River Hull Research Articles

Of Time and Timing: Internal Drainage Boards and Water Level Management in the River Hull Valley

This article applies a path-dependency approach to better understand the potentialities and limitations of non-main rivers in England. Using the River Hull Valley of the East Riding as an example, the study explores the underlying historical dynamics at work throughout the greater internal drainage board (IDB) network in terms of infrastructural and institutional lock-in that makes any substantial alteration to the system prohibitively difficult and expensive to realize. Over the centuries, the accreted nature of the decisions made by these local water boards, influenced as much by what had already been done as by the demands of present exigencies, has shaped both the form and practice of the specific lowland landscape that characterizes certain parts of England. Adopting a methodology that combines archival research and oral history with interviews, focus group discussions, and transects of the local landscape in the company of knowledgeable resource persons, this article shows how the infrastructural lock-in of non-main local drainage systems only serves to reinforce the institutional lock-in—and vice versa. The article concludes by returning to the broader question of the successive role IDBs have played in the making of the English Lowlands and suggests that, in a time of increasing climatic uncertainty, they may represent more an obstacle to change than an agency of transformation.

Using DNA metabarcoding to investigate diet and niche partitioning in the native European otter (Lutra lutra) and invasive American mink (Neovison vison)

In the UK, the native European otter (Lutra lutra) and invasive American mink (Neovison vison) have experienced concurrent declines and expansions. Currently, the otter is recovering from persecution and waterway pollution, whereas the mink is in decline due to population control and probable interspecific interaction with the otter. We explored the potential of DNA metabarcoding for investigating diet and niche partitioning between these mustelids. Otter spraints (n = 171) and mink scats (n = 19) collected from three sites (Malham Tarn, River Hull and River Glaven) in northern and eastern England were screened for vertebrates using high-throughput sequencing. Otter diet mainly comprised aquatic fishes (81.0%) and amphibians (12.7%), whereas mink diet predominantly consisted of terrestrial birds (55.9%) and mammals (39.6%). The mink used a lower proportion (20%) of available prey (n = 40 taxa) than the otter and low niche overlap (0.267) was observed between these mustelids. Prey taxon richness of mink scats was lower than otter spraints and beta diversity of prey communities was driven by taxon turnover (i.e. the otter and mink consumed different prey taxa). Considering otter diet only, prey taxon richness was higher in spraints from the River Hull catchment and beta diversity of prey communities was driven by taxon turnover (i.e. the otter consumed different prey taxa at each site). Studies using morphological faecal analysis may misidentify the predator as well as prey items. Faecal DNA metabarcoding can resolve these issues and provide more accurate and detailed dietary information. When scaled up across multiple habitat types, DNA metabarcoding should greatly improve future understanding of resource use and niche overlap between the otter and mink.

Old English Hula ‘Sheds’ and Hull, Yorkshire

Hull or Kingston-upon-Hull is a port upon the River Hull. With a population of over 300,000, it is the fourth biggest city in Yorkshire (after Leeds, Sheffield, and Bradford) and the fifteenth biggest in Britain. Yet its name, like those of other English cities (London, Manchester, Leeds, York, Doncaster), has lacked rational explanation until lately. In 2018 the writer proposed that Hull is not (as long asserted) called after the River Hull, supposedly with an obscure pre-English name. The river is instead called after the town, because Hull derives not from some opaque Celtic hydronym but from Old English hula ‘sheds, huts’. Hull is thus a greater namesake of (Much) Hoole ‘shed(s)’ south-west of Preston, Lancashire.1 As for the River Hull, its old name may have been Leven ‘smooth one’, still that of a village near its source. The original account being a summary one, what follows presents the case in detail.Keywords: Hull; place-names; Old English; Celtic

The use of palaeoecological and contemporary macroinvertebrate community data to characterize riverine reference conditions

