Newhaven Harbour

Newhaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex in England. It lies at the mouth of the River Ouse, on the English Channel coast, and is a ferry port for services to France.

Newhaven lies at the mouth of the River Ouse, in the valley the river has cut through the South Downs. Over the centuries the river has migrated between Newhaven and Seaford in response to the growth and decay of a shingle spit (shoal) at its mouth.

There was an Iron Age fort on what is now Castle Hill.

In about 480AD the Saxon people established a village near where Newhaven now stands, which they named "Meeching" (variously known as "Myching" or "Mitching").

Throughout the Middle Ages the main outlet and port of the Ouse was at Seaford (one of the Cinque Ports).

The growth of the shingle spit hindered the outflow of the river, which consequently flooded the Levels upstream and hindered access to the port. Therefore a channel through the shingle spit was cut in the mid-16th century below Castle Hill, creating access to a sheltered harbour, better than that at Seaford. This was the origin of modern Newhaven.

However, shingle continued to accumulate and so the mouth of the Ouse began to migrate eastwards again. Under the Ouse Navigation Act (1790) a western breakwater was constructed to arrest longshore drift and so cut off the supply of shingle to the spit. A new outlet (The Cut) was built on the river's present course, below Castle Hill. At that time the settlement began to be known as the ''new haven''. The present breakwater was built in 1890.

Port

Newhaven was well-used during the both World Wars. It was designated as the principal port for the movement of men and materiel during World War I; during World War II large numbers of Canadian troops were stationed here, and the ill-fated Dieppe Raid in 1942 was largely launched from Newhaven.

From the port of Newhaven international ferries run to the French ports of Dieppe (Transmanche Ferries); and to Le Havre, (LD Lines) Although there are some derelict signs of the one-time train ferry operations, the harbour still sees a great deal of freight and passengers movement, with both the ferries running from this port being under 3 years old.

The Newhaven Lifeboat, the first of which was commissioned in 1803, is among the oldest in Britain. Newhaven also has one of the Watch stations of the National Coastwatch Institution

Industry

To the east was the village of Tide Mills, built in 1761, and now derelict. Here are the remains of workers' cottages, the tide mill itself, and a large saline lagoon which was the storage pond for high water to power the mills on the outgoing tide.

The Newhaven Marconi Radio Station was established in 1904, and started running in 1905. The station was owned and operated by the Marconi Radio Company and achieved regular ship to shore radio communications in approximately 1912.

The Heritage Marine Hospital was built in 1924 wto cater for disabled boys who had undergone surgery. It became a casualty of wartime defence work during World War II.

Today the Denton Island Business Park lies to the north of the town on the east bank of the river.

Military

Newhaven Fort, one of the Palmerston Forts, was built on Castle Hill on the recommendation of the 1859 Royal Commission to defend the growing harbour It was the largest defence work ever built in Sussex and is now open as a museum.

The adjacent village of Tide Mills was the site of an experimental seaplane base at the head of the beach. The first formation of No. 242 Squadron RAF was on 15 August 1918 from numbers 408, 409 and 514 Flights at the seaplane station at Newhaven, Sussex. Operating from there and the nearby airfield at Telscombe Cliffs, it was equipped with Short Type 184 seaplanes and carried out anti-submarine patrols over the English Channel until the end of the First World War. Surveys carried out in 2006 have exposed part of the slipway, concrete aprons to both hangars with door tracks and several other slabs presumed to be workshops. Sussex Archaeological Society started a dig in April 2006 to catalogue the entire East Beach site.

Layout

The main part of the town is located on the west side of the river; there is also a residential area at Denton on the slopes of the Downs to the east. A recent housing development has taken place at West Quay.

Demography

Newhaven population (11,144 persons) are 59% of working age; 22% are 15 and under; and 19% retirement age. There are over 360 businesses in the town. Unemployment (higher than the South-east average) was at 2.4%. Two of the town wards (Meeching and Valley) have some of the most deprived areas in the county

Landmarks

The main landmark in the town is the Newhaven Fort.

The parish includes part of the Brighton to Newhaven Cliffs Site of Special Scientific Interest. The cliffs are mainly of geological interest, containing many Santonian and Campanian fossils. The SSSI listing includes flora and fauna biological interest too.

The Sussex Downs AONB lies above the town on the north-east side.

Transport

Newhaven lies at the southern end of the cross-country A26 trunk road originating in Maidstone; and its junction with the A259 coast road between Brighton and Eastbourne.

It is also located on the Seaford Branch Line from Lewes; there are two operating stations: Newhaven Town and Newhaven Harbour. A third, for all intents and purposes unused since its train ferry services ceased using it, was ''Newhaven Marine''.

Notable people

When Lord Lucan vanished in 1974, his car was found in Newhaven, in Norman Road, with two types of blood in it. Other residents have included Charles Wells the "man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo" casino and Charles Webb, the author of The Graduate.

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