NRA Southern 33
THE EASTERN ROTHER
National R o Authority I inform-?1'? Dntre H e G C ; NRA Class f National Rivers Authority j Southern Region
Guardia ns of the ENVIRONMENT AGENCY Water Environment
099909 sea. Drainage from part of the habitable and agriculturally area are taken from under Walland Marsh enters the tidal profitable. Today som e 27,000 ground and the principal water THE section via the Union Channel. ha of wonderfully fertile land lie bearing rocks are the sand Also draining to the estuary betw een the old sea cliffs and stones, particularly the are the Rivers Tillingham and the coastline. Altogether, more Ashdown Sands. However, EASTERN than two thirds remains below Brede. These flow from Staple- most of the water needed for cross and Netherfield through the level of high tides, depend public supply is taken from mixed farming country and ing on flood defences and land rivers and reservoirs. ROTHER drainage for its preservation join the Rock Channel on the Water is pumped from the southern side of the ancient and productivity. river at Robertsbridge to COURSE town of Rye. In early Roman times the Darwell Reservoir some 3 km The Eastern Rother, so named river was known as the Limene away. The reservoir is operated to distinguish it from the river HISTORY and entered the sea near by Southern Water Services Ltd which uses it for direct supply. of the same name in West Place names such as Ordnance Hythe. A Roman fort, the Sussex, rises at Churt House Place, Cinderhill, Powdermill remains of which are easily C onstructed in 1950, it has a near Rotherfield which is some and the various Forges preserve seen, was built near the present maximum storage capacity of 150 metres (500 ft) above sea the memory of the iron working l.ympne Castle site to protect 4460 Ml and a design yield of level. It then flows eastwards. activities in the area. There the harbour, Portus Lemanis. 21.9 Ml/d. The reservoir South of Mayfield, through were for example, no less than By Mediaeval tim es the un occupies 69 ha but is currently ridges of clay known as the ten iron working sites within relenting shingle drift and silta being enlarged. Powdermill Wadhurst and Burwash Ridges three miles of Mayfield Church. tion within the lagoon had Reservoir, located on the River which once produced iron and The o re was first exploited in caused the river mouth to move Brede, is a small impounding timber for the towns and the the Iron Age, and then by the back to Romney, which with reservoir used for direct supply. Sovereign’s fleet. Before reach Romans and sporadically Hythe, Hastings, Dover and With a surface area of 21 ha, it ing Witherenden Bridge, the through the Middle Ages. The Sandwich was one of the has a storage capacity of 808 river passes the old Bivelham headwaters were used for Cinque Ports. This in turn Ml. Southern Water Services Forge and is joined by the Tide- cooling the molten masses of set up the formation of the Ltd also abstracts underground brook Stream. This length can iron which were extracted by shingle promontory known as wraters from the Brede Wells be called the Upper Rother. heating within a charcoal Dungeness. to its Brede Water Treatment Below Witherenden the river m ound. By Tudor times, blast A succession of storms and Works. collects the Dudwell and con furnaces revolutionised the floods savaged north-western River flows are measured by tinues in an easterly direction industry. The draught from Europe during the thirteenth a gauging weir at Udiam and by to Etchingham. It passes many bellows created higher temp century. A great storm in 1287 an ultrasonic flow gauge at mills and millstreams on its eratures allowing cast iron to caused the river to forsake its Blackwall Bridge near Witter- route to Robertsbridge. Udiam be produced and wrought. The old channel to take a shorter, sham. There are flow gauging with its Roman road signals the steep streams were ideal for more westerly route to the sea stations on the River Dudwell, end of the middle length and a damming to give a head of by Rye. Accretion of shingle the River Brede and the change in the characteristics of water to drive water wheels seawards at a rate of several Hexden Channel. th e river. for bellows and forging ham metres a year, has resulted in There are a large number of Between Udiam and Bodiam mers. At that time, more than the river now discharging minor abstractions for agricul the transition is from upland half the iron-mills of the