Rats, rockets and a dogman - the weird history of an island in Humber estuary
COWS AND DEER GRAZED ON READ’S ISLAND, BUT LONELY RESIDENTS FOUGHT A LOSINGSING BATTLE AGAINST THE TIDES
FROM shipwrecks to German prisoners of war and even bizarre tales of a ghost and a cannibal “dogman”, the history of Read’s Island is larger than life. Separated from the mainland by treacherous channels of fast-flowing water, today the island is an isolated nature reserve.
For the best part of two centuries, however, this flood-prone island in the Humber estuary was valuable farmland, considered well worth protecting from the shifting tides.
Although one of the loneliest spots in the entire Humber region, it was once home to farmers and their families, who tended to the cattle – and later deer – that roamed 500 acres of the “richest grazing land in the country”.
Now, their battle against the tides has been lost and Read’s Island has been abandoned – at least for now.
It is believed that Read’s Island – which lies between South Ferriby and North Ferriby – grew out of a sandbank called “Old Warp” or “Pudding Pie Sand Sand”. .
By the late 18th century, grass was seen growing on the sands and farmers began to use it for grazing animals.
Two ships were said to have been sunk deliberately to help reclaim the land and by the late 19th century it measured almost 500 acres.
Read’s Island takes its name from “Dicky” Read, of Burton-upon-Stather, North Lincolnshire. In the 1840s, he built sea walls to enclose an area of 96 acres and then created dykes, catch-water drains and ponds. He built a log hut for a herdsman who lived on the island.
In 1841, local newspapers described steam ships and local dignitaries visiting the island, which was “covered with a fine crop of grass” where “about a hundred head of cattle are already feeding where nothing but fishes fed before”.
The reports added: “There is, as
yet, b but one h house, the h occupier i of f which is the person appointed to look after the rest of the inhabitants.”
Three years later, Dicky Read’s son tragically died while travelling to the island with two companions. He d drowned when their boat capsized ca in strong winds.
Despite Read’s efforts, his island is remained vulnerable to flooding. fl
In 1845, about 60 sheep drowned when the land was overcome by an exceptionally
h high tide.
T The rat invasion of Read’s Island
The log hut was soon replaced by a brick-built house and cattle sheds, and a well was dug through the chalk rock beneath the bed of the Humber.
In 1892, the Lincolnshire Chronicle newspaper described how, soon after
thi this, the th island il d was i invaded d db by “an immense swarm” of rats.
These pests “honeycombed” the sea walls to such an extent that the waters of the Humber broke through.
A “war of extermination” was carried out against the rats, with professional rat-catchers, amateur gunners, dogs, ferrets, and traps all employed.
The report claimed the rats “were killed at the rate of 400 a day for several successive days”.
Flying bomb strikes Read’s Island
During the First World War, German prisoners of war were used to strengthen the flood defences, but they t gave way again in 1921 when the island was “practically underwater”, according to a report in the Hull Daily Mail.
By then the island was said to include 1,000 acres, two houses h and three inhabitants, who used a megaphone to communicate with villages in S South Ferriby.
Meanwhile, in January 1920, a bizarre accident happened w when the island’s keeper, Mr Hartley, had to have a finger amputated when a gun backfired fir in his hand. He managed to cross by boat to the mainland to t reach a doctor.
On Christmas Eve 1944, a Nazi V1 flying bomb struck Read’s Island. The cruise missile was one of 45 launched from German aircraft and was intended to hit Manchester. Another V1 landed on the north bank of the Humber in Willerby.
The legend of the Read’s Island werewolf
The most bizarre tale of Read’s Island was uncovered by Daniel Codd, a local historian, in his book Mysterious Lincolnshire.
He tells the story of a vagabond who lived on Read’s Island and made his living as a ferryman. According to the story, many people went missing in the area and, when the authorities investi
You’d walk around a certain area and next morning you’d walk around again, and there’d be about half an acre just disappeared Les Burbidge
gated, they found a pile of skeletons and bones on the island.
The vagabond was then said to have transformed into a howling werewolf, who was dragged away and hanged.
The story was said to have happened “about 400 years ago”.
One former resident of the island remembers hearing tales of a ghost who haunted the island, bur never saw it himself.
Les Burbidge, who lived on Read’s Island in the 1980s, said: “You always felt as if there was someone not too far away. It was a bit scary.”
Battle against the tides
Les lived in a farmhouse on the island between 1986 and 1989 with his dog, Benny. But despite his efforts to bolster the sea walls, by then the tides were already taking their toll.
“It was a very dangerous place, really,” he said. “I used to walk around in the morning, it was quite big when I first went on – probably 60 acres – you’d walk around a certain area and next morning you’d walk around again, and there’d be about half an acre just disappeared.”
And while he never saw the werewolf – or dogman – he did have an unexpected visitor one day.
“One morning there was a knock at the door, believe it or not,” he said. “One of the oil tankers had gotten stuck and they’d come up for a cup of tea!”
Les would use machinery to try to save Read’s Island, but it was a losing battle.
He said: “We saved the actual grazing for the animals, the deer that were on there at the time.
“Every seven years, the tide used to change from the north bank to the south, and it used to nibble away at the island.
“The tide had changed; you’d walk round a certain field and the next morning it wasn’t there, very strange.
“It was decided to let it go its natural course. It is just a nature reserve now and nobody lives on it, which is a shame, but it is a beautiful place.”