BARTON UPON HUMBER

Moving up the Humber from Immingham, we come to New Holland, a village from where it used to be possible to cross to Hull in a ferry. Further on again, at one end of the mighty Humber Bridge, is the town of Barton Upon Humber. The town’s church of St Peters has a Norman tower, and Saxon finds have been made in the locality. In the late 70s and early 80s a large number of bones was unearthed in the church and removed for research into diseases. The research revealed that polio and arthritis were common diseases in Barton. The Hopper Building is where Hopper’s Cycles was established in 1880, in the days when the town was an important centre for the manufacture of bicycles. There is an interesting website about the town with old photographs and stories submitted by local people.

So it is that we bid farewell to Lincolnshire as we cross the Humber Bridge, since Hessle on the opposite bank of the river is in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The Humber Bridge was the longest single-span bridge in the world when it was completed in 1981. The construction of the bridge took eight years, using 44,120 miles of wire for the cables and 480,000 tonnes of concrete for the two towers and the roadway. The bridge is 4,626 feet in length and the towers stand 510 feet above their supporting platforms. Motorised traffic has to go through a toll, but walkers and cyclists can cross for free, enjoying magnificent views up and down the Humber as they go.

Map of the area.

Humber Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 1912421. Photo by Alan Murray-Rust, via Wikimedia Commons.