ON THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE HUMBER. 41 



other parts of the Humber, one a little above Hessle, and the other at or 

 along the foreshore at Whitton. Since then the whole of the Whitton por- 

 tion has moved, and is forming on the old site of the island just described. 



The next accumulation I have to name is the island formed on " Ferriby 

 Sand or Old Warp," on the Lincolnshire side, a little above Ferriby Sluice. 

 About the year 1820, 1 believe, no part of the island had appeared above 

 ordinary tides ; but soon after that time the island formed rapidly, and about 

 thirteen years ago a person of the name of Read, finding it in a fit state to 

 be embaniied, (that is, the vegetation had so far progressed as to present such 

 a surface of available land as to make it worth the expense of shutting out 

 the high tides which then overflowed the surface) applied to the Commis- 

 sioners of Woods, &c. for a lease to rent and occupy the island, and from 

 that time to the present it has been under agricultural management. The 

 surface within the embankment contains about 80 acres, but there is beyond 

 the banks more than double that quantity, on which cattle can graze at low 

 water. From the time the island assumed its present state, or rather its 

 climax of magnitude, a very deep channel existed between it and the Lin- 

 colnshire coast, which was generally used by river steamers coming down at 

 low water ; and during all this time the current has impinged with great 

 severity on nearly the whole of the coast from Wintringham to South Fer- 

 riby, causing a serious loss to Lord Carrington, Sir John Nelthorpe, and 

 others. Here, again, changes are going on, and instead of the deep channel 

 on the south of the island, the current has taken a direction from about 

 Brough to Ferriby on the north side of the island, leaving the south channel 

 comparatively shallow ; and I am also sorry to add, considerable loss is taking 

 place to the east end and north side of the foreshore of the island, and I 

 shall not be much surprised if, before very long, the whole island should take 

 its departure. 



The upper part of the Humber is liable to and experiences great changes, 

 both as regards the sand-banks and the channels ; but as we descend and 

 approach Hull, and below Hull towards the sea, we find fewer changes, and 

 less liability to the sand-banks and channels shifting, and we have no accre- 

 tions of importance on either side until we have passed High Paull ; and the 

 first I have to notice in order is what was formerly called Cherrycum Sand, 

 but now Cherry Cobb Sand, about 5^ miles in length, and varying from 

 about half a mile to three-quarters of a mile in width. This tract of land, 

 which contains about 1800 acres, was embanked from the Humber about 

 the year 1770, and is the property of Sir C. A. Constable, Bart., and the 

 Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy. To the east of this lies the valuable 

 estate of Sunk Island, the property of the Crown, containing about 7000 

 acres. It has a line of coast towards the Humber of about 6f miles, ex- 

 tending from Stone Creek at M, to what is termed the North Channel at 

 K. The first, or most early account we have of Sunk Island, is, I believe, 

 at the time of Charles I., when it contained about 7 acres, and was then 

 a mile and a half from the Yorkshire coast, having a navigable channel 

 between it and the main land, through which ships of considerable burthen 

 could pas?. The earliest map showing Sunk Island is the one by Captain 

 Greenvile Collins, Hydrographer to His Majesty, in his work called ' Great 

 Britain's Coasting Pilot,' surveyed by order of Charles II. 



Immediately after this period we find the island rapidly to increase, and 

 I shall here make an extract from a Report made by the Commissioners of 

 Woods and Forests a few years ago, which is as follows : — " This estate has 

 been gradually formed by the accretion of the warp or soil deposited by the 

 River Humber. It was first granted on lease, on the 18th of December, 1668, 



