7 minute read
Across The Water
Summer might mean the seaside for many, but it’s also possible to enjoy time inland at the waters edge this July, as Robert Veitch discovers
BEWL WATER
Volume: 31,000,000 litres Area: 760 acres Current Status: 90% full Parking: £5 for the day Back in July 1968, when the Queen had been on the throne barely 16 years she gave Royal assent to the Medway Water Act which led to the creation of what is known today as Bewl Water.
Groundwork on the 900m long dam, impounding the River Bewl began five years later. The facility opened in 1975 as Bewl Bridge Reservoir, although the name changed during one of the intervening anniversaries to mark the Queen’s accession.
By volume, it’s the 19th largest reservoir in England and 30m (90 feet) deep at the deepest point. Old homes and roads lay deep beneath the surface ripples. It’s a misconception that Bewl is in Kent; in reality it’s entirely in Sussex, but terribly close to the border.
Why visit? There are water sports, angling, an adventure playground, nature reserves and a delightful 12½ mile waymarked perimeter path. Little Known Fact: It cost £11 million to build in 1973. In modern money that’s around £135-£145 million Pointless Trivia: It’s estimated the volume of water at Bewl could fit inside Loch Ness 24,000 times.
THE RIVER OUSE At Barcombe Mills
Elevation: 7m (23 feet) Source to Sea: 35 miles (56km) Parking: Free car park on Barcombe Mills Road The upper tidal limit of the River Ouse is a dozen miles inland at Barcombe Mills and Sea Trout are known to frequent the pools beneath the spillways.
From the car park, it’s a short walk along the old road and over the toll bridge, which still displays the former cost of crossing, into what was once the beating heart of local industry. few Roman remains.
Works to create the 1km long dam involved the rerouting of the Cuckmere River, which is still used to help fill the reservoir when water needs to be pumped in. By 1971 the job was done and the water level was rising, though it’s only 11m deep at the furthest point beneath the surface.
In 1980 Arlington was designated a Local Nature Reserve, and in 1985 a Site of Special Scientific Investigation (SSSI). Over 170 bird and 35 butterfly species have been recorded over the years and the 3km waymarked perimeter walk is known as the Osprey Trail. Little Known Fact: Let the train take the strain; the reservoir is 500m from Berwick Station.
But by then, the end was nigh and work ceased at the last two mills in 1911 and 1939 Little Known Fact: The Bevern Stream, Iron River, River Uck, Longford Stream and Andrew’s Stream all join the River Ouse in and around Barcombe Mills Did You Know: Downstream from Barcombe Mills, the next bridge suitable for vehicular access is the Phoenix Causeway in Lewes
Those same waterways and spillways resonate to the sound of water and birdsong these days.
The earliest mills dated back to Norman times. The river was navigable and used for transportation until the early 20th century when a siding was extended from the Uckfield to Lewes Railway. ARLINGTON RESERVOIR
Volume: 3,500,000 litres Area: 120 acres Current Water Level: 97% full Parking: £2 for the day When construction work began at Arlington in 1969, excavations revealed a mammoth tusk, bison horn, skull of a woolly rhino and a Water Supply: If you live in Eastbourne, Polegate, Hailsham or Heathfield, your drinking water probably comes from here.
THE RIVER ADUR At Bramber
Elevation: 1m (3 feet) Source to Sea: 20 miles (32km) Parking: Free car park on The Street Bramber sits majestically between the South Downs, on the western flank of the River Adur, neatly separated from the neighbouring Upper Beeding across the water. Though the High Street, Castle, St. Mary’s House and the Parish Church of St. Nicholas might garner most attention Bramber has another lesser known historic memento.
Before the first Roman tourists cleared
Border Security and got their passports stamped, Bramber was known for salt production. Just to the north of the village were many salterns, into which incoming tidal water from the River Adur was channeled via sluices and dams, into pools. Over time, evaporation gradually revealed the salt, which was gathered up and used for food preservation.
The discovery of rock salt in the early 17th century meant salterns fell out of favour and eventually became redundant. Walk north, along the riverbank, or via the castle ruins, to find the shallow shadows of the few saltern remains that pockmark the fields beyond. Little Known Fact: Antislavery campaigner William Wilberforce was MP for the ‘rotten borough’ of Bramber from 1812-1825. Literary Connection: In his The Four Men A Farrago, the writer Hillaire Belloc spends a night in Bramber. ARDINGLY RESERVOIR
Volume: 4,800,000 litres Area: 198 acres Current Water Level: 100% full Parking: Currently, parking is free During time immemorial the Ardingly Brook flowed into the Shell Brook and the water trickled south from there.
In 1978 work began on the 17m high, 280m wide earthen dam, which impounded Shell Brook to create the reservoir. As the water level rose across the 184 acres of the reservoir the two valleys down which the streams ran, became obvious, giving the reservoir its distinctive Y or forked stick shape.
The western flank is private land so there is no perimeter path to walk, but visitors can enjoy the 4km Kingfisher Trail along the eastern arm. Twitchers and birders can watch from the bird hides, while water sports fans can partake in a myriad of activities. For the
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fisherman, there are Carp to 36lbs, Pike to 28lbs, Tench to 10lbs, Bream to 6lbs, plus plenty of smaller fins to catch. Little Known Fact: Why have one dam when you can have three? Each arm of the reservoir has a roadsupporting dam upstream. Ardingly on Film: Discover a 28-minute film documenting the construction of the reservoir at https://screenarchive. brighton.ac.uk/detail/8353/ CUCKMERE RIVER At Exceat
Elevation: 2m (7 feet) Source to Sea: 18 miles (30km) Parking: £4 for the day at Seven Sisters Country Park Exceat was once a small village, given by William the Conqueror to his halfbrother Robert as part of the rape (administrative area) of Pevensey. Robert was also gifted most of Cornwall. Raids from the French and the Black Death premeditated the abandonment of Exceat during the 15th century.
In 1846 the series of slithering meanders of the Cuckmere River south of Exceat were by-passed with the construction of the New Cut, a long straight channel created to prevent flooding inland as far as Alfriston.
With climate change and a predicted rise in sea levels there is much debate to the future of Cuckmere Haven; whether it should be preserved in the current state or whether nature should be allowed to take her course. Little Known Fact: Scenes from Atonement, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves were filmed here. Giant Equine: The Litlington White Horse cut into the chalk at High and Over above the western bank is just over a mile upstream. l
Please can visitors note that any information signs in car parks are there for your wellbeing. Please remember rivers and reservoirs are important wildlife havens and take your litter home
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