Denver put-in (King's Lynn and West Norfolk)
Denver Sluice marks the tidal limit of the Great Ouse, where the tidal river running north to King's Lynn and the Wash meets the non-tidal Ely Ouse arriving from the south, the New Bedford (Hundred Foot) River, the Great Ouse Relief Channel and the Cut-off Channel, all controlled by Environment Agency structures at the Denver Complex. The surrounding Ouse Washes, the seasonally flooded washland between the Old and New Bedford Rivers, is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Area, Special Area of Conservation and Ramsar site.
Above the sluice the non-tidal Ely Ouse is deep and controlled; the Great Ouse Relief Channel, built alongside the Cut-off Channel in the early 1960s to relieve flood pressure on the Fens, runs dead straight for about 10.5 miles roughly parallel to the tidal river towards King's Lynn, and was made navigable in 2001 when the Environment Agency built a lock at Denver. The sluice itself is Grade II listed, built by Sir John Rennie in 1834 and enlarged since, with three chambers controlled by timber tide gates to the north and steel guillotine gates to the south.
The Ouse Washes, one of the most important wetlands in Britain, regularly hold more than 20,000 wintering waterbirds, including nationally and internationally important numbers of swans and ducks, across a Ramsar site of 2,469 hectares. The New Bedford River, engineered by Cornelius Vermuyden as part of the seventeenth-century Fens drainage scheme, runs from Earith to terminate at Denver Sluice, with the Cut-off Channel carrying floodwater from the Lark, Little Ouse and Wissey into the same junction at times of flood.
Nearby
Open to the public year-round, with 100 grass pitches for tents, caravans and motorhomes alongside five fishing lakes, on Sluice Road, Denver.
WebsiteOpen all year for touring caravans and motorhomes only, tents not permitted, on Sluice Road, Denver, PE38. Not located as a mapped OpenStreetMap element.
WebsiteConditions to check
Denver Lock and the adjoining Relief Channel Lock separate the moorings from the tidal river beyond; locking through is tide-dependent and can be restricted around neap tides.
SourceBelow Denver Sluice the Great Ouse is tidal, with a rise and fall of up to 6 metres and flow reaching 7 knots, more around bridge buttresses and similar obstructions.
SourceAlong the tidal river below the sluice there are no designated haul-out locations.
SourceA silt and sand bar recurrently forms outside Denver Sluice; at its worst it can prevent passage at neap tides.
SourceThe tidal river south of King's Lynn is used by a variety of leisure craft, from small motor boats to large steel barges.
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