Ravenser Odd: City’s lost island twin
ISLAND LINKS: It is likely the effigies on this tomb in Hull Minster show Richard de Selby and his wife, Emma Ravenser. Photo by Pete Dixie, Hull History Centre
The Way it Was
Emily Robinson and Kathryn Maude, curators of a new exhibition at Hull History Centre, explore the shared medieval history of two powerful maritime towns
On April 1, 1299, a new Royal Borough was born: King’s Town Upon Hull.
The King, Edward I, bought the port town from the monks of Meaux Abbey because it was becoming very wealthy from the wool trade, and he needed money for his wars against Scotland, Wales, and France.
But Hull was not the only port on the Humber to catch Edward’s eye. Just off Spurn Point was the island of Ravenser Odd. Although it had only emerged from the water around 60 years earlier, it had developed astonishingly quickly, and now dominated trade at the mouth of the Humber. Edward made it a Royal Borough on the same day as Hull.
The names of these two new boroughs appear next to each other in the Charter Roll, the government’s central record, which is held at The National Archives, in London, alongside government files up to the present day. This month, it is on display at the Hull History Centre, as part of the exhibition Hull/Ravenser Odd: twin cities, sunken pasts.
The 1299 charters recognised both towns as self-governing communities. They were granted the right to hold their own courts, and their citizens were exempted from many tolls, sales taxes, and customs duties throughout England.
SHORT-LIVED POWER: The bodies of Ravenser Odd and other submerged settlements were reportedly reburied in Easington. Photo by Martin Dawes
Even before it became a Royal Borough, Ravenser Odd had been behaving as if it already had these rights. In the 1270s, neighbouring villagers complained that its owner, the wealthy Isabella de Fortibus, was holding a court and charging tolls to land on the island, which she did not have the right to do.
This was not its only transgression. In 1291, the burgesses of Grimsby took the people of Ravenser Odd to court for ‘violently arresting’ merchant ships that were bound for Grimsby and forcing them to land on the island. Ravenser Odd was found innocent, and Grimsby had to pay a fine.
Yet, the King continued to receive regular complaints from both local and foreign merchants – and even from the King of Norway – about Ravenser Odd’s wrong-doing. For instance, in 1319, men boarded a ship from Germany, killed its captain, threw the crew overboard, then sold the goods at Ravenser Odd. Similar accusations were made against Hull merchants.
The merchants of Hull and Ravenser Odd also claimed to have been attacked by pirates from towns in modern-day Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. But it is not easy to separate medieval pirates from legitimate sailors. Accusations of piracy were a normal part of trading relations – and often reflected the changing international situation.
It is not surprising that the merchants of Ravenser Odd and Hull behaved in similar ways. The two towns were closely connected, and many people owned property in both places. According to the Meaux Chronicle, Hull’s first mayor, William de la Pole, was ‘instructed at Ravenser Odd in the knowledge of merchandise’. This is apt because William and his family appeared apparently from nowhere, and became extremely rich and powerful. Just like the island itself!
EVIDENCE: The 1299 Charter Roll. Picture courtesy of The National Archives
But Ravenser Odd’s power did not last long. Within a decade of receiving its Royal Charter, it was beginning to sink. Throughout the early 1300s, the islanders repeatedly petitioned the King for flood defences and for tax relief ‘on the grounds that it is greatly impoverished and wasted by frequent inundations of the sea’, and that many taxpayers had left. We know many went to Hull. But some travelled long distances. In 1347, Edward III granted William de Bradele of Ravenser an inn to run in Calais.
The most memorable account of the island’s last days comes from the Meaux Chronicle:
…the inundations of the sea and of the Humber had destroyed to the foundations the chapel of Ravenser Odd…so that the corpses and bones of the dead there horribly appeared...
The Meaux Chronicle blamed Ravenser Odd itself for the flood: ‘by wrong-doing on the sea, by its wicked works and piracies, it provoked the wrath of God against itself by all measure.’
The 1355 manorial accounts, which have also travelled from London to Hull for the exhibition, are a particularly poignant record of the loss of the town.
POIGNANT RECORD: There is an empty space where the accounts of Ravenser Odd should be. Picture courtesy of The National Archives
By 1359 the town was reportedly ‘annihilated in the sea' – just before the 1362 storm, the Grote Mandrenke (Great Drowning of Men), killed c.25,000 people across northern Europe.
Since 2022, a team from the University of Hull, advised by local historian and author of The Legendary Lost Town of Ravenser, Phil Mathison, have been scanning the seabed for the remains of the island.
We can see traces of Ravenser Odd in the fabric of medieval Hull, such as the ‘Ravenser chantry’ in Hull Minster (formerly Holy Trinity Church). This was founded by wool merchant and mayor of Hull, Richard de Selby, and his brother-in-law, Richard Ravenser, Archdeacon of Lincoln. Both families were linked to the island, where Cecily de Selby lost an astonishing 145 houses.
The main thing left of Ravenser Odd is its story. Having been sunk for too long, this is now resurfacing. The incredible history of the island is inspiring a growing number of artists, musicians, playwrights, novelists, and poets.
Some of their works are on display in the exhibition, and will be celebrated at an event at the Humber Street Gallery on the evening of May 21.
Hull/Ravenser Odd: twin cities, sunken pasts is at Hull History Centre until April 30.
Free events at Hull History Centre
Talk by Kathryn Maude and Emily Robinson, ‘Ravenser Odd: revisiting Hull’s sunken twin’, Tuesday, April 9, 12.30pm-1.30pm
Talks by Phil Mathison and Steve Simmons, on the search for traces of the island, Wednesday, April 10, 6.30pm
Find out more
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Tel: 01482 317500
Email: hullhistorycentre@hcandl.co.uk
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