country some 4 km from the town. tural purposes in the catch flow to lowland flow as the river were situated in the Weald. Through the centuries pro ment, particularly for spray reaches sea level. Below Bodiam The history of the lower gressive reclamation of land irrigation on the Romney th e Kent Ditch, w hich is the reaches of the river and of the and the construction of sluices Marshes and in the Shirley Moor boundary between Kent and Romney Marshes is almost lost greatly reduced the amount of area. High value agricultural Sussex, joins the river from the in the mists of time. Longshore tidal water ebbing and flowing crops such as potatoes, depend North. The valley then widens Drift, the process by which through the estuary. This en to a large degree upon the and land use changes from shingle is driven from West to couraged siltation in the availability of this water. The mixed to arable farming. East by waves induced by the harbour and the formation of a National Rivers Authority The lowland Rother con prevailing south westerly winds, shingle bar across the river operates and enforces an tinues to Newenden, which has been the major force in mouth. In this context the abstraction licensing system until the 16th Century was an shaping the river outfalls and needs of seafarers and land which ensures that water is important port used for both the associated marshlands. owners have inevitably been in taken at the right times and legal and illegal trading. The It is probable that in late conflict and have still to be re only from the places where it Hexden Channel joins the river prehistoric times, a long and solved by compromise. can most be spared. from the North at the site of continuous shingle ridge stretch South of the Marshes lies the a Castle Toll of unproven his ed most of the way across GEOLOGY AND shingle promontory of Dunge tory. Flowing through the Wet the shallow bay betw een Fair- ness. This is an area of unique Level, South of the Isle of light and Sandgate. Behind this HYDROLOGY importance for a wide range of Oxney, the river takes a new' lay a large lagoon into which In the heart of the Weald the bird life and also an important cut made in the 17th Century the Rivers Brede, Tillingham Wadhurst ('.lay is som e 45m source of water for the Folke before rejoining its old course and Rother flowed. The main thick and separates the Ash stone and District Water (North and East of Oxney and outlets for the Rother were down and Tunbridge Wells Company. large volumes of now known as the Reading further East, betw een Lydd and Sands. Being impermeable to fresh water are taken daily from Sewer). The Royal Military Romney near the present site rainfall, the clay dictates the beneath the shingle for public Canal, links into the river at of West Hvthe. Siltation in the flashy character of the head supply. Gravel extraction for Iden Lock. lagoon eventually allowed waters. In winter they respond the construction industry' in The tidal limit of the river marshlands to be reclaimed or quickly to rainfall, but in volves the NRA in considerable is Scots Float Sluice at Playden “inned” and in the process summer they lack strong investigatory work to ensure which was built in 1984 to re caused the outfall to move springs such as those issuing the integrity of the water place the previous sluice of westward twice. from chalk areas elsewrhere in supplies in the shingle and to 1831. H ere river flow is Man’s continuing efforts the region. safeguard them from saline interrupted twice a day by the drained the land and made it Some w'ater supplies in the intrusion. in»trum^At*)\ Forest Eridge — r r ‘ K ilndow #? ,_ 'Cranbro< Green Franl Upper Rother a , ^ J CRAjTbroOK DISTRICT MUSEUM rED p i 4 B c o o e a u H r V i uHartfey®3o55\V S \ j ^ , r W B & c :tm N v S WEAip^-«v to, Royal Military Canal at Stone BfflWLES\ )OOR r> O ^E (i SwitfoCteU* Clir
Bodiam Castle
IVI tiTS Rolvenden ■NGE A U ^ e
2C
Newenden ALTAR
O l c T ^ HAREMERE P E R IG O E (itherenaeTf IARY & ss I V ^ K S H O l Sea Cliffs lltH O U rSiSHlMft^HQI^ES I'C H k p R E N S ill :h in j M' reis BODIAM A ^R O N A U ' __/ ** ▼ ._____ ^a _____V- R. Rother at Newenden MUS. Powdermill Reservoir _fPINE CENTRE 8
t ^ | M A N S , n & , luthJ/d Kipl#d) Scots Float Sluice fash fnon Playden Cross in Hai M •V. _ LAM'B l(fOi Ancient Rye" I Cinque merm*Td in !s t o v S T . fUGAfc LOAl J t POTTER FOIL1 SO_ »H IM
Udimore RYE ^ARBOURo Dry Dock, Rye Harbour
WIN! /inchelsea Beach
