Barcombe Mills | |
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![]() Weir at Barcombe Mills | |
Location within East Sussex | |
OS grid reference | TQ432149 |
• London | 40 miles (64 km) N |
Civil parish | |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | LEWES |
Postcode district | BN8 |
Dialling code | 01273 |
Police | Sussex |
Fire | East Sussex |
Ambulance | South East Coast |
UK Parliament | |
Barcombe Mills is a small settlement and an area of countryside including a local nature reserve near the village of Barcombe Cross in East Sussex, England. It is located in the civil parish of Barcombe in the Lewes District. It is an important area for its wildlife, natural environment and water storage. The River Ouse and Andrew's Stream, one of its tributaries and popular for fishing, flow through the area and Barcombe Reservoir is adjacent. The area includes a small hamlet and some farms, including Barcombe House, and a water treatment works.
There were mills in the parish of Barcombe as far back as the 11th century. [1] Thomas and Denise Erith are recorded as holding a corn mill at the beginning of the 16th century. [1] Although the original mills were destroyed by fire in 1939, several pillboxes from the Second World War, a beautiful large brick bridge and many weirs remain.
The old road through the Mills features a former toll bridge which still displays its tolls in pre-decimalisation currency and a plaque mentioning that it was featured in the Domesday Book commissioned by William I.
The local pub is the Anchor Inn, where canoes can be hired for trips down the Ouse. This public house, however, is situated about a kilometre to the north of the main hamlet and cannot be accessed directly by road from Barcombe Mills. It can be accessed along the disused trackbed of the railway or by walking over footpaths. It can also be reached by car by driving into the village of Barcombe Cross and turning right; it is then signposted down the dead-end Anchor Lane. The pub's address is in Barcombe Mills but it is generally considered as an offshoot of Barcombe Cross or Spithurst.
The disused Barcombe Mills railway station served the hamlet until 1969.
Now just a collection of houses and a water treatment works, the area once had a thriving community. A pub called the Anglers' Rest (formerly known as the Railway Inn) closed in the 1990s. This was situated next to the former railway station. A restaurant was also present in the former railway station and this closed soon after the pub. Many more houses were also present at one time when the oil mills and the button factory still existed on the banks of the Ouse. The tributaries, weirs and millstreams cut to feed this are still obvious today - this is why the river takes such a bizarre course at Barcombe Mills. The hamlet is signposted from the village of Barcombe Cross but from nowhere else. In early 2018 two village signs were erected along Barcombe Mills Road, one at either side of the hamlet.
Since it has lost many of its services it has reduced to a quiet backwater consisting of houses and farms.
Barcombe Mills is at the River Ouse's tidal limit and is also on its flood plain. The fields around Barcombe Mills sometimes flood in winter, occasionally closing the road which bypasses the hamlet. A few of the hamlet's lower-lying houses were damaged by water when the Ouse in Lewes flooded in October 2000, described as a "once in a hundred years" event. The area is known to have been subject to flooding since Roman times.
The area is extremely popular with visitors in the summer who come to enjoy the beautiful riverside scenery on foot or by bicycle. There are numerous footpaths and a permissive bridleway along the disused trackbed of the railway to Anchor Lane. Many people enjoy walking, picnicking and swimming in the river in the summer months. Self-catering accommodation is available in the converted down waiting room of the former railway station.
The River Ouse is extremely popular with anglers for its carp, pike, trout and other species of popular fish. There are long stretches of river interspersed with many pools which make for high quality fishing. The Ouse Angling Preservation Society and Isfield Angling Club hold rights to the river with Isfield leasing out their stretch to the Lewes Angling Club also.
The river is also home to trout and migratory sea trout are seeing an increase. Andrew's Stream and the pool underneath the automatic sluice gates are popular with trout fisherman. Pike are also prevalent along with high quality carp and other species such as roach, rudd and foreign pumpkinseed and grass carp.
The vast Barcombe Reservoir used by South East Water's water treatment works to extract water for drinking is also popular with fly fishermen fishing for trout. The fact that the water is extracted for drinking shows the clean quality of the Ouse's waters.
Local bird and mammal species include: moorhen, mallard, mute swan, greylag goose, rabbit, barnacle goose, Canada goose, robin, blue tit, herring gull, sheep, cattle and grey wagtail. Most of the geese nest in the fenced off reservoir area. Rare freshwater mussels are also to be found in the quieter drains and streams that are in confluence with the Ouse.
The hamlet features the disused Barcombe Mills railway station which was on the former Lewes-Uckfield line. There is strong support for the re-opening of the line by the Wealden Line Campaign. The campaign has featured much prominence at national level [ citation needed ], however a study by Network Rail considered the reopening technically but not economically feasible. However the group and local politicians are still campaigning.
The nearest open station is at Lewes. The nearest port is Newhaven, East Sussex and the nearest airport is at Shoreham. This airport sees mainly private planes and a few light flights to France and the Channel Islands. The nearest major airport is London's Gatwick Airport near Crawley.
The settlement lies along Barcombe Mills Road which leads north into the village of Barcombe Cross, giving access to the A275 and north to Newick and south to the A26.
The hamlet sees three buses a day into Lewes (one in the morning, two in the afternoon) and three return journeys in the afternoon and the evening on the 125 service operated by Compass Travel. The 125 only operates to Barcombe Mills on weekdays only.
The Ouse is a 35 miles long river in the English counties of West and East Sussex. It rises near Lower Beeding in West Sussex, and flows eastwards and then southwards to reach the sea at Newhaven. It skirts Haywards Heath and passes through Lewes. It forms the main spine of an extensive network of smaller streams, of which the River Uck is the main tributary. As it nears the coast it passes through the Lewes and Laughton Levels, an area of flat, low-lying land that borders the river and another tributary, the Glynde Reach. It was a large tidal inlet at the time of the Domesday book in 1086, but over the following centuries, some attempts were made to reclaim some of the valley floor for agriculture, by building embankments, but the drainage was hampered by the buildup of a large shingle bar which formed across the mouth of the river by longshore drift.
