39-461: The Market Weighton Canal ran 9.5 miles (15.3 km) from the Humber Estuary to its terminus near Market Weighton . It gained its act of Parliament in 1772 and opened in 1782. The 3.5 miles (5.6 km) closest to Market Weighton was abandoned in 1900 and the right of navigation through Weighton lock was lost in 1971. However, as of 2002 the lock was passable and the canal usable up to
78-572: A Brittonic formation containing -[a]mb-ṛ , a variant of the element *amb meaning "moisture", with the prefix *hu- meaning "good, well" (c.f. Welsh hy- , in Hywel , etc). The first element may also be *hū- , with connotations of "seethe, boil, soak", of which a variant forms the name of the adjoining River Hull . The estuary appears in some Latin sources as Abus (A name used by Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queene ). This
117-511: A Hull man, is believed to be the first man to succeed in wading across the Humber since ancient Roman times. The feat in August 2005 was attempted to raise cash and awareness for the medical research charity, DebRA . He started his trek on the north bank at Brough ; four hours later, he emerged on the south bank at Whitton . He is 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 m) tall and took advantage of
156-608: A very low tide. He replicated this achievement on the television programme Top Gear (Series 10 Episode 6) when he beat James May who drove an Alfa Romeo 159 around the inland part of the estuary in a race without using the Humber Bridge. On Saturday 26 August 1911, Alice Maud Boyall became the first recorded woman to swim the Humber. Boyall, then aged 19 and living in Hull, was the Yorkshire swimming champion. She crossed
195-418: Is home both to resident fish and those returning from the sea to their spawning grounds in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire . Salmon , sole , cod , eel , flounder , plaice , sprat , lamprey and sand goby have all been caught within the estuary. It is also used by over-wintering birds, is a good breeding ground for bitterns , marsh harriers , little terns and avocets , and forms part of
234-637: Is possibly a Latinisation of the Celtic form Aber ( Welsh for river mouth or estuary) but is erroneously given as a name for both the Humber and The Ouse as one continuous watercourse. Both Abus and Aber may record an older Indo-European word for water or river, (as in the 'Five Rivers' of the Punjab ). An alternative derivation may be from the Latin verb abdo meaning "to hide, to conceal". The successive name Humbre / Humbri / Umbri may continue
273-414: Is tide-locked, as water levels in the Humber exceed those in the canal for much of the tide cycle, and water only drains out of the system at lower states of the tide. About half the drainage catchment lies below the level of high water on the Humber, and so the drainage function is vital to the livelihood of the area. The navigation starts at Weighton Lock, which is bi-directional, due to the tidal range of
312-722: The Market Weighton Act 1772 ( 12 Geo. 3 . c. 37), entitled, "An Act for draining and preserving certain Commons, Low Grounds, and Carrs, in the parish of Market Weighton, and other adjacent parishes in the East Riding of the County of York; and for making a navigable Cut or Canal, from Market Weighton to the River Humber." The Act did not include powers to raise capital, as a group of people had agreed to finance
351-692: The First World War . Planned in 1914, their construction started in 1915 and they were not completed until 1919. A coastal battery at Easington, Fort Goodwin or Kilnsea Battery , faced the Bull Sands Fort. They were also garrisoned during the Second World War, and were finally abandoned for military use in 1956. Fort Paull is further upstream, a Napoleonic-era emplacement replaced in the early 20th century by Stallingborough Battery opposite Sunk Island . The Humber Bridge
390-570: The Port of Hull , the Port of Grimsby and the Port of Immingham ; there are lesser ports at New Holland and North Killingholme Haven . The estuary is navigable for the largest of deep-sea vessels. Inland connections for smaller craft are extensive but handle only a quarter of the goods traffic handled in the Thames . There are numerous theories for how the hydronym of Humber is derived from Celtic or Pre-Celtic languages. For example, it may be
429-702: The River Ancholme on the south shore; between North Ferriby and South Ferriby and under the Humber Bridge ; between Barton-upon-Humber on the south bank and Kingston upon Hull on the north bank (where the River Hull joins), then meets the North Sea between Cleethorpes on the Lincolnshire side and the long and thin headland of Spurn Head to the north. Ports on the Humber include
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#1732765469264468-610: The Severn-Trent flyway , a route used by migratory birds to cross Great Britain . In 2019 the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the University of Hull re-introduced the river oyster into the Humber after a sixty-year absence. Highland carrier In the field of land drainage , a highland carrier is a watercourse that conveys drainage water coming from higher in the catchment across or around
507-569: The 1950s. This traffic was carried in Humber sloops. The condition of the canal continued to deteriorate until the formation of the Market Weighton Drainage Board in 1934, an internal drainage board under the terms of the Land Drainage Act 1930 . They took over the powers of the original drainage commissioners , and are responsible for 113 miles (182 km) of arterial watercourses, most of which drain into
