fifeshire, and was later posted to Kiel in Germany. After discharge I worked at the University of Birmingham as a cataloguer (later chief cataloguer) and subsequently became chief cataloguer at Hull University. I am now retired and live with Jan at Kilnsea near Spurn Head where we enjoy being just two fields away from the sea and within sight of the broad Humber estuary.

I have been interested in Lepidoptera since the late 1980s and operate a garden moth trap. My moth records include those from our previous Cottingham garden trap (1989 - 2002) as well as sporadic records from Tophill Low Nature Reserve over the same period and occasional records from other sites in East Yorkshire particularly in the Kilnsea and Spurn Head area. My present garden trap in Kilnsea has been run regularly from 2001 to date.

Since retiring I have become interested in modern poetry, particularly the work of the locally born (Easington) British and Canadian poet, Robin Skelton. I have also been writing poetry myself for the last few years (since 2002). Most of my poems are published on the website of Poem Hunter. I have also included a selection of my poems on this site and hope to change them at regular intervals.

Other interests include motorcycling (owner of a Kawasaki ZRX 400), Egyptology, art, photography, Asmara and the country of Eritrea,  local history (especially early 19th-century, thanks to my involvement with the diarist, Robert Sharp of South Cave), and religion/philosophy. I have been a member of the World Pantheist Movement since 2000.

My published works include articles on natural history (especially moths and butterflies), bibliography, and local history.

LATEST UPDATES: 19th December 2007 -- 'Robert Sharp' page has new link to list of brief biographies of persons mentioned by Robert Sharp in his Diary. This should be of value particularly to family histories. The current excerpts from the Diary relate to the Christmas period from 1826 to 1831.

About me! I was born in Smethwick, near Birmingham. My maiden name was Beal. After leaving school I worked as a library assistant in Smethwick and then at Birmingham University Library, where I met Pete. After our marriage we lived in Bearwood, Smethwick, and had a son, William (Bill), and a daughter, Lorraine (Rainie). Subsequently we moved to East Yorkshire, where I became a mature student at Hull University studying history and gaining a Ph.D. I began teaching courses on the history of the East Riding for Hull University and for the Workers' Educational Association, and the arts and family and community history for the Open University. I have written books and articles on local history, on a variety of topics, including Victorian Beverley, agricultural history, and aspects of the history of Spurn and Kilnsea.
When we moved to the coast I retired from teaching, but continued my research, which in the last few years has concentrated upon Spurn and Kilnsea. My book on the area, entitled The People Along the Sand: the Spurn peninsula and Kilnsea, a history, 1800 - 2000, has been published by Phillimore  and Co., Ltd. It is a hardback publication of 280 pages with 200 black and white and 32 colour photos. The ISBN number is 1-869-9.077-41

 I have gathered an extensive collection of photographs, maps, tapes of interviews and documents in the course of my research, but am aware that there is plenty more out there! I shall continue to collect material via the internet. With so many people world-wide I hope to make further contacts and to share my material with a wide audience. A local group, the Spurn, Kilnsea and Easington Area Local Studies Group (SKEALS) has been formed to undertaks further research. Its web page may be accessed by clicking on its name above.

In my spare time I enjoy this unique area, cycling, walking and working in our little nature reserve, which is a two-acre paddock with a pond, excellent hedgerows and an abundance of wild-life.
Since June 2005, I have been Clerk to Easington Parish Council (easingtonpc@btinternet.com).