The River Cuckmere rises near Heathfield in

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on the southern slopes of the

Weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...

. The name of the river probably comes from an

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

word meaning "fast-flowing", since it descends over 100 m (328 ft) in its initial four miles (6.4 km). It flows into the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, and has the only undeveloped river mouth on the Sussex coast.

Description

The river has many tributaries at its upper end, the principal one being the River Bull; and its main channel begins at

Hellingly Hellingly (pronounced 'Helling-lye') is a village, and can also refer to a civil parish, and to a district ward, in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. Geography Hellingly contains the confluence of the River Cuckmere and one of its ...

. After crossing the Low Weald area of farmland, the Cuckmere cuts through the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east. ...

in its own valley. It reaches the English Channel at Cuckmere Haven, between Seaford and the Seven Sisters cliff face. The lower part of its course in the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

is marked by

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...

ing. The Cuckmere Valley Nature Reserve is located in the lower

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

portion of the river. The valley is very important for nature conservation. It has been designated a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

and is part of the

South Downs National Park The South Downs National Park is England's newest national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hamp ...

."Congratulations to the Environment Agency on the Cuckmere Valley!"
Tony Whitbread Blog, 7 January 2009, accessed 29 October 2010

History and environmental issues

The Cuckmere Valley

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

takes its name from the river. In the 19th century, defensive measures were taken to prevent flooding of the upper valley. Shingle was regularly dug from the mouth of the river and the banks were made higher. In 1846, the course of the river was straightened in an artificial cut; the cut mostly prevented flooding upstream, which used to reach to the village of

Alfriston Alfriston is a village and civil parish in the East Sussex district of Wealden, England. The village lies in the valley of the River Cuckmere, about four miles (6 km) north-east of Seaford and south of the main A27 trunk road and part ...

. It also provided support for irrigation."'Dangerous message' over Cuckmere's future"
''Sussex Express'' Series (Lewes, England), 19 January 2008, accessed 29 October 2010 In addition, raised river banks, or

levees A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually earthen and that often runs parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastlin ...

, were constructed to protect areas from flooding. In recent decades, the area has become a major tourist destination, with tourism contributing to the local economy more than does agriculture. The river also stands at the foot of the current

Litlington White Horse The Litlington White Horse is a chalk hill figure depicting a horse, situated on Hindover Hill (known locally as High-and-Over) in the South Downs, looking over the River Cuckmere to the west of the village of Litlington and north of East Bla ...

carved in 1924. In 2001,https://democracy.eastsussex.gov.uk/Data/Lead%20Member%20for%20Transport%20and%20Environment/20071119/Agenda/LMTE19Nov07item8appendix.pdf the Cuckmere Estuary Partnership was established as a collaboration of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, Natural England,

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

, East Sussex County Council,

Sussex Wildlife Trust The Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT) is a conservation charity which aims to protect natural life in Sussex. It was founded in 1961 and is one of 46 wildlife trusts across the UK and the Isle of Man and Alderney. , it has 33,000 members and manages ...

, and various other environmental and conservation groups. They are working together to create long-term plans for the natural area. Government guidelines prohibit continuing to maintain hard flood defences where houses are not at risk. In addition, there is growing scientific evidence that the area would be more ecologically rich if allowed to return to its natural state. The partnership and the Environment Agency have proposed estuary restoration, and have been talking to local residents, businesses and visitors about how to proceed in the future. Presently, a shingle beach and raised river banks prevent seawater from penetrating the uppermost areas of the Cuckmere Valley. But the Environment Agency projects that an expected

sea level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...

due to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

will increase the already steep costs of physical reinforcement, and current measures will not be sufficient. They intend to stop repair of the levees and to allow the cycle of natural processes, including periodic flooding of the area. The planning collaborators believe that in the long term, restoration of the saltwater estuary and marshes will enrich the ecological habitat, attract more wildlife and improve tourism. The Environment Agency plans have provoked controversy in the valley, especially among some property owners. Some residents have formed a group called "Rescue the Cuckmere Valley" to try to create an alternative to proposed seasonal flooding."Cuckmere Valley flood plans to be revealed"
''Sussex Express'' Series (Lewes, England), 30 August 2007, accessed 29 October 2010
''Eastbourne Herald'' (Eastbourne, England), 27 April 2004, accessed 29 October 2010 In early 2008 the Cuckmere Parish Council issued a public statement urging the Environment Agency to take less drastic steps in the near term, protecting the Cut while developing longer-term plans over the next 25–50 years.

References

External links

"The Cuckmere Estuary"
Cuckmere Estuary Partnership {{authority control

Cuckmere The River Cuckmere rises near Heathfield in East Sussex, England on the southern slopes of the Weald. The name of the river probably comes from an Old English word meaning "fast-flowing", since it descends over 100 m (328 ft) in its ...

Wealden District Estuaries of England