Winteringham Local History and Genealogy at winteringham.info

Winteringham and the River Humber

The history of Winteringham - even that of Winteringham on dry land - is inextricably linked with the River Humber, all the way from pre-Roman times when the ancient ridgeway of Yarlesgate resumed south of the river here, through the important Roman period, the Vikings, and medieval times. Even as late as 1940, there was a regular ferry at Winteringham, and in the Second World War the Haven was used to tranship cement for Royal Naval base construction. Only in living memory has the river become more of a barrier than an efficient highway for people and trade from Winteringham.

Customs Map 1734 But the river has been an enemy as well as a friend. As can be seen from this Customs Map produced in 1734, the river then was very different to the river today. Most obviously - there is no Read’s Island - but that is just one example of the constantly shifting shape of the waterway. In the nineteenth century, brickworks were washed away on Ferriby Road, and it wasn’t until the middle of the twentieth century that embankments prevented many high tides inundating that same road.

For more detailed sections on the river, try these links: The Haven, Read’s Island.




The once-common sight of flooding on Ferriby Road. You can just make out the black and white marker posts in the middle of the photo showing the dept of water. For more photographs of the flooding on Ferriby Road, click one of these ... [Landscapes] [Cars] [Vans] [Lorries]



		The ‘First Edition’ OS Map was surveyed by 1822, though with revisions throughout the nineteenth century. It shows clearly that there were fields between Sluice Lane and the Humber at the time it was surveyed ... and that Read’s Island did not exist at the time - just a sand bank named ‘Ferriby Sands or Old Warp’.



	Image produced from the www.old-maps.co.uk service with permission of Landmark Information Group Ltd. and Ordnance Survey


	By the time of this OS Map (1890) the Humber had washed away the land north of Sluice Lane, but had created Read’s Island.

The regular charting of the Humber has been an essential task in helping shipping avoid running aground on the shifting sandbanks - though this still happens as Harry Wells photograph of the Orion

Ship Orion aground off Winteringham 2004

aground off Winteringham in summer 2004 proves.

The copy of a 1925 Humber Conservancy Board chart (left) shows the depth in feet, with the deep water channel marked as a dotted line.

Navigation landmarks are also marked such as Winteringham Church, ‘Sisters’, ‘Ball Tree on Ridge’, and ‘Tall Tree’.

For information how surveying of the Humber was done, is done, and looking into the future, how it will be done, visit the ABP site by clicking here.




	These photographs of the preserved Amy Howson and ‘Comrade’ were taken on the Ancholme, on the South Ferriby side. They are examples of the craft that could have been seen from Winteringham for many years. The website for these vessels may be reached by clicking here.




		The once common sight of a humber craft under sail is occasionally seen - as spotted here by Harry in September 2007


	This postcard was reproduced, we understand, in the Hull Daily Mail. It is of the ferries which brought a band, and spectators to Winteringham Sports on the day that the railway opened - 13th July 1907.

The Hero of the Humber - Mr John Ellerthorpe

'A similar incident took place in 1844. I was captain of a ferry-boat plying between Winteringham and Brough. One Sabbath-day I was taking a load of beasts from Brough to Winteringham, and when we had got about half way across the Humber, the boat upset, and the beasts were thrown into the water. I was afraid they all would be drowned, and, in spite of all I could do, some of them were. I jumped overboard and drove some of them back to Brough, while others swam to the Lincolnshire side of the river. I was swimming about after the beasts for five hours, chasing them backwards and forwards, turning them this way and that, and doing what nobody but myself would have done. At length, several men came to our assistance, and when we had got the poor animals out of the water, we hastened to the public-house at the harbour-side, and got drunk. I kept my wet clothes on until they dried on my back. This was one of the most wretched days of my life. My anxiety about the beasts, the exhaustion brought on by my efforts to get them safe to land, and the sense of misery and degradation I felt when I thought of the plight I was found in on the blessed Sabbath-day, I shall never forget.

Excerpt from “The Hero of the Humber”, the history of the late Mr John Ellerthorpe by the Rev Henry Woodcock. The full book is available as part of the Project Gutenberg, here: Hero of the Humber

Have you tried the other Winteringham Websites?
Parish Council (includes current news items, photographs, weather forecasts, calendar of events, etc etc) Don Burton World of Nature, Photo Archive (modern photographs of the village), What the Papers have said about Winteringham (since July 2004), High Resolution Historical Photographs, Winteringham Film Archive, Winteringham Football Club




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