Spurn is a narrow sand

tidal island A tidal island is a raised area of land within a waterbody, which is connected to the larger mainland by a natural isthmus or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide, causing the land to switch between being ...

located off the tip of the coast of the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

, England that reaches into the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

and forms the north bank of the mouth of the

Humber Estuary 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 River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Trent, Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms ...

. It was a spit with a semi-permanent connection to the mainland, but a storm in 2013 made the road down to the end of Spurn impassable to vehicles at high tide. The island is over long, almost half the width of the estuary at that point, and as little as wide in places. The southernmost tip is known as Spurn Head or Spurn Point and was, until early 2023, the home to an

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. Founded in 1824 ...

lifeboat station and two disused lighthouses. It forms part of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Easington. Spurn Head covers above high water and of foreshore. It has been owned since 1960 by the

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is a charitable non-governmental organisation, one of the UK's 46 county-based Wildlife Trusts. Its focus is nature conservation and it works to achieve a nature-rich Yorkshire with healthy and resilient ecosystems ...

and is a designated national nature reserve,

heritage coast A heritage coast is a strip of coastline in England and Wales, the extent of which is defined by agreement between the relevant statutory national agency and the relevant local authority. Such areas are recognised for their natural beauty, wildlife ...

and is part of the Humber Flats, Marshes and Coast

Special Protection Area A special protection area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cer ...

History

Spurn Head was known to classical authors, such as

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

as ''Ocelum Promontorium'' (). In the Middle Ages, Spurn Head was home to the port of Ravenspurn (a.k.a. Ravenspur or Ravensburgh), where Henry of Bolingbroke landed in 1399 on his return to dethrone

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward, Prince of Wales (later known as the Black Prince), and Joan, Countess of Kent. R ...

. It was also where Sir Martin de la See led the local resistance against

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

's landing on 14 March 1471, as he was returning from his six months' exile in the Netherlands. An earlier village, closer to the point of Spurn Head, was

Ravenser Odd Ravenser Odd, also spelled Ravensrodd, was a port in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, during the medieval period, built on the sandbanks at the mouth of the Humber estuary. The name Ravenser comes from the Old Norse Old Norse, al ...

. Along with many other villages on the

Holderness Holderness is an area of the East Riding of Yorkshire, on the north-east coast of England. An area of rich agricultural land, Holderness was marshland until it was drained in the Middle Ages. Topographically, Holderness has more in common wit ...

coast, Ravenspurn and Ravenser Odd were lost to the encroachments of the sea, as Spurn Head, due to erosion and deposition of its sand, migrated westward. The lifeboat station at Spurn Head was built in 1810. Owing to the remote location, houses for the lifeboat crew and their families were added a few years later. By the 1870s a room in the high lighthouse was being used as a chapel for the small residential community on Spurn Head, serving 'the keepers, coast-guardsmen and fishermen who live at the Point'. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

two

coastal artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of ...

batteries were added at either end of Spurn Head, with quick-firing guns in between. The emplacements can be clearly seen, and the northern ones are particularly interesting as

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

has partly toppled them onto the beach, revealing the size of the concrete foundations very well. Spurn Head Settlement

As well as a road, the peninsula also used to have a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

, parts of which can still be seen. Unusual ' sail bogies' were used as well as more conventional light railway equipment. Following a

tidal surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

in December 2013 the roadway became unsafe, and access to Spurn Point is on foot only, with a warning not to attempt this when exceptionally high tides are due. Spurn has now become a

, as the narrowest part of the sandbank connection to the mainland is flooded with each high tide. Plans to build a new visitor centre for the reserve were unveiled in September 2014 by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT). Planning consent for the initial plans was refused by East Riding of Yorkshire Council in July 2016 but revised plans were approved in January 2017. These plans face local opposition because of the perceived feeling of commercialisation of the reserve by YWT, with plans to build extensive car park facilities, no longer free. The new visitor centre was officially opened by Simon King on 20 March 2018. A February 2023 inspection of the RNLI launch jetty revealed structural issues, as a result the station was moved to

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town in Lincolnshire, England with a population of 86,138 (as of 2021). It is located near the mouth on the south bank of the Humber that flows to the North Sea. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes dir ...

Geography

The spit is made up from sand, shingle and

boulder clay Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists o ...

eroded from the Holderness coastline washed down the coastline from

Flamborough Head Flamborough Head () is a promontory, long on the Yorkshire coast of England, between the Filey and Bridlington bays of the North Sea. It is a chalk headland, with sheer white cliffs. The cliff top has two standing lighthouse towers, the olde ...

. Material is washed down the coast by

longshore drift Longshore drift from longshore current is a geological process that consists of the transportation of sediments (clay, silt, pebbles, sand, shingle, shells) along a coast parallel to the shoreline, which is dependent on the angle of incoming w ...

and accumulates to form the long, narrow embankment in the sheltered waters inside the mouth of the Humber Estuary. It is maintained by plants, especially marram grass (''Ammophila arenaria''). Waves carry material along the peninsula to the tip, continually extending it; as this action stretches the peninsula it also narrows it to the extent that the sea can cut across it in severe weather. When the sea cuts across it permanently, everything beyond the breach is swept away, only to eventually reform as a new spit pointing further south. This cycle of destruction and reconstruction occurs approximately every 250 years. More recently, Dr. John Pethick of Hull University put forward a different theory to explain the formation of Spurn Head. He suggests that the spit head has been a permanent feature since the end of the last ice age, having developed on an underwater glacial

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and Rock (geology), rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a gla ...

