Bibliography - River Ouse
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The Ouse Valley, by E. V. Lucas with illustrations by Frederick L. Griggs, published 1904 in Highways and Byways in Sussex (Chapter XXVII, London: Macmillan & Co.) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 41][Lib 12792][Lib 15825] & The Keep [LIB/500142]   View Online

Rambles in Sussex, No 6. Brighton to the Ouse Valley and Lewes, by H. J. Sibley, published 1927 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. I no. 12, article, pp.520-521) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2303][Lib 8326] & The Keep [LIB/500137]

A Saunter up the Sussex Ouse, by W. A. Elvidge, published 1928 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. II no. 9, article, pp.402-403) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9327] & The Keep [LIB/500138]

The Ouse in the 16th and 17th Centuries, by F. G. Morris, M.A., F.R.G.S., published 1931 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. V no. 4, article, pp.293-296) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2310] & The Keep [LIB/500174]

The Spirit of the Ouse, by James Turle and Christie Cheale, published 1931 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. V no. 8, article, pp.523-526) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2310] & The Keep [LIB/500174]

Newhaven and Seaford: a study in the diversion of a river mouth, by F. G. Morris, published March 1931 in Geography (vol. 16, no. 1, article, pp.28-33, Geographical Association)   View Online

The Left Bank of the Ouse, by Eva Bretherton, published 1935 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. IX no. 7, article, pp.420-422) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9330] & The Keep [LIB/500180]

The Brooklands of the Lower Ouse, by D. MacLeod, published February 1935 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. V no. 5, article, pp.143-144) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2204][Lib 8223][Lib 8862] & The Keep [LIB/500207] & S.A.S. library

Shipwrights on the Ouse (ref: pp.157-8), by Laurence F. Field, published November 1937 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VI no. 8, reply, pp.252-253) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12537][Lib 8863][Lib 8224] & The Keep [LIB/500208] & S.A.S. library

The Ouse Valley Railway, by H. A. Vallance, published September 1951 in Railway Magazine (article, pp.629-631)   Download PDF

The Crossing of the Ouse after the Battle of Lewes, by G. D. Johnston, published May 1956 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XIV nos. 9 & 10, article, pp.169-171) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8232][Lib 2213] & The Keep [LIB/500216] & S.A.S. library

The Sussex Rivers, by David L. Linton, published November 1956 in Geography (vol. 41, no. 4, article, pp.233-247, Geographical Association) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/507956]   View Online

Towing Paths in Sussex, by G. D. Johnston, published May 1958 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XV no. 1, article, pp.7-13) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8233] & The Keep [LIB/500217] & S.A.S. library

A study of the diatoms of the Ouse Estuary, Sussex I. The movement of the mud-flat diatoms in response to some chemical and physical changes, by J. T. Hopkins, published November 1963 in Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (vol. 43, no. 3, article, p.653, ISSN: 0025-3154)   View Online

The analysis shows that the diatom community resides mainly in the top 2 mm of the mud and when in bright light the community moves less than 1 mm towards the surface of the estuarine mud, although the colour of the mud changes noticeably. The fine mud supports more diatoms than the coarse mud, and the community in fine mud is nearer to the mud surface, but this is probably caused by the more rapid extinction of light in fine mud than in the coarse mud, while also large spaces between the coarse mud particles may offer less protection from the effect of tidal scour than in fine mud, this giving contributory explanation for the less abundant community in coarse mud.

A Study of the Diatoms of the Ouse Estuary, Sussex II. The Ecology of the Mud-Flat Diatom Flora, by J. T. Hopkins, published June 1964 in Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (vol. 44, no. 2, article, p.333, ISSN: 0025-3154)   View Online

By estimating samples of diatoms taken from 0.2 m contour lines, over a horizontal range of about 85 m in the months of July 1953 a nd February 1954 the ecological factors influencing the distribution of eleven species of mud-flat diatoms were investigated. The three important factors were considered to be: the resistance to desiccation near the M.H.W.L., the ability to live under short periods of illumination near to the M.L.W.L., and the ability to tolerate the organic materials present in the black sulphureous layer. Table 7 summarizes the results for the eleven species.