546-552: The 1960s, the area was affected by flooding, as a result of heavy rainfall, and the decision was taken to convert the River Foulness and the canal into a highland carrier drain. This involved raising the level of the banks, making the main channel wider and deeper, and creating storage areas for floodwater on both sides of the canal at Broomfleet. This work was undertaken by the river authority . The drainage board built six pumping stations between 1975 and 1979. Improvements to
585-471: The 49 crew on board. From 1974 to 1996, the areas now known as the East Riding of Yorkshire , North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire constituted the county of Humberside . The Humber, from 1996, forms a boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire (to the north) and North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire, to the south. The Humber Forts were built in the mouth of the estuary for
624-680: The German Ocean (the North Sea ) south of Ocelum Promontorium (Spurn Head). Ptolemy also gives the Iron Age tribes of the area as the Coritani south of the Humber and the Parisi to the north. In the 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe , Crusoe leaves England on a ship departing from The Humber. On 23 August 1921, the British airship R38 crashed into the estuary near Hull, killing 44 of
663-425: The Humber Bridge has become an annual event, with a small number of pre-selected swimmers crossing in a 'pod' which remains close together, in aid of Humber Rescue. In 2019, Hull-based competitive open water swimmer Richard Royal became the first person to attempt and complete a two-way swim across the estuary, beginning and finishing at Hessle foreshore, with Barton on the south bank as the mid-way point, fulfilling
702-629: The Humber Estuary. It crosses flat fenland to the north of the lock, passing under the Selby to Hull railway bridge and bridges carrying the B1230 road at Newport and the M62 motorway, which have restricted the headroom available for boats to about 9 feet (2.7 m). Above Sandholme Landing, the canal is joined by the River Foulness entering from the left, and about 1.2 miles (1.9 km) further on lies
741-512: The Humber from Hull to New Holland Pier swimming the distance in 50 minutes, 6 minutes slower than the existing men's record. Since 2011, Warners Health have organised the 'Warners Health Humber Charity Business Swim'. Twelve swimmers from companies across the Yorkshire region train and swim in an ellipse from the south bank to the north bank of the estuary under the Humber Bridge over a total distance of approximately 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (2.4 km). Since then, an organised group crossing at
780-470: The Ouse and Humber Drainage Board. Along with its main tributary, the River Foulness which is managed and maintained by the Ouse and Humber Drainage Board, the canal is responsible for the land drainage and flood risk management of this heavily modified, man made landscape. The first scheme was for a line from the Humber to Wholsea, near Sod House lock, with a branch to Pocklington and another to Weighton. It
819-644: The Thames and the River Severn ) one of the three principal rivers of Britain, and is continually mentioned throughout the Brut y Brenhinedd as a boundary between the southern kingdom ( Lloegyr ) and various northern kingdoms. In Geoffrey of Monmouth 's 12th-century historically unreliable chronicle ( Historia Regum Britanniae ), the Humber is named for " Humber the Hun ", an invader who drowned there during battle in
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#1732765469264858-487: The area from a larger catchment covering 80,000 acres (32,000 ha), including the East Yorkshire Wolds, which border the area to the east. Before the scheme, most of the lower area was marshland, while the upper area suffered from waterlogging, and was only suitable for grazing of animals. In 2012 the Market Weighton Drainage Board amalgamated with the neighbouring Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board to form
897-441: The arrival of railways in the area started the decline of the canal. The York to Market Weighton Line opened in 1847, and the subsequent loss of income resulted in the condition of the canal deteriorating, to the extent that the commissioners sought an act of Parliament in 1900 to abandon the canal as a navigation, and although the section above Sod House lock was abandoned in that year, the commercial carrying of bricks continued until
936-561: The canal or the River Foulness , both of which came under the jurisdiction of the now defunct Yorkshire Ouse and Hull River Authority in 1951. The lower section of the canal, including Weighton Lock, (also called Humber Lock), which provides access to the Humber Estuary, was abandoned in 1971, but when they heard that the lock was likely to be demolished, the Market Weighton Civic Trust moved quickly to have
975-540: The confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent . From there to the North Sea , it forms part of the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank and North Lincolnshire on the south bank. Also known as the River Humber , it is tidal its entire length. Below Trent Falls, the Humber passes the junction with the Market Weighton Canal on the north shore, the confluence of
1014-470: The derelict Sod House lock, the current head of navigation. Much of the canal beyond has been filled in, although drainage channels closely follow its route. There were two more locks, Mill lock and Holme Ings lock, and the canal terminated at Canal Head, about 0.6 miles (0.97 km) further on, and 2 miles (3.2 km) short of the town of Market Weighton. A short branch, the Holme Canal, turned off to
