Humber

Etymology

The name of the estuary appears for the first time at the time of the Anglo-Saxons in the forms Humbre (Anglo-Saxon Datif ) and Humbri (Latin Génitif ). " Humber" can approach certain toponyms of the Herefordshire or the Worcestershire: Humber Brook and Short Humber . The radical humbr- could mean " fleuve" in an indigenous language which was spoken in England pre Celtic.

Humber is sometimes named River Humber , wrongly, since the English term to rivet could not apply to an estuary. Humber River is at the same time grammatically and geographically inaccurate.

A medieval legend, reported in the Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffroy de Monmouth, claims that the river was named in memory of Humber Hun which, in an attempt at invasion, would have drowned inside.

Humber was in the past known like Abus , for example in the Queen of the fairies ( The Faerie Queene in English) of Edmund Spencer.

Geography

Humber is formed with the confluence of the rivers Ouse and the Trent, at the level of the Trent Falls, Flaxfleet. It runs out then towards the East on approximately 25 km then towards South-east on 35 km, to go to throw itself in the the North Sea between Cleethorpes, on southern bank, and Spurn Head, long and narrow peninsula, in north.

It sprinkles successively (in particular):

Brough, on northern bank, downstream from the junction with the Channel of Market Weighton;
on both sides, North Ferriby and South Ferriby, where the river Ancholme joined it;
Barton-on-Humber then New Holland, on the southern bank;
Kingston-upon-Hull, on the northern shore, where the river Hull joined it;
Immingham then Grimsby, on southern bank.

It forms the physical limit which marks the border between the counties of the Yorkshire of the East ( East Riding off Yorkshire in English), on northern bank, and of the Lincolnshire of North ( North Lincolnshire ) and of the Lincolnshire of the North-East ( North-East Lincolnshire ), in the south.

It is crossed, since 1981, by the Pont of Humber, which joint Hessle, in north, Barton-on-Humber, the south.

The ports on the estuary of Humber are Hull, Grimsby, Immingham and New Holland.

Marine zone

Humber gives its name to the Marine zone of the the North Sea located vis-a-vis its mouth.

The current Humber zone was defined in 2002 by SMDSM within the framework of Metarea cutting. It is located in the area Metarea I, under responsibility for the the United Kingdom. It takes again the exact layout of the zone the preceding, established on August 1st, 1984 in order to harmonize the cutting of the North Sea between the bordering countries. This zone was called formerly Silver .

The Humber zone is limited by:

the English coast enters the Parallèle S 54°15' NR and 52°45' NR;
it parallel 52°45' NR, between the English coast and the coast Dutchwoman (4°40' E);
the Meridian 4°40' E, between the coast Dutchwoman (52°45' NR) and 53°35' NR of Latitude;
a line uniting the points and;
and it parallel 54°15' NR, between 4° E of latitude and the English coast.

It is bordered by the zones:

the Thames, in the south;
German, in the east;
the Tyne, in north, between the English coast and 0°45' E of Longitude;
and Dogger, in north with broad of 0°45' of longitude.

History

At the time of the Anglo-Saxon , Humber formed an important border, separating the Northumbria from the southernmost kingdoms. Indeed the name Northumbria means " literally; in the north of Humber". It always traditionally constitutes the limit between the England of North and that of the South.

With the replacement of the historical counties in 1889, Humber was bordered by the administrative counties of Yorkshire of the East and Lindsey. At the time of the regrouping of 1974, only one county was created around the estuary. Into 1996, Humberside was divided between the metropolitan county of Hull and the three counties not-subways of Yorkshire of the East, Lincolnshire of North and Lincolnshire of the North-East, which border Humber today.

