Willerby, East Riding of Yorkshire

Until the 20th century Willerby was a small village.[2]

Enclosure of land around Willerby was enabled by acts of parliament in 1796 and 1824.[3] In 1844 the population of the eight hundred and twenty acres (three hundred and thirty hectares) township of Willerby was 214 persons, in 45 houses.[4] By the 1850s Willerby had a primitive methodist chapel (built 1850),[5] a Hall, Oak Hill House,[6] dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, now known as Willerby Hall,[2][7] and another large dwelling, the Summer House,[6] later known as The Beeches dating to the 18th century, and extended in the 1820s and 1850s.[8] as well as smaller dwellings along Main Street, the village's original main road.[6] A mental asylum, Hull Borough Lunatic Asylum, later known as De la Pole Hospital, and an associated chapel, was constructed beyond the village to the north in the 1880s.[2][note 1] Willerby and Kirk Ella railway station opened in 1885 as part of the Hull and Barnsley Railway which passed the main village close by on the southern edge.[11][12]

By 1890 two further substantial houses had been built; Manor House (later Willerby Manor),[12][note 2] and the Grange, north of the village.[note 3][12] A new Methodist chapel and schoolroom were constructed between 1897 and 1900.[2]

Small scale growth of housing started in the 20th century, with suburban developments eastward towards Hull along Kingston Road and Carr Lane well developed by the mid 20th century.[17]

The beehive manufacturing company Yorkshire Apiary Company based in Willerby was commissioned to produce temporary buildings in the aftermath of the Second World War;[18] the company, Willerby Caravan Company Ltd., (founded 1944, since 1996 Willerby Holiday Homes) was located on Main Street, the company later relocated to Hedon Road, Kingston upon Hull.[19][note 4]

In 1959 Willerby and Kirk Ella station closed,[11] the line closed completely in 1964, and the station was demolished in 1968, and the site used for a housing development.[20] Part of the route of the line was used (1970) to construct the B1232 forming a bypass for the A164 (Beverley) road, bypassing Willerby village.[21][22]

Willerby Carr Lane County Primary School was established in the 1930s.[23] In 1960 Willerby County Secondary School (now the lower school of Wolfreton School) was officially opened, though construction and extension continued through the 1960s and early 1970s.[24] A third Methodist chapel, and the Anglican church of St Luke, were also constructed in the late 1960s.[2]

By the late 1960s urban development west of the traditional village centre, in the land between Carr Lane and the Hull and Barnsley railway line had reached modern (2012) levels, with the village now an effective suburb of Hull, separated by the green space of Springhead Golf Course. Further development of housing estates took place in the latter part of the 20th century, north of Carr Lane.[25] The Wolfreton school and six form college was demolished and rebuilt at the Willerby site as a three-storey building beginning 2015. The former upper school Kirk-Ella school was made surplus to requirements by the rebuild.[26][27] (The new school opened in September 2016.[28])

Between 2014 and 2015 a flood alleviation scheme, the Willerby and Derringham Bank Flood Alleviation Scheme, was constructed in the parish, built in response to the 2007 United Kingdom floods. The scheme consisted of upgrades to the drainage system (Phase 1), and four storage lagoons (Phase 2). Three storage lagoons with total capacity of around 205,000 cubic metres (7,200,000 cu ft) were constructed near the A164 at Willerby,[note 5] and a fourth south-east of Haltemprice Priory on the eastern edge of the parish. The total cost of the scheme was over £10 million.[29][30][31][32]

In 2015 planning permission was given for 130 homes west of Great Gutter Lane,[33] work on the development, "West Hill", started in August 2016.[34]

Willerby Hill is a small suburb just outside of Willerby. It is home to Willerby Hill Farm, cafe and horse riding stables. Total Fitness is there too along with swimming pools, gyms etc. Primarily, Willerby Hill is the boundary between Willerby and Cottingham and is mainly fields.

Willerby is situated within the safe Conservative Parliamentary Constituency of Haltemprice and Howden;[43][44] the Haltemprice and Howden Conservative party branch is based in Willerby, on Main Street.[45] The village lies within the East Riding of Yorkshire Council electoral ward of 'Willerby and Kirk Ella'.[46] The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 13,578.[47]

The village of Willerby forms an outermost western suburb of Hull, separated by non-agricultural green space including allotments, playing fields, and Springhead Park Golf Club.[42] In the second half of the 20th century urban development became contiguous between the villages of Willerby, Kirk Ella to the south and Anlaby to the south-east.[48] The northern half of the parish remains in agricultural use, and includes Haltemprice Priory farm, which contains archaeological remnants of the Augustinian Haltemprice Priory.[42]

The boundaries of the modern civil parish of Willerby are formed by the route of the former Hull and Barnsley Railway (including the B1232 road) to the south, the A164 Beverley to Humber Bridge road to the west, and Sand Sike drainage channel in Springhead Park to the east. The northern boundary is with the civil parish of Cottingham.[42][49] The parish rises from less than 33 feet above sea level in the east to approximately 130 feet at the western boundary, beyond which are the foothills of the Yorkshire Wolds in the parish of Skidby.[42]

To the west of the village is Willerby Retail Park,[50] which houses a Waitrose supermarket (formerly Safeway, 2004[51]). Willerby has two hotels, converted from late 19th century houses, "The Grange", now the Grange Park Hotel[note 3] and Willerby Manor.[note 2] The 1960 buildings of the lower school of Wolfreton School are within the civil parish of Willerby.[24]

According to the 2011 UK census, Willerby parish had a population of 7,940,[1] a reduction on the 2001 UK census figure of 8,056.[49]

• Fairview Studios, a recording studio situated in the village.
• Haltemprice Priory, former monastery and farm to the north-east of Willerby

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Willerby.

• "Willerby Parish Council".
• "Willerby Methodist Church".