At Barrow, two miles further north, there was once a monastery, founded in the seventh century by St. Ceadda, or Chad, on land given by Wulfhere King of Mercia. This is an interesting corner of the county. New Holland, where the steam ferry from Hull lands you, is but three miles to the north, and near Barrow Haven station, between the ferry pier and Barton, is a remarkable ancient Danish or British earthwork called “The Castles”—a large tumulus-topped mound with a wide fosse, and with other mounds and ditches grouped round it, which, when occupied, were surrounded by marshes and only approachable by a channel from the Humber. The claim that this is the site of the great battle of Brunanburh in 937 cannot be looked upon as more than the merest conjecture. Both Barton and Barrow have been claimed for it; and “Barrow Castles” might or might not have had some connection with the great battle, which certainly is referred to as near the Humber in Robert de Brunne’s chronicle, as follows:—
“He brought the King Anlaf up the Humber
With seven hundred ships and fifteen, so great was the number.
Athelstan here saw all the great host,
He and Edward his brother hurried to the coast.
At Brunnisburgh on Humber they gave them assault,
From Morning to Evening lasted the battle,
At the last to their ships the King gave them chase
All fled away, that was of God’s grace.”
THE HULL FERRY