Trent Falls is the confluence of the River Ouse and the

River Trent The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...

which forms the

Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between t ...

between

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

and the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Location

The River Ouse flows to the east where it turns into the Humber, and the River Trent flows northwards. It curves to the east near the confluence, although this is largely engineered, rather than natural. A training wall was built on the western bank of the Trent after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, in an attempt to keep the channel in a known position. The rivers deposit large volumes of silt in this area, and charts for coastal shipping have to be updated monthly, but for smaller vessels, the channel can be considered to be reasonably static. Despite the training wall and a mini-lighthouse called ' Apex Light' which is situated at the end of the wall, navigation at Trent Falls is not simple. There are no real waterfalls, but there is a very rapid race of water at difficult stages of the tide (especially

spring tides Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ca ...

), and there is a

tidal bore Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (serv ...

on the Trent (the

Trent Aegir The Trent Aegir, also known as the Eagre, is a tidal bore on the River Trent in England. At certain times of the year, the lower tidal reaches of the Trent experience a moderately large bore (up to five feet (1.5m) high). It is said to take ...

). Boats coming down one river with an ebbing tide often have to wait several hours (sometimes beached on the sand, and sometimes overnight) until the tide turns and the flood can carry them up the other river. The RSPB's Blacktoft Sands nature reserve lies immediately upstream of the Falls, on the south bank of the Ouse. It is formed from the largest tidal reedbed in England, and is visited by 270 species of birds, including breeding pairs of

bearded tit The bearded reedling (''Panurus biarmicus'') is a small, sexually dimorphic reed-bed passerine bird. It is frequently known as the bearded tit, due to some similarities to the long-tailed tit, or the bearded parrotbill. It is the only species in ...

Eurasian bittern The Eurasian bittern or great bittern (''Botaurus stellaris'') is a wading bird in the bittern subfamily (Botaurinae) of the heron family Ardeidae. There are two subspecies, the northern race (''B. s. stellaris'') breeding in parts of Europe a ...

s and marsh harriers, for which it is of national importance. Overlooking Trent Falls from a hill a mile away to the east is Julian's Bower, an ancient

turf maze Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls. In Australian and British English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', and the word "sod" is limited mainly to agricultu ...

on the edge of the

village of

Alkborough Alkborough is a parish of 458 people in 192 households (2011 census) in North Lincolnshire, England, located near the northern end of The Cliff range of hills overlooking Trent Falls, the confluence of the River Trent and the River Ouse. Al ...

. It dates from at least 1697, when Abraham de la Pryme recorded it, although the reasons for its creation are now uncertain.

Bibliography

References

{{authority control Landforms of the East Riding of Yorkshire Landforms of Lincolnshire River Trent River Ouse, Yorkshire