Read's Island, situated just outside the Ancholme sluice , is in fact an artificial island. With the River Humber essentially being a drain for the whole of Lincolnshire and parts of Yorkshire, and not to mention being drastically tidal, it was a simple task and a matter of waiting a few years for some strategically placed piles of bricks and concrete to start off this island.

It has been occupied at times in the past, at one point as a farm with cattle roaming along it, and when there are particularly high spring tides , at low water, it was possible for the cattle to reach solid ground by walking across the mud at low tide.

Currently, as the Humber continues to change, the Island is in decline. Current thinking suggests that the main (undredged) shipping channel that leads to the likes of Goole, may actually fall between the island and the Humber's Lincolnshire shore before too many more years have passed.