AbstractDefining reference conditions is a crucial element in quantifying the extent of anthropogenic modification and for identifying restoration targets in riverine ecosystems. Despite palaeoecological approaches being widely applied in lakes to establish reference conditions, their use in lotic ecosystems remains limited. In this study, we examine contemporary, historical (1930 and 1972), and palaeoecological macroinvertebrate biodiversity and biomonitoring scores in Eastburn Beck, a headwater tributary of the River Hull (UK) to determine if palaeoecological approaches can be used to characterize lotic system reference conditions. Palaeoecological samples comprised a greater gamma diversity (18 taxa) than contemporary samples (8 taxa), samples taken in 1972 (11 taxa) and 1930 (8 taxa). Palaeoecological samples supported taxonomically different Gastropoda, Trichoptera, and Coleoptera (GTC) communities compared with contemporary and historical samples (1930 and 1972). Results from biomonitoring indices using the GTC community indicated that the palaeochannel had (a) similar invertebrate biological quality, (b) a less energetic flow regime, and (c) increased fine sediment deposits compared with the contemporary channel. The results clearly illustrate that palaeoecological data can provide a suitable method to characterize reference conditions for lotic habitats. However, it is important to recognize that faunal data from palaeochannel deposits provide a short‐term “snapshot” of the conditions within the river immediately prior to its hydrological isolation. River restoration activities should therefore draw on multiple lines of evidence, including palaeoecological information where possible, to characterize a range of reference conditions to reflect the highly dynamic nature of lotic ecosystems.

The Fortifications of Hull between 1321 and 1864

As one of the most important ports on the east coast of England, Hull had a major strategic role as a supply base for English armies, particularly in their campaigns against Scotland. Consequently, its defence was a major consideration for the English Crown. The medieval and later town defences of Hull were amongst the strongest in Yorkshire. From 1321-4 until 1776 the town was surrounded on three sides by a substantial Town Ditch and bank, later fronted by a circuit of brick walls incorporating numerous gates and towers; the fourth side, opening onto the River Hull and the town’s waterfronts, was protected by a boom chain slung across the entrance to the river. This paper summarizes the historical and archaeological evidence not only for the defences on the west bank of the River Hull, surrounding the Old Town, but also the better-known Henrician and Stuart military defences on the east bank of the river.

Fixed location hydroacoustic monitoring of fish populations in the tidal River Hull, north‐east England, in relation to water quality

Abstract Fixed location hydroacoustic fish monitoring was carried out at a series of sites in the tidal River Hull, north‐east England, in July 1996 during periods of moderate freshwater flows and spring tides. This was followed by a corresponding series during a period of lower freshwater flows and spring tides in autumn 1996. The surveys indicated substantial numbers of fish living upstream and downstream of a depleted oxygen zone which exists in the tidal Hull. Conditions in this zone of poor water quality deteriorated further during low flow periods due to reduced dilution of effluents. Fish populations moved with the tide apparently in response to gradients of dissolved oxygen and salinity. Under conditions of low freshwater flow and high tides, gradients of salinity and oxygen were steeper and fish responses appeared more marked: at higher salinities, the response to increasing salinity overrode the response to decreasing oxygen availability.

The effects of surfactants on the analysis of organic pollutants in natural waters

This paper investigates the interference effects of non-ionic surfactants on the determination of polyaromatic hydrocarbons. A method was developed for the determination of biphenyl, fluorene, anthracene, phenanthracene, chrysene, pyrene, naphthalene, and acenaphthylene with on line pre-concentration using a 1 cm ODS pre-column. Separation was carried out by HPLC on a 15 cm ODS analytical column using gradient elution with a mobile phase of water and acetonitrile and UV detection at 254 nm. Limits of detection in the range 1 μgl −1 were obtained with recoveries of between 90% and 102%. The %RSD for the recoveries were 0.1–10% depending on the samples. Linear alcohol hydrocarbon chain (C13 and C15) non-ionic surfactants with a mixture of 3, 7, 11, and 20 polyoxyethylene head groups (Synperonic A3, A7, A11, and A20) were introduced into the PAH standards in levels found in natural waters and the recoveries measured. All the surfactants were found to have an effect on the extraction and recovery, but the degree of effect depended on the hydrophobic chain length and the analyte. Synperonic A3 and A7 had particularly adverse effects for all the PAHs except chrysene. The effects of changes in the sample pH (pH 6–8) and ionic strength on the recovery were also studied. The analysis of natural river water for PAHs was then demonstrated to be affected by spiking the samples with the surfactants. Methods were investigated to overcome this problem and optimisation of the organic modifier in the mobile phase was found to be most useful. The method was then employed to determine the level of PAH contamination in the River Hull.

