Humberhead Levels

The Humberhead Levels area is a large expanse of very flat, low lying land lying towards the eastern end of the Humber estuary in northern England.It occupies the area of the former glacial Lake Humber.It is bounded to the east by the Yorkshire Wolds and the northern Lincolnshire Edge and to the west by the southern part of the Yorkshire magnesian limestone ridge.In the north it merges with the slightly more undulating Vale of York close to the Escrick moraine and to the south it merges into the Trent Vale.Citation | last =Kent
first =Sir Peter
author-link =
last2 =Gaunt
first2 =G D
author2-link =
publication-date =1980
date =
year =
title =Eastern England from the Tees to the Wash
edition =Second
volume =
series =British Regional Geology
publication-place =London
place =
publisher =HMSO. Natural Environment Research Council
id =
isbn =0118841211
doi =
oclc =
url =
accessdate =]

Glacial Lake Humber

During the last ice age, a glacier extended across this area almost to where Doncaster now is. The main glacial front was at Escrick where the Esckrick moraine marks its position. This formed the northern limit of an extensive lake which was impounded by the blocking of the Humber gap by another ice front. Later the lake was filled with clay sediments which are up to 20 metres thick in some places.These clay sediments are locally overlain by peat deposits forming raised mires. At the base of the peat layers can be found the remains of a buried forest.

Early settlement

The Humberhead levels have been settled for several thousand years. The drier northern area was settled before the Roman era. The lighter soils there were easier to drain and it was extensively cleared for small scale pastoral farming.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Humberhead Levels Character Area
work =
publisher =English Nature
date =
url =http://www.countryside.gov.uk/Images/JCA39_tcm2-21138.pdf
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doi =
accessdate = 2008-01-29 ] The system of easily navigable rivers was used by invading Angles and Danes to penetrate deep into the countryside.

References