The River Lod is a short river draining about of north west
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
. The source is on Marley Heights near
Haslemere
The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south west Surrey, England, around south west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill, they comprise the civil parish of Haslemere i ...
, about above sea level. From here it flows west past Linchmere, then south to Furnace Pond, where iron cannon were cast during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
.
It then turns south east, flowing south of
Fernhurst
Fernhurst is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England, on the A286 Milford, Surrey, to Chichester road, south of Haslemere. The parish includes the settlements of Henley Common, Kingsley Green and Bell Vale, ...
to Lickfold and
Lurgashall
Lurgashall is a village and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, 6.5 km (4 ml) north west of Petworth, just inside the South Downs National Park. The population at the 2011 Census was 609.
History
The church has ...
where it formerly powered Lurgashall Mill, now moved to the
Weald and Downland Open Air Museum
The Weald and Downland Living Museum (formerly known as the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum until January 2017) is an open-air museum in Singleton, West Sussex. The museum is a registered charity.
The museum covers , with over 50 historic ...
. From Mill Farm it heads south between high banks, which it only overflows after the heaviest of rainfalls, passing between the hills of
Lodsworth and River to Halfway Bridge on the
A272 road then joining the
River Rother at Lods Bridge.
North Park Furnace
Iron was produced by a blast furnace on the boundary of Fernhurst and
Linchmere
Linchmere, also often spelled Lynchmere, is a village and a civil parish, the northernmost parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. As well as Linchmere village, the parish contains the settlements of Hammer and Camelsdale.
Linc ...
parishes. Water to power the bellows was provided by an artificial lake covering about created by a dam on the river. There was also a higher pond north-west of the furnace to provide a reserve supply as continuity of production is vital for a blast furnace.
[
]
Lurgashall Mill
Another artificial lake between Lurgashall and Lodsworth supplied water to power Lurgashall Mill, producing flour. The mill is now operated at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.
Lords Wood Barns
Formerly named Lodge Farm the old barns on the east bank of the river by Lords Wood were converted into offices for Sofa Workshop Company in 1996, saving the older barn from imminent collapse. The east pier of the bridge had sunk several centimetres before the bridge was underpinned and repaired at that time to carry the newly built road through the wood from the Lodsworth to Lickfold road. The Serpent Trail
The Serpent Trail is a long distance footpath. It runs from Haslemere to Petersfield, Hampshire, Petersfield, which are 11 miles apart in a straight line, by a route which is designed to join up the many heathland areas on greensand in the ...
long distance path crosses the river here.
Water quality
The Environment Agency measure the water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s, angiosperm
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
s and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.
References
Further reading
John Rickman,''The Land of Lod''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lod
Rivers of West Sussex