Hunt for Britain’s hidden ‘Atlantis’… off the coast of Hull! The ancient island settlement of Ravenser Odd was swallowed up by the North Sea almost 700 years ago

It sank in the North Sea almost 700 years ago, ravaged by rough weather.

But scientists are searching for what’s left of Ravenser Odd, a short-lived medieval town on an island in the Humber estuary.

Described as ‘Yorkshire’s Atlantis’, the important coastal town – which is the subject of a new exhibition in Hull – flourished in the late 13th century.

It lay just west of Spurn Point, the very tip of the sinuous peninsula that separates the North Sea and the Humber Estuary.

Since 2021, two Hull academics have been conducting research into the city’s remains on the seabed using high-resolution seabed mapping equipment.

One of them is Dr Steve Simmons, a lecturer in energy and environment at the University of Hull, who said Ravenser Odd was once a ‘prosperous settlement’.

They hope to recover any remnants of the city, such as the foundations of the sea wall and the harbour, but so far they have had no success.

“Despite its relative importance in 1299, Ravenser Odd is largely forgotten today – because it disappeared, swallowed up by the North Sea,” said Dr. Simmons in an article for The conversation.

“Conditions in the estuary make it difficult to search for traces of the lost city.”

Both Ravenser Odd and its neighbor, Hull, received their charters from Edward I on the same day: April 1, 1299.

The charter made Ravenser Odd a recognized municipality and exempted merchants from certain taxes.

This allowed the city to build its own court, prison and chapel.

At its peak it had around 100 houses and a thriving market – and was an even more important port than Hull further up the Humber.

Within about half a century, the city’s fortunes faded.

‘By the mid-14th century, the storms and strong tidal currents of the North Sea began to take their toll on the settlement,’ said Dr Simmons.

‘A devastating blow was dealt in 1362 by the storm surge of the Sint-Marcellus flood, after which the city began to be abandoned.’

A historical map shows that other islands west of the Spurn Peninsula were also lost, with names such as Orwithfleet and Sunthorpe, but Ravenser Odd was the largest.

As a result of coastal erosion, it is not likely that entire islands will be weakened and lost over time, Dr. Simmons warns.

The Holderness coastline, north of the Spurn Peninsula, is the fastest eroding coastline in Europe.

The crumbling cliffs of soft boulder clay are retreating at an average rate of 2 meters per year.

Ravenser Odd is the subject of a new exhibition at the Hull History Center running until Thursday 30 May.

It contains important documents, including maps of medieval Hull and the original charters of Hull and Ravenser Odd, borrowed from the National Archives.

“Despite its proximity to Hull, the story of Ravenser Odd is relatively unknown,” says councilor Rob Pritchard, portfolio holder for Leisure and Culture.

‘An understanding of the Ravenser story and its implications for the wider Humber will enable Hull people to reflect on their own 800 years of maritime history and the opportunities to explore themes around Hull’s own development.

‘This exhibition will tell the story in many different ways and capture the imagination of residents, children and young people.’

While there is little doubt based on contemporary evidence that Ravenser Odd existed, the same cannot be said about Atlantis to which it is being compared.

It is said that the so-called ancient city was destroyed and submerged under the Atlantic Ocean, but that is not the case it is generally believed to have been invented by the Greek philosopher Plato.

Last year, another research team revealed that they had found the German equivalent of Atlantis: the city of Rungholt, which was sunk by a storm in 1362.