A Study of the Diatoms of the Ouse Estuary, Sussex III. The Seasonal Variation in the Littoral Epiphyte Flora and the Shore Plankton, by J. T. Hopkins, published October 1964 in Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (vol. 44, no. 3, article, p.613, ISSN: 0025-3154)   View Online

Analyses have been made of some of the constituents of the coastal sea water and the river water, and the results have been correlated with the growth phases of some planktonic diatom species and littoral epiphytes, although for most species the sea-water temperature and light intensity were limiting factors. The factor determining the death of an epiphytic diatom community in the littoral zone has been considered to be the air temperature in conjunction with desiccation and a summary of the limiting temperatures for each of the four substrata is given in Table 7. Table 10 is a summary of all the distribution and temperature records. The heat itself is not lethal in many cases but the desiccation of the epiphyte in the littoral zone is accelerated at higher temperatures. Diatoms in damp situations were found to occur at temperatures which in a dry site were limiting, and further work indicating the relationship between relative humidity and lethal temperatures is needed. The ability of a diatom to survive depends upon the water-retaining ability of the substratum. Chalk and large algae favoured the growth of most solitary epiphytes, and filamentous epiphytes grew particularly well on algae except the filamentous Navicula, which were best suited by chalk. The Achnanthes blue-green community was most frequent on wood. Concrete makes a firm substratum and allows rapid growth in winter but it is easily dried and most diatoms on it are destroyed in the summer. Four diatom genera ( Fragilaria, Grammatophora, Biddulphia and Melosira ) are able to exist in the epiphyte flora and the shore plankton and the term facultative epiphyte is suggested to describe the behaviour of at least some of the species of these genera.

Ferries in Sussex, continued, by G. D. Johnston, published November 1966 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XVI no. 8, article, pp.277-279) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8234] & The Keep [LIB/500218] & S.A.S. library

Ferries in Sussex, continued, by G. D. Johnston, published May 1967 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XVI no. 9, article, pp.305-311) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8234] & The Keep [LIB/500218] & S.A.S. library

The Upper Ouse Navigation 1790-1868, by D. F. Gibbs and J. H. Farrant, published December 1970 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 1, article, pp.22-40) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/1] & The Keep [LIB/506524]   Download PDF

Sussex at the end of the eighteenth century was essentially an agricultural county with no large industry. In that age of agricultural improvement, stimulated in Sussex by the demand for food from London and later by the Napoleonic Wars, any means of increasing agricultural productivity was readily seized upon. Hence, each of the rivers Arun, Adur, Ouse and Eastern Rother, running roughly parallel to each other into the heart of Sussex, was improved for navigation by local landowners. P.A.L. Vine, in his book London's Lost Route to the Sea, has written admirably about the Arun Navigation, its crucial Act of 1785 and its role along with the Portsmouth & Arundel Canal, the Wey & Arun Junction Canal and the Wey Navigation in linking London to Portsmouth by waterway. The Adur, with its mouth at Shoreham, was improved for navigation by an Act of 1807 and later extended further inland by the Baybridge Canal Act of 1825. The Western Rather, too, was canalised by an Act of 1791 and the Eastern Rother flowing out at Rye, and used along with the River Brede by the Wealden ironmasters since Tudor times, was gradually improved. The Ouse was improved under Acts of 1790 and 1791, which created two bodies; the Trustees of the Lower Ouse Navigation and the Company of Proprietors of the River Ouse Navigation, which were responsible for the river below and above Lewes respectively. Although today the small volume of water in the river does not readily suggest it, these bodies made it navigable for barges for thirty miles inland and for sea-going vessels up to Lewes, a distance of nine miles. This article reconstructs the history of the Upper Ouse Navigation Company and describes the physical remains of its works .

Inscriptions on Sussex Bridges, by G. D. Johnston, published May 1971 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XVII no. 7 and last, article, pp.209-233) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8235] & The Keep [LIB/500219] & S.A.S. library

The Evolution of Newhaven Harbour and the Lower Ouse before 1800, by John H. Farrant, published 1972 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 110, article, pp.44-60) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2195] & The Keep [LIB/500319] & S.A.S. library

Sussex River: Journeys along the Banks of the Ouse - Seaford to Newhaven, by Edna & 'Mac' McCarthy, published 1975 (Lindel Organisation Ltd.) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16046] & The Keep [LIB/500072] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Sussex River: Journeys along the Banks of the River Ouse - Newhaven to Lewes, by Edna & 'Mac' McCarthy, published 1977 (Lindel Organisation Ltd.) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500073] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The Role of landowners and tenants in changing agricultural practice in the valley of the River Ouse south of Lewes (Sussex) 1780 to 1930 and the consequences for the landscape, by S. Farrant, 1977 at Birkbeck, University of London (Ph.D. thesis) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502080]

Between 1780 and 1840, estates, farms and methods of husbandry developed which were to persist in the valley unti11 930. By 1840 a pattern of large farms on which sheepcorn husbandry was practised had been established and from that date the agriculture changed only slightly until the 1890s, from when some adaptions were made by 1930. The thesis consists of two parts. In the first part the author discusses the changes that occurred between 1780 and 1840. These resulted in the evolution of both the farms and the system of husbandry. In the second part she seeks to explain why there were few changes in landownership, tenancy and agricultural practice during the fifty years between 1840 and 1890 when the pattern of the supply of cereals and sheep products changed to favour importation. The reactions of owners and farmers from 1890 to 1930 are discussed. Each stage, as the maps show, has spatial significance.

