Bull Sands Fort, Humber Estuary. 08/2008

The Bull Sands fort stands on a submerged sandbank in the Humber Estuary about 1.5 miles off spurn point. It was built in 1914 to protect the Humber ports from German submarine attacks. After withstanding over 90 years of the North Sea and over 50 years of dereliction the fort is in a quite bad state now. It is being restored by the Streetwise charitable trust and the Marine Volunteer Service who have plans to turn the fort into a secure drugs rehab centre and an observation point to overlook the ever expanding shipping traffic using the Humber ports. The charity is always looking for new volunteers to help restore the fort and would welcome anyone who would like to help out restoring the fort. More info on volunteering and the next trip out to the fort can be found on the Island of Hope website
Plans and history of the fort can be found in these PDF Documents
Bull Fort Story
Bull Fort History
Here's a few of my photos of the visit, the full set of photos can be viewed Here


Approaching the fort aboard the M.V. Hambledon.



Landing jetty. After over 90 years in the sea it has badly decayed and is in a very dangerous condition.


More dangers.


Gun turret.


WW2 gun emplacement.


Searchlight emplacement.


Armour plated corridor.


Steps into gun turret.


6" Naval gun mount.


Navigation bell on top of the fort.





Windows in 12" thick armoured walls with armour plate shutters.


Rusted away downpipe.




What's left of the original railings.


Armour plate wall.


Victorian cast iron vent grilles.


Cast iron window.


Armour plated toilet doors.


Bathtub in need of a clean.


The toilet shot.

Great find, i absolutely love this sort of explore!!
Whats the deal with the viral warning? sounds a bit scary?

This is a great place and well done on the visit. I often see this from the shore while fishing. Thanks for the photo's.

Wow Id love to see that, it looks amazing, good report matey

Urban Mole said:

Wow Id love to see that

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If you don't mind helping out there will be another trip out to the fort in a few weeks time. I've included a link for more information on volunteering near the beginning of the post.

Brilliant stuff.

hope the bell gets saved before it's too late.

What a fantastic explore! Absolutely love this. When I was a kid I used to draw a lot of airplanes and tanks, etc...all with rivets. It's great to see something that actually has got rivets on.

That's excellent. What a grim looking place, not much chance of druggies getting their supplies out there though.

What's chagas biothingummywotsit?

Fantastic stuff

I always love the way sea air and steel react together....

wow thats an amazing place , saw it a few years ago while holidaying on the coast . superb report thanks for sharing

Great set of pics! Freebird & i could see this from Spurn Point, if i'm right , when we visited in April. Gotta hope they save it. What condition is the other fort in?

crickleymal said:

That's excellent. What a grim looking place, not much chance of druggies getting their supplies out there though.

What's chagas biothingummywotsit?

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The symptoms of Chagas' disease vary over the course of the infection. In the early, acute stage symptoms are mild and are usually no more than local swelling at the site of infection. As the disease progresses, over as much as twenty years, the serious chronic symptoms appear, such as heart disease and malformation of the intestines. If untreated, the chronic disease is often fatal. Current drug treatments for this disease are generally unsatisfactory, with the available drugs being highly toxic and often ineffective, particularly in the chronic stage of the disease.

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Nasty in other words

sqwasher said:

What condition is the other fort in?

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I've no idea I would guess it would be in a similar condition to the Bull Sands Fort, the only thing I've heard about the Haille Sands Fort is that it was going to be turned into a sea fishing themed hotel type thing but that was years ago.

Wow, crazy place. I love it.

Why would it be contaminated with that virus? Is it something to do with seagull shit?

^^ It's the pigeon shit that's the dodgy stuff with the viruses, seagull shit just smells vile

WOW great pics there mate orginally from Hull ive seen these forts many many times and often wondered what state they are in after all the years being opened to all weathers.

What a find! Awesome! Ive lived in Hull all my life and never seen anything like this! Looks eiree