Energy and Environment Institute

14/09/2026

Thank you to Grimsby Live for writing an article about our Water Memories & Flood
Futures exhibition with Our big picture

It is open for the next two weeks so please visit if you are in Grimsby!

Water Memories and Flood Futures looks at the first-hand accounts of how rainfall and storm surges impact our area

09/09/2026

This Saturday (12 September) we are celebrating the launch of our Water Memories & Flood Futures exhibition in Our big picture, Grimsby. The children and young people who have taken part in the project have worked very hard and we are excited to see their artwork come together with our history research to share the story of Grimsby’s watery past!

All are welcome to join us Saturday 12:00 to 16:00 or Tuesdays to Fridays 12:00 to 16:00 from 15th to 25th September.

26/08/2026

Watery Wednesday - with a difference!

For this Watery Wednesday rather than sharing a flood story we are asking you to share a flood story with us!

We are now carrying out oral history interviews to collect memories of floods in Hull and Grimsby to use for an exhibition in Hull in November 2026. These interviews will also be deposited in Hull History Centre for future researchers to use.

If you are interested in taking part please send a message or email [email protected] for further information.

29/07/2026

Watery Wednesday - A Story from Water Memories & Flood Futures

Grimsby is mentioned in the Viking Saga, the ‘Orkneyinga Saga’. The Norwegian poet Rögnvaldr Kali Kolsson, who was later the Earl of Orkney, went on his first trip abroad with a group of Norwegian merchants aged 15. Unfortunately he does not like Grimsby much - it is far too muddy! - and he is very happy to go back to Norway.

‘We have waded the mud-flats for five mightily grim weeks; there was no lack there of muck when we were in the middle of Grimsby. Now it is the case that mightily merrily we cause the elk of the prow (the ship) to boom on the waves to Bergen across the marshes of the gull (the sea).’ Translation by Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards.

Here are a couple of Vikings inspired by this story from the children at Our big picture

You can find out more about the Orkneyinga Saga’s mention of Grimsby on the University of Nottingham’s Viking website through the link in the comments.

24/07/2026

We have had an amazing Festival of Archaeology Day!

Thank you to everyone who visited and made rafts, designed flags, analysed pollen, handled artefacts, learnt about log boats and flint knapping and made the day so much fun.

Thank you to Humber Field Archaeology, Hull Maritime, Rewilding Youth and HEY Volunteering for running your activities and making our ArchaeologyUK event a success 🥳

22/07/2026

Watery Wednesday - A story from the Water Memories & Flood Futures project

This week lots of families are enjoying visiting Cleethorpes in the sunshine but it is not always a peaceful place, as this newspaper story from 7 January 1905 shows:

‘A strong gale early to-day has caused enormous damage at Cleethorpes. Owing to an abnormal tide about 100 yards of the New Extension Promenade, which has been almost completed, was demolished. Tons of masonry, thousands of tons of sand for filling-up purposes, and a large quantity of plant was carried seaward.

The old promenade was completely submerged, the water flooding the numerous shops on the promenade and causing extensive damage, whilst the promenade itself was cut up through the constant wash of stones and mud.’

From the Yorkshire Evening Press, 7 January 1905 The British Newspaper Archive

The picture is a beautiful piece of art from Our big picture showing we should always remember the seaside is a dangerous place even when it looks peaceful!

16/07/2026

We are very excited to announce that our team at the Energy and Environment Institute has been awarded an UKRI RICHeS Access Fund Award for carrying out the project ‘Maritime Archaeological Investigation of Spurn (MARIS) in collaboration with the Coastal and Inland Waters Heritage Science Facility of the University of Southampton.

Using some of the latest technologies and equipment for shallow water underwater survey combined with community-led field walking surveys, MARIS will investigate features in the sediments of the intertidal zone that will help us reconstruct the characteristics of medieval occupation at Spurn. We will be working with local project partners including Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Hull Maritime, Humber Field Archaeology and East Riding Archaeological Society

You can learn more about the RICHeS Access Fund in the link in the comments.

Photographs: Oliver Wilson (aerial view of Spurn), Katerina Velentza (intertidal zone of Spurn).

15/07/2026

Watery Wednesday

Each Wednesday I’ll be sharing a watery story from our Water Memories & Flood Futures project based in Grimsby. This week I have a story about a theatre that repeatedly flooded, despite this the staff and audience appeared to have felt that ‘the show must go on!’

For the last month I’ve been using the The British Newspaper Archive to find out more about flooding and responses to flooding in Grimsby. The Prince of Wales theatre, which used to be on Freeman Street, has kept coming up. The first newspaper reference to it I’ve found comes from The Telegraph on 24 August 1903. After an ‘abnormal’ rainfall ‘Much inconvenience was caused at the Prince of Wales Theatre by the water accumulating under the stage to a considerable depth’.

The theatre flooded again in June 1920 after ‘tremendous rainfalls’ and a high tide and this time the fire brigade were needed to pump out the water.

By May 1922 it seems everyone was used to the Prince of Wales theatre flooding. During a ‘torrential downpour’ it was once again flooded, this time during a show. The audience sat in the side circle moved to continue watching from dry seats and the attendants got out mops and buckets to clean up whilst the show went on. As well as being in local news this event made it into the London Evening News with the headline ‘A theatre flooded - audience which had to move to drier seats’!

Taryn from Our big picture has made a beautiful picture of a lone actor on the stage with a flood in the stalls to illustrate this event.

The theatre was demolished in 1936 to build the Regal Cinema. So far I have not found an article about floods in the cinema!

10/07/2026

We’re currently working with Grimsby arts charity Our big picture on our collaborative project Water Memories and Flood Futures. The children have been creating wonderful watery inspired art work whilst we carry out historical research into flooding in Grimsby. This will all come together in an exhibition in Grimsby, further details very soon!

In the next few weeks we will be sharing some of the stories we have found in the lead up to the exhibition. Follow the links below for more on the project!