View source for Spurn

==Geography==
[[File:Spurn in 1979.jpg|thumb|Spurn Head from the air in 1979]]
The spit is made up from sand, shingle and [[boulder clay]] eroded from the Holderness coastline washed down the coastline from [[Flamborough Head]]. Material is washed down the coast by [[longshore drift]] and accumulates to form the long, narrow embankment in the sheltered waters inside the mouth of the Humber Estuary. It is maintained by plants, especially [[Ammophila (plant)|marram grass]] (''Ammophila arenaria''). Waves carry material along the peninsula to the tip, continually extending it; as this action stretches the peninsula it also narrows it to the extent that the sea can cut across it in severe weather. When the sea cuts across it permanently, everything beyond the breach is swept away, only to eventually reform as a new spit pointing further south. This cycle of destruction and reconstruction occurs approximately every 250&nbsp;years. More recently, Dr. John Pethick of Hull University put forward a different theory to explain the formation of Spurn Head. He suggests that the spit head has been a permanent feature since the end of the [[Last glacial period|last ice age]], having developed on an underwater glacial [[moraine]]. As the ice sheets melted, sea level gradually rose and longshore drift caused a spit to form between this and other islands along the moraine. Under normal circumstances, the sea washes over the neck of the spit taking sand from the seaward side and redepositing it on the landward side. Over time, the whole spit, length intact, slips back – with the spit-head remaining on its glacial foundation. This process has now been affected by the protection of the spit put in place during the [[Victorian era]]. This protection halted the wash-over process and resulted in the spit being even more exposed due to the rest of the coast moving back {{convert|110|yd|m|-1|abbr=off}} since the 'protection' was constructed. The now crumbling defences will not be replaced and the spit will continue to move westwards at a rate of {{convert|2|m|ftin|abbr=off|order=flip}} per year, keeping pace with the coastal erosion further north.

The second of the ''[[Six Studies in English Folk Song]]'' composed in 1926 by [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], the ''Andante sostenuto'' in E flat "Spurn Point" celebrates this peninsula.

[[File:Spurn Point and lighthouse, aerial 2021 (1) - geograph.org.uk - 6871723.jpg|thumb|right|Aerial view of the Point in 2021.]]
It was featured on the television programme ''[[Seven Natural Wonders]]'' as one of the wonders of Yorkshire.