Fortifications

In 1914, two fortifications, the Humber Forts , were built with the right in the middle of the estuary ( Haile Sand Fort and Bull Sand Fort ). They were built at the beginning of the Great War in order to defend the entry of the estuary. They were established with 18 meters above water with a diameter of 25 meters. Their capacity of reception rose with 200 soldiers. As their construction lasted 3 years, they were finished almost at the same time as the war. They remained dissuasive during the Second world war, and were the target many air raids. They were in the middle of a network set up to prevent the Sous-marin S enemies from going up the river until Hull or Grimsby.

Haile Sand Fort is located close to bank of Lincolnshire, on the line of low waters between Cleethorpes and Humberston.

Bull Sand Fort is with 2,5 km of the coasts of Spurn Head. It is a masonry work of four stages, cover of 30 cm of shielding and armed with four guns of 15 cm, built with much difficulty owing to the fact that the sand bank which supports it is with 3 m under the level of water with low tide. This fort is today administratively in Yorkshire of the East. A project plans today to convert it into center of desintoxification for drug addicts.

The fort Paul, built on the dry land, defended the town of Hull directly. He is reconverted today in museum of the war.

Formation

When the sea level was lower during the glacial period, Humber was a fresh water river which could run on more 50 km according to the sea level before reaching the sea, or joining the Wash To rivet, a large estuary located between the Norfolk and the Lincolnshire, absorbed today by the North Sea to form the gulf of Wash.

Hydrology

Humber, with its tributary channels and its affluents (whose rivers Hull, Ancholme, Derwent, Ouse and the Trent), its catchment area of 24 extends; 750km ², is nearly 20% of the total surface area of England. It thus constitutes the greatest source of fresh water which Great Britain pours in the North Sea.

The estuary is largely subjected to the Marée and can know a Mascaret, however more marked in its affluents like the rivers Hull (from where the installation of a barrier anti-tide at the entry of the town of Hull), Ouse and the Trent (in the latter, this phenomenon bears besides the name of Aegir ).

Of a width of one kilometer and half approximately with the confluence of origin, it runs out while widening gently on two light Méandre S, in its first part: the first elbow is located at the level of Brough and the second towards Ferriby. With broad of South Ferriby, the river bathes an island very close to southern bank: Read' S Island. Slightly downstream from Hull, the estuary is directed towards South-east and widens gradually.

Opposite Grimsby, the coast of Yorkshire grows hollow of a large bay of muddy shallow waters (Trinity Sand), making reach in Humber close to 15 km broad enters the bank of Lincolnshire and Kilnsea. However, it is formed, between this bay and the the North Sea, a narrow band of sand and rocks, pushed by a marine current which skirts the coast of Yorkshire in direction of the south. So this marine horn, of the name of Spurn Head, reduced the width of the mouth of Humber of 6 km.

The banks of Humber and the grounds surrounding are almost punts, except at the place where the estuary crosses a peak Calcaire relatively low, between North and South Ferriby, dividing it between the Wolds of Yorkshire and those of the Lincolnshire. The erosion caused by the river and the sea on the plains of Yorkshire close to its mouth deteriorates its shore constantly. Many old villages entirely disappeared. It is the case in particular of Ravenspurn, port formerly represented at the Parliament under Edouard I {{er}}, and site of the unloading Bolingbroke, future Henri IV of England, in 1399. The city, which was with the point of Spurn, was undoubtedly destroyed shortly after.

Water Saumâtre S of the estuary is muddy and naturally disorders, but relatively little polluted. They are heavily charged in Sédiment S, at the same time river and marine, like the torn off Argile littoral of Holderness. Between the tides, these alluvia settle in vase and sand banks on the vast wide ones. Those form semi-permanent small islands along the coasts, of the Dune S of sands and small Lagon S.

Navigation

Navigation in the estuary is not a priori easy in spite of its width, because of many sand banks. A boat headlight, the Spurn , was charged besides to announce them formerly. Today a length and deep channel of 35 km allows the arrival of ferries since the sea until Hull. Upstream of the city, the shallow waters (sometimes exposed to low tide) allow always only the passage of smaller boats.

