Ravenspurn was a town in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, which was lost due to coastal erosion, one of more than 30 along the Holderness Coast which have been lost to the North Sea since the 19th century. The town was located close to the end of a peninsula near Ravenser Odd, which had been flooded in the 14th century. The peninsula still survives and is known as Spurn Head. The North Sea lies to the east of the peninsula, the Humber estuary to the west.
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The nearest major city was Kingston upon Hull.
The region of coastline is known as the Holderness Coast; geologically the land is formed of glacial tills (boulder clay), which are subject to coastal erosion. Now at sea, areas around the site are being drilled for methane gas.
Two medieval English kings successfully won the throne after landing at Ravenspurn: Henry IV did so in 1399, on his way to dethrone Richard II, as did Edward IV in 1471, on his way back from exile in the Netherlands. Edward was vainly resisted by the local lord, Sir Martin de la See; later that year Edward defeated his Lancastrian opponents in the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. [1] [2] Ravenspurn, under the spelling 'Ravenspurgh', appears in William Shakespeare's plays Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 in connection with Henry's landing, and in Henry VI, Part 3 in reference to Edward's.