The construction of Hull Citadel

Excavations in 1987-88 and 1995 revealed elements of the southern, eastern and western defences of the Hull Citadel. This was a triangular artillery fortification constructed between 1681 and 1690. It occupied a 30 acre site at the confluence of the rivers Hull and Humber. The north and east angles were strengthened by a cut-bastion, the west bastion projected as a salient platform guarding the mouth of the river Hull. The west curtain of the Citadel and the west and north bastions incorporated parts of the pre-existing Henrician defences along the east bank of the Hull. Partial research has identified ample documentation of the construction process, permitting its sequence to be summarized. The archaeological record focused upon the construction of brick and masonry scarp walls along the south, Humber, front; casemated features and passages to the east, and the curtain and north bastion on the west side of the enceinte. This is complemented by detailed documentary evidence, which extends to parts of structures beyond the reach of excavation, or which had been removed at the demolition of the Citadel. Archaeological and documentary evidence also illustrates the conversion of the Citadel to serve as an arsenal, and its rearmament during the Napoleonic Wars. It was levelled in 1865, and the defence of the Humber moved eastwards. The redevelopment of the area since 1988 has usually respected the position of major masonry structures, and a small part of the east bastion has been reconstructed as a feature within the new development. The publication of this paper was generously funded by the Robert Kiln Trust and by the Marc Fitch Fund; the contribution of the latter is especially apt given the extensive involvement of Sir Thomas and John Fitch in the campaign of works which it describes.

Activity and abundance of bacterioplankton in three diverse lowland water courses

AbstractThe hypothesis that the activity and abundance of bacterioplankton were similar in two low‐level fenland water courses, but were different from those in a high‐level main river, was rejected. Mean values of Vmax for glucose mineralization, Vmax per bacterium, abundance of free‐living and total directly counted bacteria, abundance of colony‐forming units and percentage of culturable bacteria were similar in the low‐level Beverley and Barmston Drain and in the River Hull, but were less in the low‐level Holderness Drain. The less favourable regime in the Holderness Drain was related to intermittently acid conditions. Temporal variation by bacterioplankton in all three water courses was, however, also related to environmental variables other than pH, notably temperature, chlorophyll, biochemical oxygen demand, current velocity, total suspended solids and particulate organic matter. The activity and abundance of bacterioplankton appeared to have increased in the River Hull between 1975–1976 and 1992–1994.

Healthy end to the long journey of a unique bridge

Opened this summer, Humberside County Council's Stoneferry Bridge is a new and unique construction in Britain, spanning the River Hull in two sections and providing improved transport links for over 30,000 vehicles per day.

