River Hull

The **River Hull** is a navigable river located in East Riding of Yorkshire, Northern England, United Kingdom. It rises from a series of springs to the west of Driffield, and enters the Humber Estuary around 25 miles south at Kingston upon Hull.

## Course

The River Hull's source is within the Yorkshire Wolds, from a series of small springs in the medieval town of Elmswell near Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire. The Elmswell beck flows eastwards and is joined by the Little Driffield Beck, which then flows southwards from Little Driffield. It continues as the Driffield Beck, flowing south-westerly of Driffield where it is then joined by the Driffield Trout Stream. After the junction, it becomes the River Hull or West Beck and flows easterly, before turning south to reach Corps Landing. For much of the journey southwards, the Driffield Navigation runs parallel to the River Hull.

The river from Corps Landing is navigable, and is joined by the Frodingham Beck at Emmotland. This is also navigable and leads into a canal which flows towards Driffield. Scurf Dyke joins from the west and is followed by Struncheon Hill lock. This marks the end of the navigation and the beginning of the navigable River Hull.

On the route southwards, the river passes the former junction with Aike Beck, which was once navigable to Lockington Landing, however the stream was re-routed to join the Arram Beck. The Leven Canal used to join on the east bank, but the entrance lock was replaced by a sluice. The Arram back flows in from the west, and the river is crossed by Hull Bridge. Just above Beverley Beck, which also joins from the west, is Grovehill Bridge, or 'Weel' Bridge which was once a ferry bridge but is now a lift bridge.

The river flows nearby to Woodmansey and Dunswell, before entering the outskirts of Kingston-upon-Hull near Kingswood where it is met by the first movable bridge on the river that is within the boundaries of the city of Hull, the Ennderdale Link Bridges. Along the river, there is a total of 14 movable bridges, 12 of which are within Hull itself, meaning Hull is the only place with such a high amount of movable bridges over such a small stretch of a navigable river. Each of these bridges open for river traffic to pass through.

The River is more or less a dividing line between the west and east of the city, and also bisects the city's industrial area. During high tides, the bridges can cause traffic delays, however these are no longer as severe as river traffic is not as frequent as it used to be, however these peak during the summer months, as this is when the most vessels travel down the river and may require bridges to be raised or swung. Near the former Scott Street Bridge, the Beverley and Barmston Drain rejoins the River Hull, where the river then flows past North Bridge, which underneath is an unused dry dock which marks the former entrance to Queens Dock. Just below Drypool Bridge, a muddy basin on the east bank was once the entrance to Drypool Basin and Victoria Dock.

The river reaches its confluence with the Humber Estuary in the centre of Kingston-upon-Hull. At its mouth, a tidal barrier has been constructed to prevent tidal surges from entering the river. In the past, these surges had regularly flooded the town and the countryside to the north.

## Bridges

There is a series of movable lift, bascule and swing bridges along the river, 13 in total. From south to north, they are:

* Millennium Bridge
* Myton Bridge
* Scale Lane Bridge
* Drypool Bridge
* North Bridge
* Scott Street Bridge (Abandoned)
* Sculcoates Bridge
* Wilmington Bridge
* Railway Bridge
* Stoneferry Bridges
* Sutton Road Bridge
* Ennerdale Bridges
* Weel Lift Bridge