. As the ice sheets melted, sea level gradually rose and longshore drift caused a spit to form between this and other islands along the moraine. Under normal circumstances, the sea washes over the neck of the spit taking sand from the seaward side and redepositing it on the landward side. Over time, the whole spit, length intact, slips back – with the spit-head remaining on its glacial foundation. This process has now been affected by the protection of the spit put in place during the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

. This protection halted the wash-over process and resulted in the spit being even more exposed due to the rest of the coast moving back since the 'protection' was constructed. The now crumbling defences will not be replaced and the spit will continue to move westwards at a rate of per year, keeping pace with the coastal erosion further north. The second of the '' Six Studies in English Folk Song'' composed in 1926 by

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

, the ''Andante sostenuto'' in E flat "Spurn Point" celebrates this peninsula. It was featured on the television programme ''

Seven Natural Wonders ''Seven Natural Wonders'' is a television series that was broadcast on BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is t ...

'' as one of the wonders of Yorkshire.

Ecology

The landward-side mud flats are an important feeding ground for wading birds, and the area has a

bird observatory A bird observatory is a centre for the study of bird migration and bird populations. They are usually focused on local birds, but may also include interest in far-flung areas. Most bird observatories are small operations with a limited staff, many ...

, for monitoring migrating birds and providing accommodation to visiting birdwatchers. Their migration is assisted by east winds in autumn, resulting in drift migration of

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n migrants, sometimes leading to a spectacular "fall" of thousands of birds. Many uncommon species have been sighted there, including a cliff swallow from North America, a lanceolated warbler from Siberia and a black-browed albatross from the Southern Ocean. More commonly, birds such as northern wheatears, whinchats,

common redstart The common redstart (''Phoenicurus phoenicurus''), or often simply redstart, is a small passerine bird in the genus '' Phoenicurus''. Like its relatives, it was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family, (Turdidae), but is now known to be ...

s and flycatchers alight at Spurn on their way between breeding and wintering grounds elsewhere. When the wind is in the right direction migrants are funnelled down Spurn Point and are counted at the Narrows Watchpoint, more than 15,000 birds can fly past on a good morning in autumn with 3,000 quite normal.

Lighthouses

The earliest reference to a lighthouse on Spurn Point is 1427, when a certain Richard Reedbarrow ('

Hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

of the Chapel of Our Lady and St Anne at Ravenspurn') petitioned Parliament for permission to levy dues on ships entering the Humber from the sea, in recognition of his having built a tower (to serve as a beacon by day and a light by night), 'that should teach the people to hold in the right channel'. Permission was duly granted by

Letters Patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

of King Henry VI, on 28 November that year (though it is not known whether or for how long the tower remained in service). From the 17th century there are records of a pair of lighthouses being maintained as

leading lights Leading lights, also known as range lights in the United States, are a pair of light beacons used in navigation to indicate a safe passage for vessels entering a shallow or dangerous channel; they may also be used for position fixing. At nigh ...

: a high light and a low light.

Old High and Low Lights

There is evidence that Hull Trinity House maintained beacons on Spurn Head in the 16th century, but these were unlit seamarks. Demands for a light on the spit grew over the following century, and in the 1670s the (disputed) landowner, Justinian Angell, set about erecting a pair of lighthouses; he was granted a patent to levy dues for the lights on 25 October 1675. Angell's high light lasted for just over a century, but the low light had to be rebuilt on several occasions. Over time, the lights gained a reputation for being unreliable, and in 1766 an Act of Parliament was passed 'for taking down and removing certain Lighthouses now standing near the Spurn-Point at the mouth of the Humber, and for erecting other fit and convenient lighthouses instead thereof'. In 1767, therefore,

John Smeaton John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent scholar, who introduced various ...

was commissioned to build a new pair of lighthouses; the work was jointly overseen by the London and Hull Trinity Houses (albeit the Angell family would continue to receive the dues once the work was complete). They were first lit on 5 September 1776. Smeaton's high light (a red-brick tower) remained in use until 1895, but there were problems (as there had been in previous years) with maintaining the low light, and after only a year or two it was washed away during a heavy storm. In its place, a moveable wooden swape-style light was used for a number of years. By 1815 the swape was much decayed and the light had become unreliable, so the following year a new Low Lighthouse was built (a brick tower, designed by John Shaw); it was first lit on 25 November 1816. In November 1829, however, a storm severely undermined the foundations of Shaw's tower, and two months later it was decommissioned. In its place a moveable wooden tower was used for the low light, which remained in use until it too was swept away in a storm, in March 1851. The following year, a new Low Lighthouse was constructed in stone, designed by James Walker and built under the supervision of engineer Henry Norris. Unlike its predecessors, this low light was built on the estuary side (i.e. to the west) of the high light, rather than on the seaward side.

