Costa Beck
{{Short description|River in North Yorkshire, England}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{coord|54.256|-0.794|display=title|region:GB_scale:10000}}
Costa Beck is a small river in North Yorkshire, England. It also lends its name to an archaeological site.
File:Costa Beck looking ENE from the footbridge - geograph.org.uk - 241254.jpg.
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Watercourse
The source of Costa Beck is Keld Head Spring {{convert|0.5|mi|1|abbr=on}} west of Pickering.{{cite book|last1=White|first1=William|title=History, gazetteer and directory of the East and North ridings of Yorkshire|date=1838|publisher=Robert Leader|location=Sheffield|page=462|oclc=865994138}} It is a tributary of the River Rye which joins the River Derwent, eventually flowing into the River Ouse at Barmby on the Marsh.{{cite web|url=http://www.ryedaleplan.org.uk/attachments/article/349/PS22_Catchment_Abstraction_Management_Strategy_River_Derwent_2006_Part_1.pdf |title=The Derwent Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy |accessdate=21 November 2016 |date=March 2006 |format=PDF |publisher=Environment Agency |work=ryedaleplan.org}}
Costa Beck was used for ship transport by mills as early as 1200. It is a Scandinavian name meaning a river full of fish or full of life.{{cite book|last1=Ekwall|first1=Eilert|title=English river-names|date=1968|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780198691198|page=99}}
The waters of Costa Beck are noted for their crystal-clarity, and fly fishing is popular and available via Pickering Fishery Association. Trout, dace, grayling, salmon, and pike can all be found in Costa Beck and kingfishers can be seen flying above.
The river farther downstream lies adjacent to Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo, where visitors occasionally come from to fish.
Archaeological site
John Kirk undertook excavations at the Costa Beck between 1925 and 1929 – these excavations were published by Mary Kitson Clark in 1931.{{cite journal |author1=Kitson Clark, M. |date=1931 |url=https://archive.org/details/YAJ0301931/page/n177/mode/2up |title=Iron Age sites in the Vale of Pickering |journal=Yorkshire Archaeological Journal |volume=30 |pages=157–172}} The excavations showed the presence of an Iron Age and Romano-British lakeside settlement.{{Historic England research records |num=60325|accessdate=9 August 2021}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Rivers of Yorkshire}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Iron Age sites in England
Category:Archaeological sites in North Yorkshire
Category:Roman sites in North Yorkshire
Category:1920s archaeological discoveries
Category:History of North Yorkshire
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