Newhaven is a port town in East Sussex in England, lying at the mouth of the River Ouse.
Rodmell is a small village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located three miles (4.8 km) south-west of Lewes, on the Lewes to Newhaven road and six and a half miles from the City of Brighton & Hove and is situated by the west banks of the River Ouse. The village is served by Southease railway station, opened in 1906. The Prime Meridian passes just to the west of the village.
The Bluebell Railway is an 11 mi (17.7 km) heritage line almost entirely in West Sussex in England, except for Sheffield Park which is in East Sussex. It is managed by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society. It uses steam trains which operate between Sheffield Park and East Grinstead, with intermediate stations at Horsted Keynes and Kingscote.
The Neversink River is a 55-mile-long (89 km) tributary of the Delaware River in southeastern New York in the United States. The name of the river comes from the corruption of an Algonquian language phrase meaning "mad river."
The River Nar is a river in England, a tributary of the River Great Ouse. It rises at Mileham near Litcham in Norfolk and flows 15 miles west through Castle Acre and Narborough, joining the Ouse at King's Lynn. It has had a variety of alternative names, such as the Setch, the Sandringham, and Lynn Flu, though these are rarely, if ever, used today. In 2011 the Nar was recognised by the Environment Agency as one of the top ten most improved rivers in England and Wales.
Isfield is a small village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex in England, located north-east of Lewes.
The Lavender Line is a heritage railway based at Isfield Station, near Uckfield in East Sussex, England.
Barcombe is an East Sussex village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex. The parish has four settlements: old Barcombe, the oldest settlement in the parish with the parish church; Barcombe Cross, the more populous settlement and main hub with the amenities and services; the hamlet of Spithurst in the northeast and Town Littleworth in the northwest.
Newick is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located on the A272 road six miles (9.7 km) east of Haywards Heath.
Hamsey is a civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The parish covers a large area and consists of the villages of Hamsey, Offham and Cooksbridge. The main centres of population in the parish are now Offham and Cooksbridge. Around the main settlements are enlarged fields, isolated old cottages and farms. The winding and undulating parish lanes between banks, old hedge rows, trees, flowery verges and ditches are popular with cyclists and give good views of the Downs.
Sheffield Park is the southern terminus of the Bluebell Railway and also the headquarters of the line. It is located on the southern bank of the River Ouse and is also situated on the Greenwich Meridian.
Gaywood River is a tributary of the River Great Ouse in the west of the county of Norfolk. Its source is 11 metres above sea level, northwest of the village of Gayton in Derby Fen, Map Reference TF 705 209. It runs for 6.7 miles (10.8 km) to its outflow into the River Great Ouse in the town of King's Lynn.
Ryther cum Ossendyke is a civil parish 6 miles (9.7 km) from Tadcaster and 6 miles (9.7 km) from Selby, North Yorkshire, England. It includes the village of Ryther. The civil parish population at the 2011 census was 241.
The Wealden Line is a partly abandoned double track railway line in East Sussex and Kent that connected Lewes with Tunbridge Wells, a distance of 25.25 miles (40.64 km). The line takes its name from the Weald, the hilly landscape the lies between the North and South Downs.
Barcombe Mills is a disused railway station in the hamlet of Barcombe Mills, on the closed section of the Wealden Line. The station was opened in 1858 and closed in 1969.
Isfield is a preserved railway station on the closed section of the Wealden Line which served the East Sussex village of Isfield near Uckfield. Originally opened in 1858, the station closed in 1969 and was sold into private hands in 1983 to subsequently become the current centrepiece of the Lavender Line, a heritage railway.
The London to Lewes Way is a 71 kilometres (44 mi) long Roman road between Watling Street at Peckham and Lewes in Sussex. The road passes through Beckenham and West Wickham, then crosses the North Downs above Titsey, on the county boundary between Surrey and Kent, and is overlain by Edenbridge High Street. The road continues on this alignment onto the high ground of Ashdown Forest, where the more grassy vegetation on the silted up outer ditches contrasts very clearly with surrounding heather in aerial photographs, then descends through Piltdown to Lewes, linking with the Sussex Greensand Way at Barcombe Mills and with a network of roads at Lewes.
Downham West is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk The parish is 47.6 miles (76.6 km) west of Norwich, 16.3 miles (26.2 km) south-south-west of King's Lynn and 96.2 miles (154.8 km) north of London. The nearest town is Downham Market which is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north east of the parish. The nearest railway station is at Downham Market for the Fen Line which runs between King's Lynn and Cambridge. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport. The parish of Downham West, in the 2001 census, has a population of 285, rising marginally to 286 at the Census 2011. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.
The Lewes and Laughton Levels are an area of low-lying land bordering the River Ouse near Lewes and the Glynde Reach near Laughton in East Sussex, England. The area was probably a tidal inlet in Norman times, but by the early 14th century, some meadows had been created by building embankments. Conditions deteriorated later that century, and by 1537, most of the meadows were permanently flooded. Part of the problem was the buildup of shingle across the mouth of the Ouse, but in 1537 a scot tax was raised, and a new channel cut through the shingle. By the mid 17th century, shingle was again preventing the region from draining properly, until the new channel was reinstated around 1731. In 1758 John Smeaton surveyed the area with a view to improving it for agriculture. He suggested straightening and widening the river channel, raising the banks around meadows, and building a large sluice near Piddinghoe, to keep the tides out. Some dredging and widening were carried out, but the straightending and sluice were discarded.