A Lost Medieval Island: Ravenser Odd and its Afterlives

Discover the story of Yorkshire’s Atlantis, a medieval island swallowed up by the North Sea.

Around 1231, an island emerged near the mouth of the Humber. It existed as a wealthy, if lawless, port for 130 years before being washed away.

The story of Ravenser Odd is elusive and dramatic. It involves shipwreck, piracy, naval warfare with Scotland, and corpses unearthed by floods. Previously confined to local histories and antiquarian studies, it is now becoming a staple of internet folklore. This talk will explore what records at The National Archives can tell us about the island, and investigate its postmedieval afterlives.

This talk will be delivered by Kathryn Maude, Head of Medieval Collections at The National Archives, and Emily Robinson, Reader in British Studies at the University of Sussex. Kathryn and Emily are co-investigators on the project Ravenser Odd: Tracing a Lost Medieval Island.

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