The River Meon () is a
chalk stream in
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, ...
in the south of England. It rises at
East Meon then flows in a generally southerly direction to empty into the
Solent at
Hill Head near
Stubbington.
[Hampshire County Council (2006). ]
Activities at Titchfield Haven - River Study
''. Retrieved March 19, 2005. Above
Wickham, the river runs through the
South Downs National Park.
Course
The River Meon rises one mile (1.6 km) south of the village centre of East Meon. It flows due north, then northwest to
West Meon, and southwest to
Warnford followed by its characteristic, quite straight, south-southwest course, with many tiny wobbles in short stretches. The river descends through the villages of
Exton,
Corhampton and
Meonstoke,
Droxford,
Wickham, and
Titchfield. The river outflows over of estuary through the marshes of the
Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve to enter the
Solent through a small harbour at
Hill Head.
[Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map 119 - Meon Valley, Portsmouth, Gosport & Fareham''. .] Overall the valley forms the shape of that of a shepherd's crook.
Navigation
Above the estuary has never been navigable. Titchfield Haven, on the Solent coast was a minor harbour. In the 17th century, the
Earl of Southampton caused a sluice (not a
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...
) to be built (
Titchfield Canal) to drain the marshes. The reinstated wetlands form the
Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve.
Water quality
The Environment Agency measures the 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
invertebrates,
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 Meon in 2019:
Gallery
See also
*
Meonwara - The people who lived in the Meon Valley during the Anglo-Saxon period.
References
External links
*
Ordnance Survey National Grid: (source), (mouth)
Current flood statusfor River Meon, from the
Environment Agency
{{authority control
Meon, River