Jenny Hurn

The Jenny Hurn lies downstream of Wildsworth and upstream of Owston Ferry and East Ferry. It is towards the lower, tidal reaches of the river and approximately {{convert|4|m}} above sea level.{{cite book |last1=Derwent |first1=R. G. |last2=Grennfelt |first2=G. |last3=Hov |first3=Ø |title=Photochemical Oxidants in the Atmosphere: Status report prepared for the Nordic Council of Ministers |date=1991 |publisher=Nordic Council of Ministers |isbn=978-87-7303-540-5 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwSsMmqCnSgC |language=en}} Three tributaries join the Trent in this stretch and they combine to cause powerful and complex currents. Historically it was a dangerous spot for an inexperienced boat pilot due to the tightness of the bend in the river.{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Derek |title=Edge of England: Landfall in Lincolnshire |date=7 July 2022 |publisher=Hurst Publishers |isbn=978-1-78738-887-1 |page=293 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kPp4EAAAQBAJ |language=en}}{{cite news |title=The Port Of Goole Demonstrated Its Strength With The Handling Of A Large And Unusual Cargo. |url=https://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/The-Port-Of-Goole-Demonstrated-Is-Strengths-Recently-With-The-Handling-Of-A-Larg- |access-date=26 June 2024 |work=Yorkshire Times |date=6 July 2020}} An 1887 Order in Council by Queen Victoria prohibited vessels from lingering at Jenny Hurn for more than 48 hours unless waiting to load or unload.{{cite book |last1=Marsden |first1=Reginald Godfrey |title=A Treatise on the Law of Collisions at Sea: With an Appendix, Containing Extracts from the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, the Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, and Local Rules of Navigation for the Thames, Mersey, and Elsewhere |date=1897 |publisher=Stevens and sons, limited |page=600 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7dwzAAAAIAAJ |language=en}}

The bend gives its name to the Jenny Hurn estate, of {{convert|1750|acre}}, lying east of the river and part of the holdings of the Meynell-Ingram family. The estate is drained by the bankside Jenny Hurn pumping station, operated by the Scunthorpe and Gainsborough Water Management Board.{{cite book |last1=Hinde |first1=K. S. G. |title=Fenland Pumping Engines |date=2005 |publisher=Landmark |isbn=978-1-84306-188-5 |pages=194, 224 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amcfAQAAIAAJ |language=en}} When a drainage ditch was excavated east of the river in 1883 a row of buried late Roman or Anglo-Saxon urns, containing cremated remains were found.{{cite book |last1=Eagles |first1=Bruce N. |title=The Anglo-Saxon Settlement of Humberside |date=1979 |publisher=B.A.R. |isbn=978-0-86054-057-1 |page=376 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E-YiAQAAMAAJ |language=en}} A tree on the east bank at Jenny Hurn is said to have been damaged when a Royal Air Force bomber piloted by a Polish airman crashed during the Second World War and never regrew.{{cite book |last1=Codd |first1=Daniel |title=Mysterious Lincolnshire |date=2007 |publisher=Breedon Books |isbn=978-1-85983-563-0 |page=122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8hHaAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}

The bankside flood defences in the area were raised in 1943.{{cite web |title=Records of the Engineer's Department of the Trent River Authority and its predecessor bodies, 1903-1975 |url=https://mss-cat.nottingham.ac.uk/dserve/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=RE%2fF%2fZIDB%2f862 |website=Manuscripts and Special Collections Online Catalogue |publisher=University of Nottingham |access-date=26 June 2024}} An air pollution monitoring station is located at the site.{{cite book |title=Air Pollution |date=2000 |publisher=WIT Press |isbn=978-1-85312-528-7 |page=523 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4yNSAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}

Folklorist Guy Ragland Phillips in 1976 proposed that the "Jenny" part of the name might derive from an Iberian or pre-Celtic goddess and that the "Hurn" portion might be associated with the mythological Herne the Hunter.{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=Guy Ragland |title=Brigantia: A Mysteriography |date=1976 |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |isbn=978-0-7100-8316-6 |page=137 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QU9nAAAAMAAJ |language=en}} History writer Tom Fort in 2008 stated that the name derived from a local myth, that of Jinny/Jenny on Boggard, a form of boggart.{{cite book |last1=Fort |first1=Tom |title=Downstream: Across England in a Punt |date=2008 |publisher=Arrow Books |location=London |isbn=9780099505662 |page=290}}

The tale of Jenny had been recorded by mid 20th-century folklorist Ethel Rudkin. She noted that the creature was said to be a pygmy who crossed the river in a craft similar to a pie dish propelled by oars the size of teaspoons in order to feed from crops in nearby fields. This version of the creature was said to have a human body but the face of a seal. In alternative versions of the tale, the creature emerges directly from the water and has large eyes, long hair and walrus-like tusks. The descriptions of the creature bear some resemblance to those of the Yallery Brown, another creature of Lincolnshire folklore, associated with the river.{{cite book |last1=James |first1=Maureen |title=Lincolnshire Folk Tales |date=7 October 2013 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=978-0-7509-5169-2 |page=34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AOk6AwAAQBAJ |language=en}}

Boatmen in the area reported mysterious bumps against their ships when waiting overnight at Jenny Hurn for the tide to turn; they attributed these bumps to the boggart. The legend of the boggart made boatmen wary of anchoring on the Jenny Hurn.{{cite book |last1=Bord |first1=Janet |last2=Bord |first2=Colin |title=The Enchanted Land: Myths and Legends of Britain's Landscape |date=1995 |publisher=Thorsons |isbn=978-1-85538-407-1 |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6erZAAAAMAAJ |language=en}} Rudkin records that a footpath, known as the Half-Part, cut away from the riverside path at Jenny Hurn. It was often used by locals, particularly after dusk, in preference to the riverside path despite being very narrow and muddy because of superstitions around the boggart.{{cite book |last1=Rudkin |first1=Ethel H. |title=Lincolnshire Folklore |date=1973 |publisher=EP Publishing |isbn=978-0-85409-992-4 |pages=34–36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9SQKAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}

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Category:Landforms of Lincolnshire

Category:River Trent