Selby library, 52 Micklegate, Selby - 01609 534521 selby.library@northyorks.gov.uk

Unusually in terms of English place-names, "Goole" has its origins in Middle English. It derives from the word goule, meaning "stream" or "channel", or possibly "outlet drain". Not recorded in the Domesday Book, its first mention was in 1362 as Gulle.

The Dutch civil engineer Cornelius Vermuyden diverted the River Don northwards to the River Ouse in 1626-1629, to drain the marshland of Hatfield Chase at the behest of King Charles I. It made the new lower Don - known as the Dutch River - navigable for barges, so that coal from the South Yorkshire Coalfield could be transported to the new confluence, for transfer to seagoing vessels. There the engineers built a new wooden bridge - rebuilt in iron in the 1890s, now known as the Dutch Bridge - where to its east formed a new village called "Goole".

Goole's most prominent landmarks are its twin water towers, dubbed the "salt and pepper pots". In the winter months, Goole's gas holder on Anderson Road is visible across the north of the town. Many of the hoists and cranes on the dockside can be seen across the town. The steeple of Goole Parish Church is tall enough to be seen across the town. The town's landscape is made up mostly of utility and industrial structures. A clock tower is within the main shopping district of the town on a roundabout which is on the site of the former open-air marketplace.