The River Hamble in south

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, rises near Bishop's Waltham and flows for through Botley, Bursledon, and Lower Swanwick before entering Southampton Water between Hamble Common and Warsash. The river is tidal for about half its length and is navigable below Botley. From the medieval period to the present it has been a major ship and boat-building area. Leisure craft are still built by the Hamble today. One of the main builders was Luke & Co, later Luke Bros, from around 1890 to its closure in 1945. The lower reaches are a major yachting area with easy access to the sheltered waters of Southampton Water and The Solent.

Course

From source to mouth the river makes a repeated curve heading south-southwest. It gains tributary streams before reaching Botley, the site of an ancient watermill. Below Botley, the river becomes tidal and navigable. It gains strength from adjoining streams, draining surrounding Hedge End, Curdridge, Shedfield, and Burridge.Ordnance Survey This section was extensively used for medieval shipbuilding, using timber grown locally in the neighbouring woods. Nearby Kings Copse, a cut-back form of Kings Forest, speaks of this key use of the land. The river's west bank can be accessed from Manor Farm Country Park, where it is possible to walk through Dock Copse and Fosters Copse. At extreme low tide, it is just possible to see the remains of the wreck of Henry V's 15th century warship ''Grace Dieu''. This section of the river was also home to HMS ''Cricket'', the Royal Marine landing craft crew training base, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. At south of Botley, the river passes between the villages of Bursledon and Lower Swanwick and is crossed by the

M27 motorway The M27 is a motorway in Hampshire, England. It is long and runs between Cadnam and Portsmouth. It was opened in stages between 1975 and 1983, providing the largest two urban areas in Hampshire (Southampton and Portsmouth) with a direct moto ...

, the

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

railway line, and the

A27 road The A27 is a major road in England. It runs from its junction with the A36 road, A36 at Whiteparish (near Salisbury, England, Salisbury) in the county of Wiltshire, follows the south coast of Hampshire and West Sussex, and terminates at Pevense ...

via large bridges. A further south of Bursledon, the river flows between the villages of Hamble-le-Rice and Warsash before entering Southampton Water.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map 119 - Meon Valley, Portsmouth, Gosport & Fareham''. . A passenger

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

crosses the river between Hamble-le-Rice and Warsash, forming a link for the Solent Way and E9 European Coastal Path. This section of the river is dominated by a number of

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

s, the largest being the Port Hamble Marina, and boat yards on both banks as far upstream as Bursledon. On the east bank, south of Warsash, is the Warsash Maritime School, part of Solent University, which provides training for merchant navy crew.

Lifeboat

The Hamble and nearby Solent are patrolled by Hamble Lifeboat, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

voluntary rescue service based in

Hamble-le-Rice Hamble-le-Rice, commonly known as Hamble, is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Eastleigh (borough), Borough of Eastleigh in Hampshire, England. It is best known for being a flying training centre during the Second Wor ...

Water quality

The Environment Agency measure water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit ...

s and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright. Water quality of the River Hamble in 2019: In the 1970s and 80s the many yachts using the river polluted the water by leaching

tributyltin Tributyltin (TBT) is an umbrella term for a class of organotin compounds which contain the group, with a prominent example being tributyltin oxide. For 40 years TBT was used as a biocide in anti-fouling paint, commonly known as bottom paint, ...

from their anti-fouling paints. By 1988 it had the highest known level in the UK. With its banning for use by vessels under long, the general concentration in the tidal waters declined to a level that is considered harmless.

Gallery

File:RiverHambleUpstream.jpg, The River Hamble looking upstream towards Botley from Fosters Copse. Dock Copse can be seen on the left bank. Bloomfield Copse is on the right bank File:RiverHambleCreek1.jpg, Medieval shipbuilding site on the River Hamble File:GraceDieuWreckSite.jpg, The Yellow X marks the site of the wreck of HMS ''Grace Dieu'' File:River-hamble-mouth-20040903-002.jpg, River Hamble Estuary

References

External links