Lighting arrangements

Initially both lighthouses were coal-fired. When the low light was rebuilt in 1816, it was equipped with

Argand lamp The Argand lamp is a type of oil lamp invented in 1780 by Aimé Argand. Its output is 6 to 10 candelas, brighter than that of earlier lamps. Its more complete combustion of the candle wick and oil than in other lamps required much less frequen ...

s and reflectors. As a result, it outshone the high light; so in 1819 Smeaton's high tower was likewise fitted with Argand lamps and reflectors (24 in number). The wooden low light, in use after 1830, had a smaller lantern than its predecessor; in 1848, it was equipped with a small

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens (optics), lens which reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. The simpler Dioptrics, d ...

(a fifth-order lenticular dioptric) and this was reused, in Walker's tower, when the low light was rebuilt in 1852. The following year, a Fresnel lens was installed in Smeaton's tower (the high light): this was a large ( first-order) fixed optic, made by Henry Lepaute of Paris. (Prior to installation this lens had been exhibited at the

Great Exhibition of 1851 Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

). In 1867 a red sector was added, which warned ships of hazards to the south ranging from Clee Ness to Sand Haile Flats; (initially applied to the low light, it was moved to the high light in 1871). The high light was made

occulting An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks f ...

(once every half minute) in 1883.

Decommissioning of the High and Low Lights

In 1895 both Walker's low light and Smeaton's high light were decommissioned; they were replaced by a single lighthouse, which still stands on the grass of Spurn Head. The 1852 low light also still stands on the sandy shore of the island, though its lantern has been replaced by a large water tank; the tower served for a number of years as an explosives store. Of the old Smeaton high light only the foundations remain (after dismantling, its optic was re-used in the high lighthouse at Nash Point, where it was installed as part of a programme of improvements). Keepers' cottages had been constructed within the circular compound of the old High Lighthouse, and these remained in use after its demolition up until the 1950s.

The new Spurn Lighthouse

The 1895 lighthouse is a round brick tower, high, painted black and white. It was designed by Thomas Matthews. The lantern contained a very large revolving hyper-radiant optic by Chance Brothers & Co. Its white light had a range of and displayed a flash once every 20 seconds. In addition there were separate sector lights, two of which marked particular shoals or sandbanks, while another indicated the main channel along the Humber. Initially oil-lit, the lighthouse was converted to electricity in 1941 to enable the light to be lit briefly (as and when requested by allied ships and convoys) and then extinguished; power was drawn from nearby generators maintained by the military garrison. Then, in 1957, the lighthouse was converted to acetylene gas operation. A new, smaller, gas-driven revolving optic was installed, which flashed once every fifteen seconds; and the subsidiary lights were provided with

mechanisms, also gas-driven. The new systems were automated; the keepers therefore moved out and their cottages were demolished. Due to improvements in navigation, the light was discontinued in 1985; the main optic was removed the following year. The combined acetylene lamp and gas-powered optic were subsequently put on display, first in the Trinity House National Lighthouse Museum, then (for a time) in the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. After 1986 the lighthouse remained empty; but in 2013,

was awarded a £470,500 grant to restore the lighthouse with a view to its being reopened as a visitor centre. Work began in 2015; it was completed in March the following year, and opened to the public for the Easter weekend.

Gallery

Spurn Point

File:Spurn Head RNLI Launch Platform.jpg, The pier and launching platform for the RNLI at Spurn File:Spurn Lighthouse in the sea mist.JPG, Sea mist File:HumberVTS.JPG, Humber

Vessel traffic service A vessel traffic service is a marine traffic monitoring system established by harbour or port authorities, similar to air traffic control for aircraft. The International Maritime Organization defines vessel traffic service as "a service implemente ...

File:SpurnPoint1.JPG, Spurn Point from the mainland File:Spurn 3.jpg, Humber Vessel traffic service File:Spurn 4.jpg, RNLI Platform

Spurn Lighthouses

File:Spurn 8.jpg, The lighthouse at Spurn Point File:Lighthouses at Spurn Head - geograph.org.uk - 200519.jpg, The old Low Light (1852) seen alongside the new (1895) lighthouse File:National Maritime Museum Cornwall (8817).jpg, The 1957 optic in the National Maritime Museum, Cornwall File:Spurn Point High Lighthouse.jpg, The lighthouse seen from the beach File:Spurn Point view.jpg, Spurn Point seen from the lighthouse File:We made it! (29306714183).jpg, The newly-restored lighthouse in April 2016

Notes

References

External links

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust – Spurn Nature Reserve

Spurn Point – National Nature Reserve and Lifeboat Station

Spurn Bird Observatory

Tide times at Spurn Point from the UKHO
{{Authority control , additional=Q26365310 National nature reserves in England Special Protection Areas in England Islands of the Humber Humber Nature reserves in the East Riding of Yorkshire Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserves Bird observatories in England Yorkshire coast Spits of England Easington, East Riding of Yorkshire