Keyingham Level and Marshes, and Sunk Island

Scope and Content

Plan of Keyingham Level and Marshes, and Sunk Island based on two historical maps of 1797 and 1801

Administrative / Biographical History

Sunk Island was originally just a sand bank in the Humber Estuary. Since the 16th century it has been reclaimed from the river and has also benefitted from the draining of surrounding land for agricultural use. By the mid 18th century the channel separating the land from the shore had silted-up creating the island that exists today. It became a parish in 1831 and the parish church of Holy Trinity was built in the 1870s. A number of cottages were built in the 1850s and a school. A small fort was built on the island at the outbreak of the First World War and two pillboxes and an anti-aircraft battery during World War Two.

Access Information

Access will be granted to any accredited reader

Custodial History

Donated by Brian Pashby, Brynmor Jones Library, 10 January 1978

Related Material

Keyingham Level Drainage [Ref U DDCV/89/]

Pamphlet on Keyingham Level Drainage, 1844 [Ref U DRA/460]

Reports on Keyingham Level Drainage by William Chapman (1797), James Golborne (1799) and James Creassy (1801) [Ref U DDSY/103/2,4 and 8]

Letters to G R Park, Clerk to the Keyingham Level Drainage, 1890-1893 [Ref U DP166/1]

Photocopies of documents relating to Sunk Island [Ref U DX107]

Other Repositories:

East Riding of Yorkshire Archives and Records Service [Ref DDCC/143/]