Lincoln Castle at Hull in 1959. Photos by courtesy of Ian
Stenton
Steam navigation on
the Humber dates back to 1814. John Robertson, engineer of the
pioneering PS Comet of 1812 in the Clyde had built PS Caledonia and
PS Humber built at Dundee in 1814 to house his engines. The ships
were operated on his own account for eigtheen months between Hull on
the Humber estuary and Selby on the River Ouse and Gainsborough on
the River Trent, the two rivers forming the Humber. Later, a healthy
trade developed on the Trent, reaching out on to the east coast of
England.
The direct ferry crossing from Yorkshire to Lincolnshire was
inaugurated in 1820 from Hull to New Holland by PS Magna Carta.
Railway ownership of the ferry dates from 1845, and after Britain's
railways were amalgamated into major regional groupings in 1923, the
service came under the control of the London & North Eastern
Railway (LNER).
The sisters Wingfield Castle and Tattershall Castle, built in 1934,
proved to be successful steamers, with a large open main deck aft
which was used for cars, cargo and cattle. Their success prompted the
building of the similarly-shaped Lincoln Castle and deferred
discussion about the construction of a bridge across the estuary. A
partliamentary bill giving powers for the construction of the bridge
was passed in 1959 but the final government go-ahead did not come
until ten years later. Construction finally started in 1973.
The bridge was opened in 1981, spelling the death knell for the last
remaining ferry, the diesel-electric paddler Farringford which had
been transferred from the Isle of Wight
