Spurn Point

Sam Roebuck

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This is a linear walk, taking us along Spurn Point and back. Spurn is a truly unique place in the British Isles, three and a half miles long and only fifty metres wide in places. Extending out into the Humber Estuary from the Yorkshire coast, it has always had a big effect on the navigation of vessels over the years, a help to some and a danger or hindrance to others. This alone makes Spurn a unique place.

Spurn is made up of a series of sand and shingle banks, held together mainly with marram grass and sea buckthorn. There is a series of sea defence works built by the Victorians and maintained by the Ministry of Defence, until they sold Spurn to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust in the 1950s. The defences are in a poor state, breaking down and crumbling. This is making Spurn a very fragile place, wide open to the ravages of the North Sea.

One of the most striking features of Spurn is the black and white lighthouse near the end. Now just an empty shell, it hasn't been used since it was closed down at dawn on October 31st 1986. There have been many lighthouses on Spurn over the years, the first recorded at around 1427. The present light was built from 1893-1895. The small tower on the beach on the estuary side was originally the low light. It was built and put into operation at around 1852. This light was no longer needed when the present lighthouse was opened in 1895. At a later date the light was removed and used as a store for explosives and later as a water tower. The tank can still be seen on the top. When it was operational, there was a raised walkway from the shore to the lighthouse, so it could be reached at all stages of the tide. The present lighthouse was built to replace an old one that was positioned just to the south. You can still see the round perimeter wall surrounding the old keepers' cottages and the base of the old lighthouse which had to be demolished due to it settling on its foundations, making it unsafe.

The only light on Spurn today is a flashing green starboard light on the very end of the point and the fixed green lights marking the end of the pilots' jetty.

With Spurn being a nature reserve, unfortunately no dogs are allowed at all.

England - North England - Yorkshire - Humberside