Goods moved along these waterways constantly: English wool, grain, and leather going east and north; Rhenish wine, Baltic timber, furs, and amber coming west.

Towns like Barton, positioned at natural crossing points and harbor locations along major waterways, functioned as nodes in this commercial system.

Barton specifically was a crossing point for the Humber.

Ferries operated across the estuary here for centuries, connecting the south bank to the town of Hessle and the city of Hull on the north side, though Hull itself was not founded until the later medieval period.

The crossing at Barton was an important link in the route between Lincoln to the south and York to the north.