Southease put-in (Lewes)
This slipway sits on the west bank of the tidal Sussex Ouse, upstream of Newhaven Harbour and south of Lewes, immediately north of Southease's Grade II listed swing bridge and facing the Iron Age hillfort of Mount Caburn. The bridge's swing span last opened in 1967 and was fixed permanently in 1988 under parliamentary powers to stop large vessels passing further upstream, so the site is the remains of a historic slipway rather than a maintained boat ramp.
The tidal Sussex Ouse runs about 9.5 miles from the tidal limit at Barcombe Mills down to Southease, with a weir at Hamsey, roughly 2.5 miles below Barcombe, that has to be portaged; below Southease it continues about 4.5 miles further to Newhaven Harbour. Across the floodplain here the channel is embanked and comparatively wide.
The bridge itself is a Grade II listed, three-span wrought-iron bowstring-truss structure designed by Henry E. Wallis and built by Shaw & Co. in 1880, with a total length of 43.2 metres between abutments and timber fender piles still standing upstream and downstream of its piers. It replaced an earlier crossing about 10 metres upstream, part of the Lower Ouse Navigation's canalisation between 1791 and 1795, engineered by William Jessop. The deck was designed to clear 2.75 metres above high water, and the structure was refurbished in 2010 at a cost of £1.5 million.
The adjacent grazing marsh and ditches form part of the Lewes Brooks Site of Special Scientific Interest, notified in 1988 for its invertebrate assemblage, with ditches ranging from fresh, spring-fed water in the west to brackish water closer to the tidal river. Recorded wildlife along the riverbank includes redshank, oystercatcher, little egret and common sandpiper, with wintering snipe and wildfowl on the flooded pastures; the tidal river itself supports sea trout and grey mullet, and seals have been recorded as far upstream as Barcombe Mills.
St Peter's Church, Southease, close to the launch, is a Grade I listed building and one of only three round-tower churches in Sussex, along with St Michael's in Lewes and the church at Piddinghoe.
Nearby
Conditions to check
Water levels rise and fall with the tide; the nearest measured range, several miles downstream at Newhaven, is 0.5m to 6.6m on spring tides and 1.9m to 5.2m on neaps.
SourceThe fixed swing bridge immediately downstream prevents large vessels from passing further upstream, so traffic on this reach is limited to small and unpowered craft rather than the commercial vessels found nearer Newhaven.
A weir at Hamsey, on the tidal Ouse about 2.5 miles below Barcombe Mills and well upstream of Southease, requires portage.
SourceThe fixed swing bridge deck immediately downstream of the launch was designed to give 2.75 metres clearance above high water.
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