Engineering Group of the Geological Society, 1983–84

12-15 September 1983. The engineering geology of tidal rivers . Held at the University of Hull. Local secretary, Dr P. Young. 12 September. The impact of construction on tidal river systems: An overview. Published in Q. J. eng. Geol. London, 17, 193–8. Impact of engineering structures on tidal flow and sediment distribution in the Thames. Published in Q. J. eng Geol London, 17, 207–18. Thames tidal flood risk—the need for the Barrier. Published in Q. J. eng. Geol. London, 17, 199–206. Deep foundations—the River Hull Tidal Surge Barrier. Published in Q. J. eng. Geol. London, 17, 291–300. Engineering solutions to geological problems in the design and construction of the Humber Bridge. Published in Q. J. eng. Geol. London, 17, 301–6. A buried valley in the Orwell Estuary. Published in Q. J. eng. Geol London, 17, 283–88. Engineering geological and geophysical investigation of the Barking Creek Tidal Barrier Site. Published in Q. J. eng. Geol. London, 17, 259–68. A geophysical survey of the Crouch/Roach river system with special reference to buried channels, Published in Q. J. eng. Geol. London. 17, 269–82. Sediment transport at inlets and the formation of subtidal in let deltas. E. H. Owens. The paper reviews the state of knowledge of inlet sediment dynamics for river systems with a tidal range greater than 2 m. The primary implications for engineering or structural activities in the vicinity of an inlet are related to shoreline protection structures at inlet margins, and dredging activities within the inlet area as a whole. Hydraulic/soil

Deep Foundations in the River Hull

Summary The River Hull Tidal Surge Barrier is located at the confluence of the rivers Hull and Humber to exclude surge tides from the river Hull and any consequent flooding from the city of Hull. This paper discusses changes to the design concept for the foundations of the Barrier necessitated by the geotechnical investigation data. Other features of the Barrier project have been described elsewhere ( Fleming et al 1980 ).

THE RIVER HULL TIDAL SURGE BARRIER.

Keywords SIR M MACDONALD, W A DAWSON, INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS, ICE RIVERS, BARRIERS, CONTROL, SUPERSTRUCTURES, DEEP, FLOODS, ARCHITECTURE, CONTRACTS, FIFTH EDITION, CORROSION, LOADS, SILLS, PILES, STAIRCASES, TIDAL, LIFTS, SYSTEMS, FOUNDATIONS, COFFERDAMS, DEFENCES, TELEMETRY, CONDITIONS, OPERATING, PROTECTION, TOWERS, GEOLOGY, MANUFACTURE, FOOTBRIDGES, SURGES, TIDES, GATES, DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, PROBLEMS, ANCILLARY, PLANNING, TENDERS, MACHINERY, WIND, SUBSTRUCTURES, MONOLITHS, ERECTION RIVER HULL, RIVER HUMBER, HULL UK... Show All

A simple effective method for the computer simulation of groundwater storage and its application in the design of water resource systems

The use of quasi-lumped parameter groundwater models in water resource system evaluation and design is described. The results of a range of applications are given which demonstrate the versatility of the technique. Examples are drawn from the Chalk of the River Hull catchment and the Triassic sandstones in the Vale of York.

Medieval village planning in northern England: some evidence from Yorkshire

A village plan comprising regular toft rows facing a street or green is common in lowland Yorkshire north of the river Aire and west of the river Hull, and many such plans are believed to have been established in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. The obvious occasion for a settlement reorganisation involving the creation of regular plans was the aftermath of a phase of devastation between 1066 and 1070. Domesday Book data are used to identify the local circumstances that favoured regular plan creation. A two-stage recolonisation is hypothesised: first, local survivors were grouped into “manorial” type communities where pre-Conquest village layouts were usually revived; second, free colonists were attracted from other districts and settled in villages of regular plan. Subsequent population growth was in some cases associated with the addition of regular toft rows to existing settlements, thereby giving rise to the more widely distributed partly-regular plans.

Studies in the Ecology of Rivers: IV. Observations on the Growth and Distribution of the Sessile Algae in the River Hull, Yorkshire

