The Humber ˈhʌmbər 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 the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank and North Lincolnshire on the south bank. Although the Humber is an estuary from the point at which it is formed, many maps show it as the River Humber.
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 headland of Spurn Head to the north.
Ports on the Humber include the Port of Hull, the Port of Grimsby and the Port of Immingham; there are lesser ports at New Holland and North Killingholme Haven. The estuary is navigable for the largest of deep-sea vessels. Inland connections for smaller craft are extensive but handle only a quarter of the goods traffic handled in the Thames.
Although it is now an estuary, the Humber had a much longer freshwater course during the Ice Age, extending across what was the dry bed of the North Sea.
The Humber features regularly in medieval British literature. In the Welsh Triads, the Humber is one of the three principal rivers of Britain (together with the Thames and the River Severn) and is continually mentioned throughout the Brut y Brenhinedd as a boundary between the southern kingdom (Lloegyr) and various northern kingdoms. In Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th-century chronicle (Historia Regum Britanniae), the Humber is named for "Humber the Hun", an invader who drowned there during battle in the earliest days of the chronicle.
The Humber remained an important boundary throughout the Anglo-Saxon period, separating Northumbria from the southern kingdoms.
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Spurn is a narrow sand tidal island located off the tip of the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England that reaches into the North Sea and forms the north bank of the mouth of the Humber Estuary. 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.
Cleethorpes (,kli:TQrps) is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, England with a population of 38,372 in 2020. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry, then developing into a resort in the 19th century. Before becoming a unified town, Cleethorpes was made up of the three small villages of Itterby, Oole and Thrunscoe. The town lies on the Greenwich meridian and its average annual rainfall is amongst the lowest in the British Isles.
Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Lincoln, (via the Humber Bridge) south-south-east of Hull, south-east of Scunthorpe, east of Doncaster and south-east of Leeds. In 2021 it had a population of 86,138. Grimsby has notable landmarks including Grimsby Minster, Port of Grimsby, Cleethorpes Beach and Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre.