The River Medina is the main river of the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
, England, rising at
St Catherine's Down near
Chale
Chale is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight of England, in the United Kingdom. It is located three kilometres from Niton in the south of the Island in the area known as the Back of the Wight. The village of Chale lies at the foot of ...
, and flowing northwards through the county town
Newport, towards the
Solent
The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...
at
Cowes. The river is a navigable tidal
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 environm ...
from Newport northwards, where it takes the form of a
ria
A ria (; gl, ría) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea.
Definitions
Typically rias have a dendritic, treelike outline although they ca ...
(a drowned valley). This occurred because the Medina used to be a tributary of what was once the "
River Solent
The River Solent is a now-extinct river which during the Paleocene would have flowed around the area which is now the coastlines of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
History
The River Solent was one of three major rivers in central and southern E ...
", with a larger catchment area. As the Solent valley flooded, the river received less water and more sediment, causing it to become more tidal.
The river is bridged at Newport. Cowes is connected to
East Cowes
East Cowes is a town and civil parish in the north of the Isle of Wight, on the east bank of the River Medina, next to its west bank neighbour Cowes.
The two towns are connected by the Cowes Floating Bridge, a chain ferry operated by the Isle ...
by a
chain ferry known as the
Cowes Floating Bridge
The Cowes Floating Bridge is a vehicular chain ferry which crosses the River Medina on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England. The ferry crosses the tidal river from East Cowes to Cowes. The first floating bridge between the two tow ...
.
The river also has several small ferries which cater mainly for sailors.
The name ''Medina'' comes from the
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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...
' meaning "the middle one", and the current pronunciation was first recorded as 'Medine' in 1196. The river's only named tributary is
Lukely Brook. The navigation of the river was improved in the nineteenth century by
Henry Daniel Martin, a
civil engineer who lived in Newport.
The river is used by yachtsmen as a safe harbour. Along its banks there are old warehouses and wharves, where in the past flying boats, hovercraft and steam ships were developed and built. The
Classic Boat Museum displays much of the river's history, as well as the history of yachting. The
Island Harbour Marina, at the site of an old tidal mill, is on the river about two miles from Newport.
Views along the river
File:Medina_at_Shide.jpg, At Shide, on the southern outskirts of Newport
File:Medina_at_Newport.jpg, At Coppins Bridge, Newport
File:Newport Quay, IW, UK.jpg, Newport Quay, at the head of the estuary
File:River Medina near Newport, Isle of Wight.jpg, The estuary, looking north from Newport
File:River Medina, Isle of Wight, UK.jpg, View from the east bank, about a mile north of Newport
File:Medina at Cowes (2).jpg, The river's mouth at Cowes, looking west, with the chain ferry in mid-stream
File:River Medina, Newport, Isle of Wight, UK.jpg, Wintry scene, near Newport. Snow here is fairly unusual.
See also
*
Rivers of the United Kingdom
For details of rivers of the United Kingdom, see
* List of rivers of England
* List of rivers of Scotland
* List of rivers of Wales
* Northern Ireland: see List of rivers of Ireland and Rivers of Ireland
* Longest rivers of the United Kingdom
Ov ...
References
Rivers of the Isle of Wight
Estuaries of England
Medina Estuary
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