INTRODUCTION THE algae which inhabit natural waters may be conveniently studied as two separate groups. The first group consists of those which are suspended in the water and usually termed plankton: the second group of those which are growing on the bottom or on any submerged objects such as stones, rocks, living plants or dead bodies. This second group has been variously called benthos, the littoral algae or the sessile algae. Plankton has been extensively studied; in the sea where it is all-important, and in lakes, reservoirs and small ponds. Little attention however has been paid to it in moving waters and quantitative data is very sparse. Still less information is available about the growth and distribution of the bottom-living and shore living algae. Geitler (1927) and Fritsch (1929) studied the algae on the bed of the small streams in Austria and Devon respectively but in neither case were quantitative data presented. In 1932 the view was put forward (Butcher, 1932 b) that as far as plankton and benthos in small shallow rivers were concerned, the plankton represented a pale image of the benthos from which it was almost entirely derived. Additional results in the river Tees (1937) and the Thames (Rice, 1938) support this view though, on the other hand, Southern & Gardiner (1938) have shown that the plankton of the Shannon approaches to a certain extent the plankton of the lakes in the same watershed but even in the figures these authors give, some organisms clearly derived from bottom growths are present. This type of limnetic plankton in moving waters is apparently rare. In most cases water comes out of a lake as a stream in which the flow is obvious and the limnetic organisms are immediately destroyed. In some cases they are filtered out by the tufts of river-plants (1937) and in other instances they are probably pounded to death and their place is taken by algae derived from the river bed (Butcher et al. 1937). Conversely it has been found (Metropolitan Water Board, 1938) that the plankton of a large reservoir consists of species totally different from and unrelated to those in the supply water derived from the river Thames. With all this evidence of the secondary role played by the plankton and the importance of the bottom-living or sessile algae in the rivers of the type usually found in Britain, it is natural that where studies of the flora and fauna have been carried out, work has been concentrated on the sessile algae and the plankton has been ignored.

Notes on the Peat and Underlying Beds observed in the Construction of the Albert Dock, Hull

T he author described the Albert Dock as extending east and west along the foreshore of the Humber at Hull, for a distance of 4000 feet. The total area excavated was about 30 acres. All the excavations were carried to a depth of at least 8 feet, and in some instances of 27 feet, below the level of low water. Before the commencement of the excavations the Hessle Clay, peat, and overlying silt were met with in succession on the foreshore, the level of the top of the peat-bed at the west end of the area being about 3 feet above the level of low water, and its thickness from 3 to 4 feet. Eastward the bed followed the undulations of the clay without much variation in general level for half a mile, when it began to dip, attaining a depth of 12 feet below low-water level at the lock-entrance, and then rising again. From this depression of the peat-bed, and the appearance of the overlying silts, the author thought it probable that this had been an old channel of the river Hull, and that the upper part of the peat had been removed by scour. In support of this view he quoted the statements of antiquarian writers. The peat rested directly on the Hessle clay, into which roots penetrated to a distance of 5 or 6 feet, generally following the direction of vertical joints, which gave the clay a tendency to split into prisms. These joints did not occur in

Remarks on the Extinct Fauna of the East Riding of Yorkshire

In that part of the western boundary of the German Ocean between Flamborough Head and Spurn Point, is situated a tract of low land called Holderness, which, in early times, exhibited the alternate appearance of morass and lake, as the river Hull overflowed or subsided in its progress to the Humber. Trees and shrubs sprung up in the uncultivated land, and, spreading by degrees, formed large forests, which, confining the exhalations of the soil and obstructing the course of streams, caused the rivers to overflow, and stagnate into lakes and marshes. A great many of the marshes and the woods of Deira remained at the time of the Domesday survey, for its waters were “so abundant as to afford a fishery of 70,000 eels, and wood pastures eleven miles long and three miles broad.” Most of the towns within the area here spoken of are, like the land, wet and damp. Woodmansea, near Beverley, and Rotsea, near Watton, bespeak the existence of meres in those places. Indeed, Watton—Saxon Wetadun —signifies a wet town , describing its situation as surrounded with waters and marshes. Skipsea , Withern sea, and Kiln sea indicate that a mere has existed in each of these places, as there is yet at Horn sea. The termination sea (or sey, as it is occasionally spelt) is not the modern word denoting the ocean, but is nearly synonymous with mere. From the above remarks, it will be evident that the physical geography of the district, diversified as it appears to to have ...