The Changing Structure of Land Ownership in the Lower Ouse valley, 1780 to 1880, by S. P. Farrant, published 1978 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 116, article, pp.261-268) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7197] & The Keep [LIB/500313] & S.A.S. library

Old Bridges at Newhaven, by A. J. Haselfoot, published 1978 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 8, article, pp.5-10) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/8] & The Keep [LIB/506525]   Download PDF

From the 13th to the 18th Century the only means of crossing the River Ouse at Newhaven was by a ferry, from the bottom of High Street across what is now the old arm of the river, to the West of Denton Island. In 1783 the inhabitants petitioned for a bridge to be built and an Act was passed by Parliament in 1784 authorising the building of a bridge on the site of the ferry. Thirteen Trustees, headed by the Earl of Surrey, were appointed and allowed to charge a toll on the bridge. The owner of the ferry, Henry Bates, was willing to the bridge to be built and was handsomely compensated for the loss of the ferry dues.
As the Ouse was navigable above Newhaven and there were several shipyards above the site of the ferry it was decided to make a wooden drawbridge with a 40ft (12.2m) opening in the middle. The fixed approach bridges were 35ft 5 ins (9.9m) on the West side, where a toll house was erected on the quay, and 60ft (18.3m) to the bank on the East side. The two leaves of the centre section were lifted up towards the sides to open the channel for shipping. A sketch of the bridge, which also shows the toll house, is in the Burrell Collection at the British Museum.
In 1847 the L.B. & S.C.R. reached Newhaven by way of a branch from Southerham Junction on the Lewes - Eastbourne line. As the railway was on the East bank of the river, while Newhaven was on the West bank, this resulted in a considerable increase in traffic over the bridge and in 1863 plans were prepared for a new bridge lower down river. This was to be a swing bridge and would be built in conjunction with a new cut across the large S-bend through Denton which would straighten the channel and improve the scour at the harbour mouth. The works were estimated to cost £31000, of which the Railway Company would contribute £5000. In 1864 the old drawbridge was purchased for £4000 by the Trustees of the Newhaven Harbour Board and the Lower Ouse Navigation, and work was started on the new bridge with Henry Grissell as civil engineer and Mr. Jacomb as the Railway Company's engineer.

Sussex River: Journeys along the Banks of the River Ouse - Upstream, from Lewes to the Sources, by Edna & 'Mac' McCarthy, published 1979 (Lindel Organisation Ltd.) accessible at: & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The management of four estates in the lower Ouse Valley, by S. Farrant, published 1979 in Southern History (vol. 1, article, pp.155-170)

The estates, with the families involved, are Stanmer (Chichester), Glynde (Brand), Southdown (Abergavenny) and Wiston (Goring)

Short Economic and Social History of Brighton, Lewes and the Downland Region Between the Adur and the Ouse, by Colin E. Brent, published 1 December 1979 (16 pp., Lewes: East Sussex County Council, ISBN-10: 0861470192 & ISBN-13: 9780861470198) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500068] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Loess in the Weald, by P. J. Burrin, published 1981 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 92 issue 2, article, pp.87-92)   View Online

An investigation into the floodplain and valley fill sediments of the Rivers Ouse and Cuckmere in the southern Weald has shown that the alluvium consists predominantly of silt-sized material. These would normally be interpreted as fluvial sediments produced by the erosion of local rocks. The homogeneity and general characteristics of these deposits are more satisfactorily explained as loessal-derived sediments. This finding provides some insight into the formerly more widespread deposition of loess in the Weald.

The character and evolution of floodplains with specific reference to the rivers Ouse and Cuckmere, Sussex., by Paul J. Burrin, 1983 at London School of Economics and Political Science (Ph.D. thesis)