1053-492: The drainage channels brought the cost up to £839,000, although 70% of this was provided by grants. In the 1980s, a £1 million scheme resulted in further improvements to the drainage works, and two more pumping stations were built, at Crabley and Skelfleet Cloughs. When the Weighton Lock sluices were converted to electro-mechanical operation in 1971, water levels in the canal could be raised without adversely affecting
1092-428: The drainage functions. Around 80% of the water entering the catchment leaves it via the Weighton Lock sluice. Water in the north-west of the catchment flows into the River Foulness and the canal by gravity, whereas water in the south-east is managed by pumping stations, which pump into the canal. Two of the nine pumping stations operated by the drainage board pump directly into the Humber Estuary at Crabley Creek. The canal
1131-481: The dual purpose of drainage and navigation, water levels in relation to the land surface were strictly controlled by the terms of the enabling act. There was inevitable conflict between the two functions, with the navigation requiring higher water levels than the drainage functions required. A number of brickworks were established along the canal in the Newport area, and it was a commercial success. As with many others,
1170-617: The earliest days of the chronicle. The Humber remained an important boundary throughout the Anglo-Saxon period, separating Northumbria from the southern kingdoms. The name Northumbria derives from the Anglo-Saxon Norðhymbre (plural) = "the people north of the Humber". The Humber is recorded with the abbreviation Fl. Abi (The Abus river, Ancient Greek : Ἄβος ) in Ptolemy 's Geographia , discharging into
1209-510: The ferry until the bridge opened in 1981. Railway passenger and car traffic continued to use the pier until the end of ferry operations. The line of the bridge is similar to an ancient ferry route from Hessle to Barton upon Humber , which is noted in the Domesday Book and in a charter of 1281. The ferry was recorded as still operating in 1856, into the railway era. The Humber was then one mile (1.6 km) across. Graham Boanas,
Market Weighton Canal - Misplaced Pages Continue
1248-492: The initial construction, while ongoing revenue was to be provided by a tax on landowners who benefited from the drainage and by the enclosing of common land, in addition to the normal tolls. The engineer appointed to oversee the work was a Mr. Whitworth, and was managed by a committee of Drainage Commissioners. The canal was completed by 1782, and the main traffic consisted on agricultural produce and bricks, including Walling Fen bricks, which were fine, white and durable. Because of
1287-419: The junction with the River Foulness where silt has made it impassable. Also there is no right of navigation under the M62 motorway bridge to the north of Newport . The canal was conceived as part of a wider scheme to drain the low-lying land and fens between the Humber Estuary and Market Weighton. Some 50,000 acres (20,000 ha) of land were threatened by flooding, both from rain and from water flowing into
1326-509: The land-to-land criteria, covering a total of 4,085 m (4,467 yd). Royal holds the record for the fastest one-way swim across the Humber (35 minutes 11 seconds) and the fastest two-way swim (1 hour, 13 minutes, 46 seconds), certified by Guinness World Records and the World Open Water Swimming Association. He raised over £900 for Humber Rescue, who provided safety support during the swim. The Humber
1365-401: The left immediately above Holme Ings lock, and remains in water. Above the junction with the River Foulness, the channel is heavily silted and navigation is difficult in all but the smallest boats. Download coordinates as: Humber The Humber / ˈ h ʌ m b ər / is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England . It is formed at Trent Falls , Faxfleet , by
1404-512: The meaning via the Latin verb umbro also meaning "to cover with shadows". Although it is now an estuary its entire length, the Humber had a much longer freshwater course during the Ice Age , extending across Doggerland , which is now submerged beneath the North Sea . The Humber features regularly in medieval British literature. In the Welsh Triads , the Humber is (together with
1443-597: The whole structure listed as an ancient monument and their action, together with public pressure resulted in the lock being repaired and reopened. Further repairs and an overhaul of the structure were carried out in 1994 by the National Rivers Authority at a cost of £1.5 million, and although there is no public right of navigation on the waterway, access is possible by arrangement with the Environment Agency, who currently own it. During
1482-509: Was proposed in October 1765, and again in August 1767. By April 1771, it had become a navigable drain, and by December, the branch to Pocklington had been dropped. The scheme eventually put before Parliament was for a new cut from Market Weighton to the River Foulness, which would be straightened from the junction to the Humber. The channel would be used as a canal and as a drain. The scheme was authorised by an act of Parliament of 21 May 1772,
1521-712: Was the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world from its construction in 1981 until 1998. It is now the twelfth longest . Before the bridge was built, a series of paddle steamers operated from the Corporation Pier railway station at the Victoria Pier in Hull to the railway pier in New Holland . Steam ferries started in 1841, and in 1848 were purchased by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway . They, and their successors, ran
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