River Hull

River Hull
The tidal barrier and the Millennium Bridge at the mouth of the river
Course of the river within the East Riding of Yorkshire
Location
Country	England
County	East Riding of Yorkshire
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Driffield
• elevation	65 ft (20 m)
Mouth	Humber Estuary
• location	Kingston upon Hull
• coordinates	53°44′20.17″N 0°19′52.3″W / 53.7389361°N 0.331194°W / 53.7389361; -0.331194
• elevation	0 ft (0 m)
Discharge
• location	Hempholme Lock[1]
• average	3.4 m3/s (120 cu ft/s)[1]

v t e River Hull
Legend
Elmswell Beck Little Driffield Beck Driffield Trout Stream Driffield Railway Bridge Feeder River Head bridge Driffield Basin Locks (5) Frodingham Beck Corpslanding Bridge River Hull Emmotland Junction Bethells Bridge Scurf Dyke Driffield Navigation Beverley and Barmston Drain Struncheon Hill Lock and weir River Hull (from here to Humber) Aike Beck Leven Canal Arram Beck  A1035  New Hull bridge Hull bridge Grovehill lift bridge, Weel Beverley Beck  A1033  Ennerdale Link bridge Sutton Road Bridge  A1165  Stoneferry bridge Hull swing railway bridge Wilmington Bridge Sculcoates Bridge Beverley and Barmston Drain Scott Street Bridge  A165  North Bridge Dry dock (to Queens Dock) Drypool Bridge Drypool basin + Victoria Dock  A63  Myton Swing Bridge, Hull Tidal Barrier Humber Estuary

The River Hull is a navigable river in the East Riding of Yorkshire in Northern England. It rises from a series of springs to the west of Driffield, and enters the Humber Estuary at Kingston upon Hull. Following a period when the Archbishops of York charged tolls for its use, it became a free navigation. The upper reaches became part of the Driffield Navigation from 1770, after which they were again subject to tolls, and the section within the city of Hull came under the jurisdiction of the Port of Hull, with the same result.

Most of its course is through low-lying land that is at or just above sea level, and regular flooding has been a long-standing problem along the waterway. Drainage schemes to alleviate it were constructed on both sides of the river. The Holderness Drainage scheme to the east was completed in 1772, with a second phase in 1805, and the Beverley and Barmston Drain to the west was completed in 1810. Since 1980, the mouth of the river has been protected by a tidal barrier at the estuary, which can be closed to prevent tidal surges entering the river system and causing flooding upriver.

Most of the bridges which cross the river are movable, to allow shipping to pass. There are six swing bridges; four bascule bridges, two of which have twin leaves, one for each carriageway of the roads which they carry; and three Scherzer lift bridges, which are a type of rolling bascule bridge. The former Scott Street Bridge (taken out of use 1994 and dismantled 2020) was originally powered from a high pressure water main maintained by the first public power distribution company in the world.