Ravenspurn

Ravenspurn was a town in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, which was lost due to coastal erosion, one of more than 30 along the Holderness Coast which have been lost to the North Sea since the 19th century. The town was located close to the end of a peninsula near Ravenser Odd, which had been flooded in the 14th century. The peninsula still survives and is known as Spurn Head. The North Sea lies to the east of the peninsula, the Humber estuary to the west.

Cross erected commemorating Henry IV's landing at Ravenspurn; the cross was later removed to Holyrood House in Hedon

The nearest major city was Kingston upon Hull.

The region of coastline is known as the Holderness Coast; geologically the land is formed of glacial tills (boulder clay), which are subject to coastal erosion. Now at sea, areas around the site are being drilled for natural gas.

Ravenspurn appears in William Shakespeare's plays Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, and Henry VI, Part 3, under the spelling "Ravenspurgh".

Two medieval English kings landed at Ravenspurn: Henry IV in 1399, on his way to dethrone Richard II, and Edward IV in 1471, on his way back from exile in the Netherlands, where he was resisted by the local lord, Sir Martin de la See.

See also

• Colden Parva
• Ravenser Odd
• Ravenspurn gas fields

External links

• "History of Ravenser". Archived from the original on 16 May 2011.
• Browne, Horace B. (1912). "How Two Kings of England landed at Spurn". The Story of the East Riding of Yorkshire. London: A Brown & Sons Ltd. p. 155.