The genesis, development, character, spatial variability and sedimentary composition of floodplains have been a much neglected study in the geomorphological literature. This is evidenced by the fact that the three most recent authoritative texts on fluvial geomorphology devote less than 2% of available space to this drainage basin component. As floodplains are one of the most extensive and widespread of fluvial landforms, this lack of analysis is important and surprising. It is the objective of this study partially to redress this previous neglect and to provide a better understanding of this important landform. Following a critical review of previous floodplain geomorphological and sedimentological studies, attention is focused on detailed case studies of floodplain development in the Oise and Cuckmere valleys, two small catchments in the southern Weald. Geornorphological maps have been constructed which are used to to describe floodplain form-process relationships. Subsurface investigations by hand-augering techniques at nineteen locations within the two valleys have enabled the form of the underlying sub-alluvial surfaces and the nature and thickness of the overlying litho-stratigraphic units to be described. A classification of the various types of valley rockhead encountered is outlined and form-lithology relationships investigated. Earlier interpretations of sub-alluvial surfaces are rejected for research has indicated that they are better explained as ccaplex, composite, polygenetic, diachronous response surfaces. The alluvial geometry of the fill sequences is discussed and analysed. The sedimentological and mineralogical characteristics of these deposits are analysed by a number of techniques including scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectrophotometry and X-ray diffraction. Results indicate that the fine-grained alluvial fill deposits comprising these floodplain tracts appear to consist largely of reworked aeolian (loe"ss) sediments with varying inclusions of locally derived materials. Further sampling and analyses of the alluvium found in floodplains throughout the Weald have indicated that deposits with characteristics similar to those in the Ouse and Cuckmere valleys are to be found, which provides an indication of the former widespread deposition of loess in this area. A working model of floodplain and valley development is derived for the Holocene period using palynological and radiocarbon evidence. This is then used to re-examine some of the previous concepts regarding the origins and evolution of floodplains, including a re-evaluation of Dury's meandering valley and underfit stream model as it relates to south-east England.

George Shiffner and the Offham Chalkpit Tramway, by Tom Evans, published 1985 in Sussex Industrial History (issue no. 15, article, pp.15-18) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/15] & The Keep [LIB/506525]   Download PDF

A recent re-examination of the Shiffner manuscripts at the East Sussex Record Office, Lewes has been undertaken with special attention to those that throw light on the sources of supply of materials for plateways in the South of England in the early years of the nineteenth century.
George Shiffner was an industrialist with Russian origins, a military background and was later M.P. for Lewes, (1812-1826). He lived at Coombe Place, Offham just north of Lewes and operated a business at the Offham chalk pits. During the "canal mania", when the River Ouse above Lewes was being canalised under the direction of William Jessop Jnr., George Shiffner had the intention of supplying chalk by means of a "cut" from the Ouse and an inclined plane with a plateway to transport the chalk to barges moored at a wharf and possibly with limekilns near the foot of the incline. In 1807 this must have been quite a revolutionary project for rural Sussex.

The Sussex River Ouse, by Hazel Lintott, published July 1990 in Waterways world (vol. 19, no. 7, article, pp.82-83)

Lower Ouse Navigation, 1934-1967, by Alan F. Hill, published 1991 (published by the author) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500070] & East Sussex Libraries

Sheffield Park Garden Stone Bridge and Sluice, by Ron Martin, published 1997 in Sussex Industrial History (issue no. 27, article, pp.2-7, ISSN: 0263-5151) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506527]   Download PDF

Sheffield Park is one of the jewels in the crown of the National Trust in Sussex and is located in the parish of Fletching at TQ 4124. It comprises 120 acres (40 hectares) of ornamental garden on a sloping site running down from the House to a stream at the bottom of a valley in which runs a tributary of the River Ouse. This stream has been dammed to create the two Woman's Way Ponds. There are two other lakes between the Upper Woman's Way Pond and the House, the Middle Lake and the Ten Foot Pond and to the southwest side of the garden is the Storage Pond. The House is no longer part of the estate. The Stone Bridge, which is the subject of this article, is located at the outlet of the Ten Foot Pond and for purposes of descriptions, the bridge is assumed to be orientated due north - south with the Ten Foot Pond at the west side. The bridge was investigated in January and February 1997, during the period that it was being demolished prior to reconstruction.

Port of Lewes in the 20th Century: Lower Ouse Navigation, by Alan F. Hill, published 2000 (published by the author) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500075] & East Sussex Libraries

The Lewes Flood, by Andy Thomas and foreward by Norman Baker, published 15 June 2001 (56 pp., Seaford: S. B. Publications, ISBN-10: 1857702360 & ISBN-13: 9781857702361) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502852] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Collecting personal accounts of the Lewes floods of October 2000, by Joy Preston, published 2002 in Oral history (vol. 30, no. 2, article, pp.79-84)

