28th January, 2025 in Local & Family History

A brief history of crossing the Humber

By Paul Sullivan

According to the make-it-up-as-you-go-along 12th-century historian Geoffrey of Monmouth, the River Humber was named after Humber, the King of the Huns. Learn more behind the history of Humber Crossing from Paul Sullivan author of new book The Little History of Lincolnshire.

The warlord led his fleet down the estuary, fresh from victory in the north or the island, where he had killed King Alban, sometime around 1,000 BCE. Alban’s elder brother, King Locrine, met and defeated Humber on the south bank of the river, and the proto-British army cheered as Humber drowned in the muddy waters. This is the first historical mention of traffic on the Humber, and it’s a pretty grim origins story. The violent death of Humber the Hun turned the waters choppy for centuries to come; but these are waters we no longer have to traverse by boat. And if you do fancy making that ancient north-to-south-bank journey by water, you’ll struggle. The final ferry chugged its last crossing in 1981.

Humber ferries – the early years

The earliest boat associated with the Humber was discovered during a local gasworks excavation on the east bank of the River Ancholme near Brigg in 1886. It was the best-preserved neolithic boat ever found (carbon-dated to around 900 BC), carved from a single tree trunk. It was due to be sent to the British Museum, but Carey Elwes, the local landowner (from the family long associated with Elsham Hall), claimed the boat, arguing and winning his case in the High Court of Chancery.

The Romans had managed a ferry service called the Transitus Maximus in the first century AD, crossing from Winteringham to Brough. The Roman London-to-York-via-Lincoln road, Ermine Street, terminated on the banks of the Humber at Barton, with a ferry enabling the as-the-crow-flies legions to continue on their way to York. A ferry is also mentioned in local records involving a dispute about tolls in the reign of Edward the Confessor in the mid-eleventh century.

The Danish place names North Ferriby and South Ferriby hint at a ferry crossing between the two villages, but the narrowest crossing point of the Humber is near Barton, and the need for a ferry is the probable reason for that town’s foundation. The value of the crossing and the tolls it brought to Barton was not lost on King John (1166–1216), who raised a £33 11s 9d tax annually from customs duties in the town – that’s equivalent to around £60,000 today.

Humber ferries – danger and politics

Robinson Crusoe author Daniel Defoe’s crossing of the Humber from Barton to Hull in 1748 provided an excuse for complaint, one of Defoe’s favourite modes of written communication:

“There are seven good towns on the sea coast, but I include not Barton, which stands on the Humber, as one of them, being a straggling mean town, noted for nothing but an old fashioned, dangerous passage; a ferry over the Humber to Hull, where, in an open boat, in which we had about fifteen horses and ten or twelve cows mingled with about seventeen or eighteen passengers, we were about four hours tossed about on the Humber before we could get into the harbour at Hull.”

The first steam ferry, the PS Caledonia, braved the choppy waters in 1814. These vessels were not without their hazards, though. In 1826, the PS Graham’s boiler burst midway between Grimsby and Hull, killing several passengers, some of whom were blasted into the water. Regardless of this early setback, steamer ferries remained an iconic feature of the Humber for the next 130 years

New Holland’s transformation from a pub and a few fields to a major ferry terminal began in 1825 with the establishment of the New Holland Proprietors Company. The switch of the main Humber-crossing route from Barton to New Holland was controversial, as the passage from A to B was actually longer via New Holland (one mile more by water and half a mile more by land). The Postmaster General ordered a trial of the two ferries, with light mail carts travelling overland to Barton and New Holland to see which was quicker. New Holland won by three minutes, probably due to poor roads. The pro-Barton camp argued that a fully-laden mail cart would have struggled on the Barton road as much as on the New Holland road. But money had been spent at the new terminal, the New Holland Proprietors company packed a big punch, and the decision was largely political rather than practical.

Bridging the Gap – eventually

Spanning 7,280 feet (2,220 metres), the Humber Bridge was the world’s longest single-span suspension bridge when it opened to traffic on 24 June 1981. Its innovative design employed hollow reinforced concrete towers, 155 metres high, to suspend the bridge spans. It was the first bridge to use this technique, marking a shift from the traditional steel towers used in previous suspension bridges.

In 1974, the ‘Bridging the Gap’ exhibition in Grimsby proved popular with children, many of whom (me included) went home clutching bagfuls of free pencils, stickers and fat brochures from various businesses and sponsors (which our mothers binned a few weeks later). Bridging the Gap promised us a 1976 bridge opening date, and we couldn’t wait. Five years late, the bridge was opened by Queen Elizabeth I on 17 July 1981, with a fly-past by the Red Arrows adding a touch of drama to the ceremony. Unfortunately, the Archbishop of York opted for an overlong dedicatory prayer, and the Arrows shot overhead as he shouted his way to the prayer’s conclusion.

The bridge cost £98 million (equivalent to £345 million today), which was triple the original estimates. The project currently owes taxpayers £150 million, although it contributes significantly to the local economy on both sides of the river. It’s a shame about the ferries, but I think it’s safe to say that everyone loves the bridge.