LonaihMfnal Stcfion Rfrtr Roth*
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IRLIGHT National Rivers Authority **-V- GLEN Southern Region
_ J lL » M
' S t . HASTINGS 0 BASS i ____ i ! I Ancient Cinque Port COD Cartography prepared and published by E S TA TE P U B L IC A TIO N S — dr.^ - - h i - ---- L e o n a r d s w h i t e r o c k p a v i l i o n with the editorial assistance of the FISHERMEN'S MUSEUM WRECK SOUTH EAST ENGLAND TOURIST BOARD HASTINGS EMBROIDERY Based upon the O R D N A N C E SU R V EY maps with the AMSTERDAM INTERNATIONAL CHESS sanction of the controller of H M Stationery Office X ri ri S T MUS. OF LOCAL HISTORY Rainfall in the upper Rother industry in the Rother Estuary tion. By the 12th century' there some land was still needed to catchment averages 890 mm within the Port of Rye, in w ere I j w s of the Marsh’; statu store floodwater in the most per year which is generally cluding a timber wharf, several tory rules for the direction and extreme conditions, so the heavier than elsewhere in Kent. small boatyards, an oil refinery' control of sea defence and land flood banks in the region of the This is because the prevailing and a solvent extraction works drainage. An ancient corpora Wet Ix*vel were built to a lower south-westerly winds carry but in general these do not tion, known throughout its level to permit overtopping in moisture from the Atlantic and affect water quality. history as the Ijords, Bailiffs and extremity. This provided an English Channel. Some of this Jurats was established by Royal area of about 280 ha (700 condenses into rainfall as the C harters in 1252 and 1462. It acres) to store fkx>dwater air lifts and cools over the exercised its functions from whilst the outflow from the relatively high ground of the FISHERIES New Hall, Dvmchurch, until river to the sea was tide-locked. The Rivers Rother, Brede and W eald. 1930 when the first I.and For land drainage purposes, Tillingham all support good Drainage Act created Catch provision was made to pump coarse fisheries as well as runs ment Boards to undertake flood water from low lying land up of sea trout. The sea trout are defence duties. to the high river level. Twenty WATER QUALITY large, compared with elsewhere Today, the National Rivers Archimedean screw pumping The National Rivers Authority in the country, averaging Authority, like its predecessors stations now drain the marsh has set high water quality 2—2.5 kg (4.5—5 lbs) and objectives for the rivers of the the Kent River Board, the Kent areas and also deal with the some fish reach sizes in excess Rother catchment which for River Authority and Southern upland water. Similar provisions o f 6 kg. most of their lengths have Water Authority, has responsi were made for the Rivers In the High Weald where the objectives of 1A or IB (high bility for the harbour, land Brede and Tillingham. water is iron rich and acidic, water quality suitable for game drainage and sea defence. Historically the drainage there are populations of highly and high class fisheries.) Additionally, much smaller pattern of the marshes had been coloured, small brown trout. There are however stretches local organisations set up by radically changed at a stroke Bullheads, brook lampreys and where low flows or low the land Drainage Act (1930), by the building of the Royal stone loaches are also found in dilutions make Class 2 (suitable called Internal Drainage Military’ Canal for military de the fast flowing headwaters. for reasonably good coarse Boards, levy rates and look after fence against the French in The middle reaches support fisheries) a more realistic smaller watercourses in the 1803-5. Its potential for cap good populations of dace and objective. These include a short separate marshes in the area. turing upland water from the chub whereas the lowland stretch of stream below Battle The NRA carries out land hills was quickly appreciated. reaches, with their more mod Sewage Treatment Works, and drainage work on behalf of Water from the Marsh was lifted erate flows, contain stillwater the lower reaches of the river these which comprise the into the Canal, first by wind species and fish which are more between the Rother Levels and Romney Marsh Levels IDB, mills and then by steam pumps. tolerant of lower oxygen levels. the tidal limit. To ensure that Walland Marsh IDB, Denge & Today the Marsh is still drained These include bream, roach, the river meets its objectives Southbrooks IDB, Rother IDB to the Canal