The Lower Ouse Valley, Lewes to Newhaven: A History of the Brookland, compiled by Margaret Thorburn, published 1 April 2002 (vi + 56 pp., Lewes: Withy Books, ISBN-10: 0955524202 & ISBN-13: 9780955524202) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506142] & British Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Barcombe Mills to Old Lodge Warren, East Sussex, by William Foot, published 2006 in The battlefields that nearly were: defended England 1940 (pp.89-98, Stroud: Tempus, ISBN-10: 0752438492 & ISBN-13: 9780752438498) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics of the Sussex Ouse Estuary, UK, by Richard Otway Charman, 2007 at Sussex University (Ph.D thesis)

Lower Ouse Valley: New Research Project, by Simon Rupniak, published April 2008 in Sussex Past & Present (no. 114, article, p.7, ISSN: 1357-7417) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500475] & S.A.S. library   View Online

This project has come about partially due to a powerful piece of EU legislation called the Water Framework Directive, introduced in December 2000. It requires all inland and coastal waters to be restored to a state of "good ecological standing" by 2015. Currently the responsibility for taking action regarding the water framework directive in England and Wales has fallen to the Environment Agency.

Mostly Rodmell: A Parish in the Lower Ouse Valley, Sussex, by Margaret Thorburn, published 2009 (Lewes)

The Railway That Never Was: The story of the abortive Ouse Valley line, by Alex Vincent, published 2009 (20 pp., published by the author, ISBN-13: 9781989753026) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface, by Olivia Laing, published 2011 (283 pp., Edinburgh: Canongate, ISBN-10: 1847677924 & ISBN-13: 9781847677921) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

To the River is the story of the Ouse, the Sussex river in which Virginia Woolf drowned in 1941. One midsummer week over sixty years later, Olivia Laing walked Woolf's river from source to sea. The result is a passionate investigation into how history resides in a landscape - and how ghosts never quite leave the places they love. Along the way, Laing explores the roles rivers play in human lives, tracing their intricate flow through literature and mythology alike. To the River excavates all sorts of stories from the Ouse's marshy banks, from the brutal Barons' War of the thirteenth century to the 'Dinosaur Hunters', the nineteenth-century amateur naturalists who first cracked the fossil code. Central among these ghosts is, of course, Virginia Woolf herself: her life, her writing and her watery death. Woolf is the most constant companion on Laing's journey, and To the River can be read in part as a biography of this extraordinary English writer, refracted back through the river she loved. But other writers float through these pages too - among them Iris Murdoch, Shakespeare, Homer and Kenneth Grahame, author of the riverside classic The Wind in the Willows. The result is a wonderfully discursive read - which interweaves biography, history, nature writing and memoir, driven by Laing's deep understanding of science and cultural history. It's a beautiful, lyrical work that marks the arrival of a major new writer.

Flood defence in an urban environment: the Lewes Cliffe scheme, UK, by Andrew Burton, Colin Maplesden and Gary Page, published 2012 in Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers -- Urban Design and Planning (vol. 165, no. 4, article, pp.231-239)

Reassessing flood frequency for the Sussex Ouse, Lewes: the inclusion of historical flood information since AD 1650, by N. Macdonald, published 2014 in Natural hazards and earth system sciences (vol. 14, no. 10, article, pp.2817-2828) accessible at: British Library

The Upper Ouse Navogation, by Nick Kelly, published 2014 in Sussex Industrial History (issue no. 44, article, pp.23-34, ISSN: 0263-5151) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/44] & The Keep [LIB/507922]   Download PDF

The Archaeology of the Ouse Valley, Sussex, to AD 1500, edited by Dudley Moore, Michael Allen & David Rudling, published 2016 (xxii + 137 pp., Oxford: Archaeopress Archaeology, ISBN-10: 1784913774 & ISBN-13: 9781784913779) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries

The Ouse valley, East Sussex, is a key communication route from the Channel coast, via the Downs (and the historic county town of Lewes), to the wide expanse of the Weald. It traverses and encompasses landscapes and archaeological sites of both regional and national importance - all connected by the river Ouse and its valley. This is the first review of the archaeology of this important landscape - from Palaeolithic to medieval times by contributors all routed in the archaeology of Sussex. Binding together the archaeology is a review of the geoarchaeology and palaeo-environment following which the chapters document the collective archaeology and potential from the Palaeolithic of Boxgrove vs Piltdown, via Mesolithic archaeology from the textbook excavations of Grahame Clark to recent 21st century investigations. Monuments of causewayed enclosures, long barrows and round barrows represent some of the Neolithic and Bronze Age evidence with some extraordinary finds recorded in the Bronze Age. From hillforts and villas, to medieval rural and urban excavation; the Ouse valley represents a microcosm of the wider region, the contributions collectively reveal the importance and significance of this valley to the development of landscape history and society of a quintessential English county. The narrative concludes with the first detailed research agenda for the Ouse valley.