Even before the Industrial Revolution this area was important for agriculture, then came the tileries, the brickworks and the boatyards,
Such were some of the industries on the South bank, like the huge fertiliser factory which once stood in Barton on the edge of the flooded pits left by the extraction of clay for the tiles and bricks. When the factory ceased trading, it was derelict for many years and nobody knew quite what to do with it.
Other areas of contamination have been physically removed but this has had to be done very carefully as parts of the site are a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Amongst the innovations have been the use of reeds to remove toxins from the water. This process is trademarked as 'Reeds in a Box' ™ and uses a combination of solar and wind power along with the natural cleaning ability of the reeds.
As the November gloom gathers itself up, ready to throw winter at us, the occasional burst of warm sunshine drags us away from the fireside and out for a walk. And where better than Water's Edge, three miles down the road in neighbouring Barton-upon-Humber? However, to appreciate this little escape from our own cosy little gardens just that bit more, we need to take a step backwards and look into recent history.
The Humber Estuary, in the north-east of England, divides the eastern part of Yorkshire from rural Lincolnshire and has always been an important waterway for transport inland - one of the original routes for people migrating from Europe to America was that via Hull and the Humber across to Liverpool and the Mersey - as well as for the industry along its shores.
some of which still remain, and, later, the great port of Hull and the more intrusive and damaging heavy industries of the 19th and 20th centuries.
However, the whole of the Humber Estuary is a very important stopping-off point for migratory birds and someone eventually came up with the idea of turning the site back into a wildlife area.
Whatever people may say about money-wasting by the EU, it does fund an awful lot of environmental projects, this one included. The Water's Edge project started a couple of years back with the aim of balancing the needs of the community for recreation and the wildlife for habitat.
It has not been without its problems. The old clay pits had been in-filled with phosphogypsum, which has left an environment which is very harsh, but this has now been successfully colonised by reed, willow and birch. 