Humber Forts

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Two sea forts in the Humber Estuary, England

title: "Humber Forts" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["buildings-and-structures-in-lincolnshire", "grade-ii-listed-buildings-in-the-east-riding-of-yorkshire", "grade-ii-listed-forts", "20th-century-forts-in-england", "humber", "world-war-i-sites-in-england", "sea-forts", "military-installations-established-in-1919", "military-installations-closed-in-1956"] description: "Two sea forts in the Humber Estuary, England" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humber_Forts" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Two sea forts in the Humber Estuary, England ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Haile-Sand-Fort.jpg" caption="Haile Sand Fort"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Bull_Sand_Fort.jpg" caption="Bull Sand Fort"] ::

The Humber Forts are two large fortifications in the mouth of the Humber Estuary in northern England: Bull Sand Fort () and Haile Sand Fort ().

History

The two forts were planned in 1914, at the start of the First World War, to protect the sea entrance to the Humber Estuary. They stand 18 m above the water and have a diameter of 25 m. There was accommodation for 200 soldiers. Started in May 1915, they took more than four years to build and construction was not finished until December 1919, a year after the war ended.

During the Second World War the forts were reactivated and modernised. They were regularly attacked by enemy aircraft. During this time, they installed submerged netting to prevent enemy submarines from travelling up the estuary to Hull or Grimsby. The forts were finally abandoned by the military in 1956.

Bull Sand Fort

Bull Sand Fort is 1.5 mi from shore off Spurn Head. It is a 4-storey concrete building with 12 in of armour on the seaward side, and originally armed with four 6-inch guns. It was built with great difficulty as its sandbank is 11 ft below low water.

In 1987 it was given a Grade II Listed Building status. In 1997 it was sold to the Streetwise Charitable Trust, who intended to restore the fort for use as a drug rehabilitation facility. The plan failed eventually. The trust no longer operates. |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/4985144.stm |title = Drugs detox plan for WWI fort |access-date = 11 July 2008 |date = 22 May 2006 |work = BBC News Online |publisher = BBC Administratively, it is within the East Riding of Yorkshire and civil parish of Easington.

In July 2022, it was listed for sale by auction, with a guide price of £50,000, through Savills estate agents. The fort was sold for £490,000.

Haile Sand Fort

Haile Sand Fort or Sand Haile Fort is the smaller of the two and is situated around the low-water mark between Cleethorpes and Humberston on the Lincolnshire coast.

In February 2016 the fort was put on the market. It remained unsold until it was put up for auction in October 2018. It was sold for £117,000 at the auction to an unnamed purchaser.

References

References

  1. {{cite PastScape
  2. {{cite PastScape
  3. "Bull Sand Fort (TA371092)".
  4. {{NHLE
  5. (28 December 2005). "Fort detox plan suffers cash blow". BBC News.
  6. "History of the Project". Streetwise Charitable Trust.
  7. John Morris Associates. "Southfield Farm Wind Turbine Landscape and Visual Assessment". East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
  8. "Bull Sandfort, Humber Estuary, Hull HU12 0UG".
  9. (15 July 2022). "Bull Sand Fort: Humber defence to be sold to highest bidder". BBC News.
  10. (20 July 2022). "Ex naval sea fortress in Humber Estuary sells at auction for £490,000". Hull Daily Mail.
  11. (20 July 2022). "WW1 Bull Sand Fort in Humber sold for nearly £500k at auction". BBC News.
  12. (August 2012). "Filling the gap". Sheetlines.
  13. (24 February 2016). "Haile Sand wartime fortress for sale". BBC.
  14. (10 October 2018). "This is how you can become the proud owner of an abandoned offshore war fort". The Yorkshire Post.
  15. (1 November 2018). "Haile Sand fort in Humber estuary sold for £117,000". BBC News.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

buildings-and-structures-in-lincolnshiregrade-ii-listed-buildings-in-the-east-riding-of-yorkshiregrade-ii-listed-forts20th-century-forts-in-englandhumberworld-war-i-sites-in-englandsea-fortsmilitary-installations-established-in-1919military-installations-closed-in-1956