The Humber Estuary

Image courtesy of Tony Harp, wikimedia commons

The Humber Estuary is a deep water, inter-tidal estuary, situated in north east England which encompasses the coasts of East Yorkshire to the north and North Lincolnshire to the south.

The estuary is forty miles long by seven miles wide at it's widest point and covers an area of seventy four acres which also forms the largest single output of freshwater in Great Britain, draining one fifth of England's entire land mass.

The Humber is also the largest coastal plain estuary on Great Britain's east coast and the second largest coastal plain in the country.

The Humber Estuary is also the location of the United Kingdom's largest port complex, with four ports which between them handle fourteen per cent of the country's overall shipping movements.

The estuary is also the site of the Humber Oil Refinery, the Lindsey Oil Refinery and a liquid gas storage facility all located at Killingholm in Lincolnshire.

The estuary, which is sometimes wrongly called the River Humber, starts life at Trent Falls near Faxfleet in East Yorkshire, the site of the confluence of the two tidal rivers the River Trent and the River Ouse, and flows in an easterly direction towards its outer limits between Humberston in Lincolnshire and Spurn Head in East Yorkshire and then out into the North Sea.

Historians believe that there once was a River Humber, during the days prior to the last ice age, which apparently had an extensive freshwater course along the former dry bed of what is now the North Sea.

The estuary is fed by the one hundred and eighty five mile long, River Trent, the fifty two mile long, River Ouse, the twenty mile long, River Hull . Tributaries of the Humber estuary include the seventeen mile long, River Anchcolme and the River Freshney.

Situated along the Humber Estuary coast are the port and marina at Grimsby, the coastal town of Immingham, the small villages of Barton on Humber, Winteringham, South Ferriby, New Holland and the seaside resort of Cleethorpes in the county of Lincolnshire and the port of Kingston upon Hull with it's docks, port and marina, the Port of Goole and the small coastal towns of Hessel and North Ferriby in the county of East Yorkshire.

Points of interest along it's coast are the one hundred acre, Far Ings National Nature Reserve in Lincolnshire, the eighty six acre, Water's Edge Country Park, also in Lincolnshire and the Welwick Wildlife Reserve in East Yorkshire.

At the estuary's furthest point is Spurn Head, a three mile long by fifty meter wide sand spit, which covers an area of two hundred and eighty acres at high tide and four hundred and fifty acres at low tide. The peninsular is home to a Special Protected Area (SPA), a National Nature Reserve, a bird observatory, a lighthouse and a permanent lightship, which is moored alongside a visitor centre and museum.

At the entrance to the estuary are the two, Grade II Listed, Humber Forts, known as Haile Sand Fort and Bull Sand Fort, military installations which were constructed in 1919 to protect the entrance to the estuary.

The estuary as a whole is also a designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC) a European Marine Site and a Ramsar Site.

The estuary's coastline is surrounded by extensive inter-tidal mudflats, sand bars, sand dunes, salt marshes and reed beds which support a large wildlife habitat of wild fowl, wading birds, fish and shell fish. The estuary is also the site of Read's Island, an artificial island which is really no more than a large sand bank. The three hundred square acre island is the site of an RSPB Reserve.

The estuary is spanned by just the one crossing, the Humber Bridge, pictured above, a two point twenty two mile wide, single span, suspension bridge which was opened in 1981. The bridge links the two towns of Barton on Humber in Lincolnshire with Hessle in East Yorkshire.

Another engineering feature of the estuary is the River Hull Tidal Barrier, located at the point where the River Hull drains into the estuary.

The estuary is served by several lighthouses including two at Spurn Head Point, one at Withernsea also on Spurn Head, one each at the entrances to Goole and Hull Ports situated at Thorngumbald, three located at Killingholme in Lincolnshire, one at Whitton Ness also in Lincolnshire, the Paull Lighthouse near Kingston Upon Hull, a former lighthouse which once stood at Trent Falls but was relocated to Goole Port and the Whitgift Lighthouse at Ousefleet in East Yorkshire.

Some Humber Estuary Websites

Humber Services - www.humber.com

Humber Environment - www.humberems.co.uk

River Humber - www.riverhumber.com

Humber Port - www.ablehumberport.com

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