Naval circulation is framed by muds and fires. This makes it possible Humber to hold its trade route row of of first importance. The estuary also gives access to the port of Goole, located on Ouse a little upstream of the confluence with the Trent. Many channels connect Humber to the industrial basin of the Yorkshire of the South, and the Trent opens a broad transportation route towards the the Midlands.

Crossing

The men crossed Humber for a long time already. In the Roman times , a vat was in service between Winteringham with Brough, continuing the course of the way Ermine Street. To the 12th century, various services connected Barton to Brough, Barton with Hessle and South Ferriby in North Ferriby.

In 1316 was set up a vat between Barton and Hull, when the received city its charter of frankness from Edouard II. He became the most important point of crossing owing to the fact that he was on the main roads of Lincoln in Barton Waterside then in Hessle and towards north. This service was very much used by the royal family at the time of her voyages towards Cottingham and York. The vat Barton - Hull kept its prevalent position during several years but a " war of the bacs" he was harmful. The official vat of the Royal Charter then encountered a rough competition with the Public Opinion . The two companies tried to fight the high costs of the crossing, until the Public Opinion do not succeed in any more maintaining its competitiveness.

In 1803, Tommy Dent launched a small company of vat in a split opposite Hull, which was a frontage to practice smuggling, particularly gin of Holland (from where the village of New Holland draws its name). It was the beginning of what was to become a very snuffed way. The service New Holland - Hull started in 1826, in competition direct with the Barton service - Hull. The company of New Holland gained in popularity when the bus London Mail moved their terminus of Barton with New Holland.

Since 1845, the railroad company Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway had taken the control of the vats, and as competition between the two services was too large, the vat of Barton was closed in 1851. New Holland then developed the major connection between Lincolnshire and Yorkshire for the carriage of passenger, Bétail and goods towards the market of Hull.

In 1968 existed a transitory service of Aéroglisseur S: the Minerva and the Mercury were briefly used between the landing stage of Hull ( Hull Pier ) and the docks of Grimsby starting from February 17th, 1968; the crossing took one hour less than by the vat and cost only 50 pence with the user; but as they suffered regularly from technical affronts, they were abandoned on October 21st, 1968.

The many successive services of crossing in various places of the estuary of Humber, in particular between New Holland and Hull since the years 1820, stopped on June 24th, 1981 definitively, with the opening of the Pont of Humber to circulation. Public transport to cross Humber was then set up, with the service of Bus 350, which left for the first time to 11:15 the same day since Scunthorpe.

With the stroke

In August, 2005, Graham Boanas, originating in Hull, nobody to successfully cross Humber since the Roman period is the first. The voyage started on the northern bank with Boothferry, 4 hours later, it was on the southern bank with Whitton. The exploit was made for a charity work: DebRA.

Economy

The too great width of the estuary a long time prevented the unification of economic development between two banks. It was one of the reasons of the construction of the bridge. The idea of a bridge above Humber goes back to more than one century before the final project and its construction. Its startup has to stimulate the industrial and commercial growth of the zone. It was built with 8 km upstream of Hull, between Hessle and Barton-on-Humber.

The economic activity around Humber is done thanks to the industrial complexes such as the Chemical industry, the powerplants, the oil refineries. The whole of the ports of the estuaries (whose Hull, Grimsby and Immgham) carry out approximately 14% of the international business of the the United Kingdom. The river port of Goole, located about at 75 km of the mouth, owes its rise with the creation of channels, while the original growth of the principal ports was primarily due to the rail.

Ecology

The vast sand banks and the mudholes left by the sediments with low tide constitutes the habitat of the rich person fauna of Humber. Million Invertébrés forms the first link of a food chain to the varied species. Upstream, when salinity decrease, of the dense roseries border the estuary. The river shelters a great diversity of natural habitats and savages going of the salted meadows rich in Salicorne S with the submerged sand banks. Many fish and birds, in particular migrating, live in the estuary.

Site Natura 2000. Ornithological reserve of Spurn.

Notes and references of the article

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