scubish.com: Scuba diving Newhaven, East Sussex - United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland

Newhaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex in England. It lies at the mouth of the River Ouse, on the Sussex Coast, and is a car ferry port for services across the English Channel to Dieppe in Normandy. The port handles industrial traffic and there is also a small marina.

The town is linked to Lewes by rail; there are two stations: Newhaven Town and Newhaven Harbour. There is also a third station, Newhaven Marine, which is effectively a spur from Newhaven Harbour. This station whilst not officially closed, sees no regular traffic, the only trains being either empty stock movements or charter services. The line terminates at nearby Seaford. ~~(The port of Newhaven is now entirely owned by the French authorities)????~~

The huge Newhaven Fort, built on Castle Hill in the 1860s, is only the last of several built here since Bronze Age times. It is now a visitor attraction.

While the commercial and industrial communities of Newhaven have declined, the town has been granted quite extensive regeneration programmes for several years, to varying degrees of success. These have included a huge increase in properties built in the town over the past decade or so. Recent developments have sought to increase economic prosperity in the area, but have on the whole failed, with the recent closure of several of the town's major shops. One of the business closures was, in part, a protest at the mismanagement of the town.

Etymology

Newhaven used to be named Meeching until the 16th century when a great storm diverted the course of the Sussex Ouse so forming a New Haven.

Newhaven is the postal town of the nearby villages of South Heighton and Denton.

Archaeological Sites

To the east of Newhaven is the derelict village of Tide Mills which is the remains of workers' cottages, a tide mill, and a large saline lagoon which was the storage pond for high water to power the mill on the outgoing tide.

Almost within the same site is the set of foundations for the Heritage Marine Hospital which was founded in the mid-19th century to cater for disabled boys who had undergone surgery.

Tide Mills is also associated with the pioneering Newhaven Seaplane Base

Intrigue

When Lord Lucan vanished in 1974, his car was found in Newhaven, in Norman Road, with two types of blood in it.

Harbour

Newhaven Harbour houses the ferry services between Newhaven and Dieppe, operated by Transmanche Ferries, and the new service to Le Havre operated by LD Lines. On 31st March 2007, LD Lines took control of Transmanche Ferries after being put out to tender during 2006 and opened the new route from Newhaven to Le Havre on 30th April 2007.

It has been a harbour since the 19th century, when the river Ouse used to flow through Seaford. Unfortunately, the flow of the river stopped when there was a tempest in the early 19th century. As a solution to this problem, engineers performed 'the cut' at what is now known as Newhaven. They managed to cut...