Humber 143904 220165465 2008-06-18T16:07:01Z 194.66.236.108 waterway -> [[estuary]] [[Image:Humber_Bridge.png|thumb|[[Humber Bridge]] suspension bridge viewed from the south east.]] [[Image:River Hull tidal barrier 1.jpg|thumb|[[River Hull]] tidal barrier. Situated at the end of the River Hull where it meets the Humber.]] {{otheruses}} The '''Humber''' is a large tidal [[estuary]] on the east coast of northern England. The Humber is an [[estuary]] formed at [[Trent Falls]], [[Faxfleet]], by the confluence of the tidal [[River Ouse, Yorkshire|River Ouse]] and the tidal [[River Trent]]. From here 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. Because the Humber is an [[estuary]] from the point at which it is formed, it is not correct to refer to it as the River Humber or (definitely not) the Humber River. Below Trent Falls, the Humber passes the junction with the [[Market Weighton Canal]] on the north shore, the confluence of 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 (but rapidly changing) headland of [[Spurn|Spurn Head]] to the North. [[Port]]s on the Humber estuary include [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]], [[Grimsby]], [[Immingham]] , [[New Holland, Lincolnshire|New Holland]] and [[Killingholme]]. ==History== In the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] period, the Humber was a major boundary, separating [[Northumbria]] from the southern kingdoms. Indeed, the name ''Northumbria'' simply means the area ''North of the Humber.'' It currently forms the boundary between the [[East Riding of Yorkshire]], to the north and [[North Lincolnshire|North]] and [[North East Lincolnshire]], to the south. From [[1974]] to [[1996]] the area now known as East Riding, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire constituted [[Humberside]] and for hundreds of years before that, the Humber lay between Lindsey and The East Riding of Yorkshire. ("East Riding" is derived from "East Thriding", and likewise with the other ridings' "thriding" is an old word of Norse origin meaning a third part). Since the late [[eleventh century]], Lindsey had been one of the Parts of Lincolnshire. The estuary's single crossing is the [[Humber Bridge]] which was once the largest suspension bridge in the world. Now it is the fourth largest. In August, [[2005]], Graham Boanas, a Hull man, became the first person to successfully wade across the Humber since [[Roman Britain|Roman]] times. He started his trek on the North bank at [[Boothferry]]; four hours later, he emerged on the South bank at [[Whitton, North Lincolnshire|Whitton]]. The feat was attempted to raise cash and awareness for the medical research charity, [[DEBRA|DebRA]]. He replicated this achievement in [[Top Gear]] (Series 10 Episode 6) where he races [[James May]] (who is driving a [[Alfa Romeo 159]]) across the Humber without using the Humber Bridge. Two fortifications were built in the mouth of the river in 1914, the [[Humber Forts]]. [[Fort Paull]] is further upstream. When the sea level was lower in the [[Ice Age]], the Humber was a freshwater river that could have flowed up to 30 miles or more according to sea level before it reached the sea or joined the [[Wash River]]. The Humber was once known as the '''Abus''', for example in [[Edmund Spenser]]'s ''[[Faerie Queene]]''. <!-- (''brief factoids, please expand'') * the Romans forded it --> ==Etymology== Its name is recorded in [[Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon]] times as ''Humbre'' (Anglo-Saxon [[dative]]) and ''Humbri'' (Latin [[genitive]]). As its name recurs in the [[Humber Brook]] near [[Humber Court]] in [[Herefordshire]] or [[Worcestershire]], the word ''humbr-'' may be a word that meant "river" or similar in an aboriginal language that was spoken in [[England]] before the [[Celt]]s came (compare [[Tardebigge]]). Medieval legend, as recorded in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'', claims the river was named after [[Humber the Hun]] who, on trying to invade, drowned there. ==See also== *[[Rivers of the United Kingdom]] *[[North Wall (Humberside)]] {{coor title dm|53|35|N|0|0|E|region:GB_type:waterbody}} <!--Categories--> [[Category:Estuaries in England]] [[Category:Ramsar sites in England]] [[Category:River navigations in England]] [[Category:Rivers of Lincolnshire]] [[Category:Rivers of the East Riding of Yorkshire]] <!--Interwiki--> [[bg:Хъмбър]] [[cy:Afon Humber]] [[de:Humber (Fluss)]] [[eo:Humber (rivero)]] [[fr:Humber]] [[it:Humber]] [[lt:Hamberio estuarija]] [[nl:Humber (rivier)]] [[no:Humber]] [[pl:Humber]] [[sv:Humber]]