Read's Island is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

situated just outside the Ancholme

sluice A sluice ( ) is a water channel containing a sluice gate, a type of lock to manage the water flow and water level. There are various types of sluice gates, including flap sluice gates and fan gates. Different depths are calculated when design s ...

, on 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 ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The Lincolnshire Trust suggest it is an

artificial island An artificial island or man-made island is an island that has been Construction, constructed by humans rather than formed through natural processes. Other definitions may suggest that artificial islands are lands with the characteristics of hum ...

, and a report from 1979 says that it was reclaimed. However, the site was for many years a large sandbank going by the name of "Old Warp" and is shown on the 1734 Customs Map of the Humber where Read's Island now lays, and extending further downstream. A local history website about

Barton-Upon-Humber Barton-upon-Humber () or Barton is a town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 11,066. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at the southern end of the Humber Bridge. It is sou ...

indicates that both are true. It says that two wrecks, including one which locals deliberately scuttled, helped to form the island off

South Ferriby South Ferriby is a village in North Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary and west from the Humber Bridge. North Ferriby is directly opposite on the Estuary's north bank. Village population was 651 in 2 ...

. The scuttling was to protect the banks on the southern shore. In 1872, it was described as being 300 acres, in 1886 it was 491 acres whilst in 2008 it was 200 acres. Flooding in 2007 left the island depleted of areas for avocets to breed, so a programme of rebuilding was instituted.

History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales suggests that Read's Island was 'formed of Pudding-Pie sand' and that it 'took its name from Mr Read of Burton Stather'. Grass was then seen growing on Old Warp by the end of the 18th century and cattle were put onto the island to graze. With the

being a drain for a large part of

the Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefords ...

, including the

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

and all of its tributaries, and the River Ouse draining a major part of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, and being very tidal, it was a simple task and a matter of waiting a few years for some strategically placed piles of bricks and concrete ( Warping) to start off this island by allowing the rich silt to build up. It was certainly protected and further land reclaimed from the Humber as its island status grew, and by the 1861 census there was one wooden cottage on the island, with a fresh water well.

Military history

German prisoners of war rebuilt the brick flood walls during the 1914–1918 war and on the 21 May 1942, an

Airspeed Oxford The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed Ltd, Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training Commonwealth of Nations, British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombin ...

of No 15 PAFU from

RAF Kirmington Royal Air Force Kirmington or more simply RAF Kirmington is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located north east of Brigg, Lincolnshire and south west of Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. History Second World War It took its name ...

crashed into the east side of the island. On 24 December 1944, a V1 rocket crashed into the mud by Read's Island. It was part of a synchronized attack on Manchester by

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and medium bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Due to restrictions placed on Germany a ...

aircraft. The rockets were launched from aircraft to improve their range.

Agriculture and human history

In 1871, the Humber Conservancy agreed to buy the island from the Crown Estate for a sum of £1434.4s.3d(equivalent to £935,000 in 2015)See external links for conversion websites. and the land was rented out to the tenant farmers. The major part of Read's Island is in the parish of

Winteringham Winteringham is a village in North Lincolnshire, England, on the south bank of the Humber Estuary. History Roman Britain The Romans founded a settlement probably called ''Ad Abum'' in this area. It was where Ermine Street, the major Roman ...

despite the closest village being

. It has been occupied at times in the past, at one point as a farm with cattle roaming along it, and when there are particularly high

spring tide 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 ...

s, at low water, it was possible for the cattle to reach solid ground by walking across the mud at low tide. In the 1930s cattle had to be transported by barge. The island then extended to some and was used for summer grazing. It was locally famous for wildlife and hares.

Hydrometry

Historically, there is an approximate 20-year cycle whereby the main shipping channel alternates from just north of Read's Island to the South Channel, between the Island and the shoreline in South Ferriby and Winteringham parishes. Currently, as the Humber continues to change, the island is in decline. Current thinking suggests that the main (undredged) shipping channel upstream will vary between the island and the north shore and the island and the Humber's Lincolnshire shore. This has been attributed to the flow of the freshwater coming down the estuary.

Ecology

Read's Island is an

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

reserve due to its importance for birdlife. Species that migrate or live year-round on the island include ground-nesting avocets (10% of the entire UK population),

greylag goose The greylag goose (''Anser anser'') is a species of large goose in the waterfowl family Anatidae and the type species of the genus ''Anser (bird), Anser''. It has mottled and barred grey and white plumage and an orange beak and pink legs. A lar ...

pink-footed goose The pink-footed goose (''Anser brachyrhynchus'') is a goose which breeds in eastern Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, and recently Novaya Zemlya. It is migratory, wintering in northwest Europe, especially Ireland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, a ...

marsh harrier The marsh harriers are bird of prey, birds of prey of the harrier (bird), harrier subfamily. They are medium-sized Bird of prey, raptors and the largest and broadest-winged harriers. Most of them are associated with marshland and dense reedbeds. ...

lapwing Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (Family (biology), family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, ...

, wigeon,

curlew The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been infl ...

, golden plover and

fallow deer Fallow deer is the common name for species of deer in the genus ''Dama'' of subfamily Cervinae. There are two living species, the European fallow deer (''Dama dama''), native to Europe and Anatolia, and the Persian fallow deer (''Dama mesopotamic ...

Toponymy confusion

Note that Read's Island is the spelling used by the Ordnance Survey and other maps, whilst some spell it Reads Island, and others even Reed's or Reeds Island. An ABPmer document even spells it as Reed's and Read's in the same paragraph. The Read brothers of

Burton upon Stather __NOTOC__ Burton upon Stather, also hyphenated as Burton-upon-Stather, is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated north from Scunthorpe, and is near the east bank of the River Trent. The civil parish ...

are believed to be the first to graze cattle on the island.

Notes

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

RSPB Read's IslandABP's Estuary photographs of South Ferriby and Read's IslandCalculate from Pounds, Shillings and Pence into sterling in 2000
Artificial islands of England Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in England Landforms of Lincolnshire Islands of England Islands of the Humber Nature reserves in Lincolnshire