The River Wantsum is a tributary of the River Stour, in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. Formerly, the River Wantsum and the River Stour together formed the

Wantsum Channel The Wantsum Channel was a strait separating the Isle of Thanet from the north-eastern extremity of the English county of Kent and connecting the English Channel and the Thames Estuary. It was a major shipping route when Britain was part of the Rom ...

, which separated the

Isle of Thanet The Isle of Thanet () is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island. Archaeological remains testify to its settlement in anc ...

from the mainland of Kent. Now the River Wantsum is little more than a drainage ditch starting at Reculver, and ending where it joins the Stour.

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

, in the 8th century, said that the Wantsum – meaning Wantsum Channel – was "about three

furlong A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now mostly confined to use in hors ...

s broad [], and is fordable only in two places, for both ends run into the sea". in In 1414 there was still a ferry crossing the Wantsum at Sarre, Kent, Sarre, but by 1550 Thanet was no longer an island. At

Reculver Reculver is a village and coastal resort about east of Herne Bay on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. It is in the ward of the same name, in the City of Canterbury district of Kent. Reculver once occupied a strategic location ...

, the Romans built a fort that was about from the sea, whereas Leland, in the early 16th century, described Reculver as being from the sea, and the great storm of 1809 carried away half of the fort. It is postulated that the eroded material was carried along the shore and blocked the northern mouth of the Wantsum. The River Wantsum now joins the

Great Stour Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

from the north as a small tributary, just before the

Little Stour The Little Stour is one of the tributaries of the River Stour in the English county of Kent. The upper reaches of the river is known as the Nailbourne, whilst the lower reaches were once known as the Seaton Navigation. The intermittent source ...

enters it from the south to form what is thereafter known simply as the River Stour.

References

Wantsum 1Wantsum {{England-river-stub