by pumping sta tench, carp and pike. th e NRA sets lim its on all and Pett IDB. tions at Shirley Moor, Apple- permitted discharges, restrict In addition to the large dore, Warehorne, Ruckinge ing the strength and volume of areas of low-lying, reclaimed IDB and Bilsington. A pumping o f effluents. land in the lower catchment, station at Union Sluice drains T he catchm ent is p redom i the topography has an im the Walland Marsh to the tidal nantly rural and the population portant bearing on the land Rother and others at Great- is spread mainly across small drainage and flood defence stone, St Mary’s Bay, Dym- church and Camber help to towns and villages so there role. TTie upland catchm ent is are no large sewage works. steep and relatively imper drain small areas of marsh The three largest, Tenterden, meable; consequently in wet directly to the sea. Battle and Rye have flows of weather there is a high rate of The Royal Military Canal — 1,730, 1,130 and 1,180 m’/d run-off. The lowland valley military defence work, high respectively. below Bodiam then becomes a way, land drain, fishery and Intensive dairy' farming has flood storage lake which can thing of great beauty - also generated considerable pollu discharge only intermittently serves as a reservoir during the tion problems in the past. The between each high tide. The dry summer months when its steeply sloping land aggravates river cannot always store this water, impounded by sluices at slurry and silage pollutions, water within its banks when it Appledore, West Hythe and particularly during periods of is tide-locked, and when tide- Iden Dxrk can be fed through Lamprey heavy rainfall. free, its discharge is restricted penstocks into the thirsty After agriculture, the major by the small cross-section of the marsh sewers. This can be industry in the area is gypsum Fishing rights on 23 5 km of upper reaches of the estuary'. supplemented by water mining in the Mountfield and the Royal Military Canal rest These two factors result in pumped from the river to pro Brightling area. From time to with the National Rivers frequent and extensive fkxxiing vide wet-fencing, cattle water time the discharge of mine Authority which leases them to of the valley. ing and also water for spray water has resulted in high five angling societies. The The exceptional floods of irrigation. sulphate levels in the River (.anal is an important match November I960, when the peak Along the coast, the shingle Line, a tributary of the River venue for large competitions run-off came at the end of an drift which gave birth to Brede. including National events. extremely wet period of five Romney Marsh still continues The lower Rother catchment days, exceeded in level anything its relentless passage eastwards. and the Romney and Walland previously recorded, and most Now, NRA flood defence en Marsh area are characterised FLOOD DEFENCE of the valley was inundated. gineers work with the sea, by sluggish or static water The forces of river and sea. Between 1966 and 1980 an using the shingle it supplies as courses and whilst being of together with the efforts of improvement scheme was in a “soft” sea defence. Shingle good quality are prone to de man. created Romney Marsh stalled. The river banks were absorbs the energy of storm oxygenation, particularly during and earned the area its reputa raised throughout most of its induced waves and moves with the dry summer months. tion as the cradle of land drain length to increase storage and the forces of nature. By recyc There is considerable light age and sea defence organisa avoid overtopping. However. ling shingle from the areas Murray, K M E History o f Romney Marsh and Sea Defence o f Romney Marsh where it accumulates to those References Gazette o f the Association o f Drainage Co!lard, J. A ( l‘J85). A Maritime History o f Vine. P A L (1972) The Royal Military Authorities. where it has been depleted, Canal, David and Charles Rye. 16 Walchhell St Rye. ‘Robinson G. W„ M Ulmer, E and Roberts, G. the NRA maintains a shingle Frith, F. M. A Natural History o f Romney •Mtdmer, E N. (!W )) Rother Area Sea Defence and land Drainage of Romney Marsh. Drainage Improivment Scheme. Yearbook Marsh. cushion to resist the impact of o f the Association of Rit'er Authorities (,
NRA National Rivers Authority Southern Region Regional Office PURBECK BEDS Guildboume House Chatsworth Road 10 20 km NRA (Southern) Boundary Worthing West Sussex BN 11 1LD (0903)820692 March 1992