The River Ems is a much-sluiced,

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

of the far west of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

which for its last delimits eastern

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, before flowing into large, coastal

Chichester Harbour Chichester Harbour is a large natural harbour in West Sussex and Hampshire. It is situated to the south-west of the city of Chichester and to the north of the Solent. The harbour and surrounding land has been designated as an Area of Outstandin ...

Source

Over the centuries various cartographers and chroniclers have suggested a variety of sources for the Ems. According to research by David J. Rudkin the River Ems has its source about east of Stoughton.

From source to the sea

Along the county-limits part, of its west bank, is the old town portion of

Emsworth Emsworth is a town in the Borough of Havant in the county of Hampshire, England, near the border of West Sussex and located at by the south coast of England. It lies at the north end of an arm of Chichester Harbour, a large and shallow inlet fr ...

that contains mainly pre-1900-built buildings. The Ems flows south west through

Walderton Walderton is a hamlet in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies on the B2146 road 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Emsworth. It is in the civil parish of Stoughton. The village lies just below the source of the River Ems. I ...

as a broad-catchment winterbourne. It runs past: *the hamlet that includes well-preserved

Lordington House Lordington House is a manor house near Walderton in West Sussex. It is a Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by H ...

Racton Monument Racton Monument (known locally as Racton Ruin) is a folly on a hill in Racton, West Sussex, England with views over Chichester Harbour and to the Isle of Wight. It was commissioned by the 2nd Earl of Halifax, either as a summerhouse for the near ...

which has nearby in Racton hamlet the church for Lordington *A copse, Ractonpark Dell *the village of Westbourne, has the westmost section of the Ems, in Sussex. Westbourne receives a year-round brook from the north and that descends under the railway at Emsworth (in Hampshire), becomes tidal, drains Brook Meadow to Peter and Slipper Mill Ponds from where it discharges into the sea. At lower tides it helps forms at the head of Emsworth Channel in the harbour; its last few metres enable access to Emworth Marina, the other former tidal mill pond.

Etymology

It is sometimes thought that the town of Emsworth derives its name from that of the River Ems, this is not correct as before the 16th Century the stream was originally called the Bourne. The river was renamed by the 16th century chronicler

Raphael Holinshed Raphael Holinshed ( – before 24 April 1582) was an English chronicler, who was most famous for his work on ''The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande'', commonly known as ''Holinshed's Chronicles''. It was the "first complete printe ...

. Many of the towns and villages that the River Ems runs through or past still have Bourne as a suffix. e.g.: Westbourne.

Notes

References

Citations

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ems Rivers of Hampshire Rivers of West Sussex