Essex, England

Wivenhoe put-in (Colchester)

Launch — Wivenhoe Town Council's own property register lists this leasehold site as "Pontoon & Slipway" at Pearl Walk, the same asset its website describes as the pontoon: a purpose-built floating structure opened in 2016 for small unpowered craft, which reconciles the historic slipway designation with its current use. A separate leasehold hard, the Ferry Hard on Bethany Street, sits a short walk away and was previously used for ferry access.

Parking — The nearest is the council's High Street car park (CO7 9AZ), a short walk from the water. It now charges after an initial free period, with hourly rates and an overnight fee run through the North Essex Parking Partnership's MiPermit system; it previously operated free of charge with a three-hour maximum stay.

Access — The pontoon at Pearl Walk is reached on foot from central Wivenhoe and is open from 8am to 8pm between 1 April and 31 October, and from 8am to 4pm between 1 November and 31 March. It is provided for small unpowered craft, and no booking is required.

Season — The pontoon is open longer in summer than in winter, and the High Street car park's public toilets follow the same seasonal hours.

Regulations — Colchester City Council is the statutory navigation authority for the river under the River Colne Barrier (Wivenhoe) Order 1991; Brightlingsea Harbour Commissioners hold responsibility for navigation and pilotage from the Inner Bench Head buoy to the Roman River confluence, between Wivenhoe and Rowhedge. A mandatory 5-knot speed limit applies upstream of Priors Wharf and Ballast Quay at Wivenhoe, part of a wider speed-limit scheme enforced by yellow marker buoys and Essex Police's Marine Unit. The estuary downstream is a Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area and Ramsar site.

Wivenhoe sits on the River Colne where it was historically the limit of navigation for larger vessels serving Colchester, and the water here is tidal with a marked rise and fall. Wivenhoe Sailing Club operates just downstream of the town's river barrier, and a seasonal foot ferry crosses from the Ferry Hard to Rowhedge and Fingringhoe on weekends and bank holidays between April and mid-October.

Below the put-in the Colne opens from the moorings and quayside below the Colne Barrier into a wide tidal estuary before reaching the North Sea between Mersea Island and Brightlingsea. The lower estuary carries Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area and Ramsar designations, with saltmarsh and mudflats that support internationally important numbers of wintering brent geese and black-tailed godwits.

Wivenhoe grew up as a shipbuilding port, with two shipyards and a dry dock built in 1889 that was among the largest on the east coast; much of the waterfront below the town centre is now a conservation area, its streets built up around that maritime trade. Upstream of the put-in, the Ferry Marsh Local Nature Reserve holds reedbed and grazing marsh at the water's edge, reached on foot along the Wivenhoe Trail.

Nearby

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Wivenhoe Cafe & Gallery

A cafe on East Street in Wivenhoe town centre, about 450m from the put-in.

Mill Farm Camp Site

A campsite near Great Bromley, about three miles from the put-in, that takes tents, caravans and motorhomes.

Conditions to check

Other

The Colne Barrier is an Environment Agency tidal defence gate spanning the river immediately upstream of the put-in. When the Environment Agency operates it against tidal surges, the river is closed to navigation until the council publishes a Notice to Mariners confirming the gates have reopened.

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Tidal flow

The River Colne is tidal at Wivenhoe; the Environment Agency monitors water levels here at its Colne Barrier gauge station.

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Boat traffic

Below the barrier the channel is shared with moored leisure yachts, a seasonal foot ferry between the Ferry Hard, Rowhedge and Fingringhoe, and organised river cruises to Brightlingsea.

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