Chichester – River Lavant, Lost Rivers and the A27 Great Divide
Sunday 12th April
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The Awakenings exhibition at Oxmarket, finished this
afternoon so I headed to Chichester on the train (the 09:47) with a view to
sketching. I had a good few hours around Mid and East Lavant sitting by the
stream and sketching (sketch above). Originally, I intended to go to Dell Quay near the head
of the Chichester Channel, fancying sketching in the Chichester Harbour before
the algal scum took hold for the summer. The River Lavant comes out into the
Chichester Channel in this area, though not the route it would have taken
naturally. This was the first time I’d tried walking southwards out of the city
centre, other than along the Chichester Canal, which comes out to the south at
Birdham. The outlet / last half mile or so of that spoilt by super-marina with lots
of posh yachts. Until they see sense with roads in West Sussex it will be the
last.
Though Chichester city centre and the nearby Downs are well served with
footpaths, cycle paths and bridleways, the A27 is a barrier here for anyone outside a car / truck, blocking
off easy, safe access to Chichester Harbour.
Dell Quay looks easier from Fishbourne,
the station south of the Great Divide, but not so many trains stop
there. There’s no straightforward link with the Canal path either. The only way
apparent way across the road from the map was via the footpath near the
Westgate Leisure Centre – pelican crossing here over the A259 and a footway
from Waitrose and the train station. Crossed the railway bridge and followed
the path south through an industrial estate, across a minor (but not quiet)
road running through the middle (an exit to this from the roundabout we
off the A27 when we come to Chichester
by car. Across this road, there was a tired, fading public footpath sign to
Apuldram, so I knew this was the path, but it was very narrow running between
two warehouses. It didn’t look well used and it disappeared into scrubland, I
didn’t feel entirely comfortable here on my own. It then dumped me alongside
the dual carriageway. I thought there
would be a subway. Not fancying J-walking and even less doing so again on the
way back when it would be busier, I gave up on the idea and turned round.
Usually with trunk roads and motorways there one or a footbridge. This is
another black mark in my book for West Sussex County Council who are in bed with
the road and Gatwick2 lobbies.
I then wasted sketching time on this sunny Sunday
morning retracing my steps back to the city centre and northwards to Lavant, also passing some of its artificial distributary ditches near the multi-storey car park and A259.
From the Westgate Leisure Centre I walked north, crossing the main channel of
the Lavant near Chichester College and then through residential streets on the
west side of the city. I eventually joined the Centurion Way near some
bungalows off the Sherborne Road. I followed this through Mid-Lavant and cut
across to the bridleway near the wells / waterworks. I settled down by the stream here to have my
packed lunch and sketch, enjoying the relative peace and quiet and looking into
the clear water.
Another sketch of the Lavant (right)
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Later, I followed the Bridleway to the Sheepwash Lane
footbridge over the stream and sketched in this area before heading back into
the city to collect my paintings just after half-four. The stream was still
flowing fairly well, though the water level has been dropping throughout March
and early April, including during the past fortnight. Spurred on by the warmer,
brighter weather last week, spring growth is ensuing vigorously, with weeds
beginning to grow in the stream channel. This accelerates the fall in water
level, increasingly choking the channel until it dries up completely. I always have mixed feelings about the
spring. Like everyone else, I enjoy the lighter evenings and brighter days, the
fresh greenery and the spring flowers. Yet with this river levels diminish,
especially in smaller streams and all the more with the apparent general trend
to warmer, earlier and drier springs. So far the pace of this spring has been
slower than last year’s. Nonetheless there have been several dry, anticyclonic episodes since December, with March dry until
the last week. Beside this ephemeral, part-time winterbourne, then, I was very
conscious of its season for this year drawing to an end. The big exception in
recent years, of course being three years ago: the inspiration for the larger
painting – Stream Awakening – in the
Oxmarket exhibition - see Spring Exhibitions 2015 in Water and Art.
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The Lavant along Sheepwash Lane - willow tree coming into leaf
And so, to Lost Rivers:
I have started reading Silt Road – The Story of a
Lost River by Charles Rangeley Wilson (2013). The Lost River here is the Wye –
not the moody one in Herefordshire and Wales or the one in the Peak District of
Derbyshire. This is a much lesser known, and yet another clearly very much
forgotten chalky tributary of the River Thames, in addition to the Lost Rivers
of London . It sounds much like the River Lavant. It issues from springs in the
Chilterns in Buckinghamshire and gives it name to the town of High Wycombe and village of West Wycombe just
upstream. It joins the Thames near Cookham. Though it looks from the map as if
it sees at least some daylight in its lower reaches to the south, its upper
reaches for much of the way through West and High Wycombe it is banished underground
via culverts and pipes, just as the Lavant is through much of Chichester. Even
where it is open to the light, it’s course, appearance and the general feel of
it has been severely compromised by urban development, like so many smaller
rivers in densely populated areas such as southern England. First the came the
factories and attendant residential developments, followed by the modern urban
sprawl and road network. All credit to the author for his dedication in seeking
out this lost river amid busy towns and roads. He remembers seeing as a child a picture
of the river, running clear and free in an already bygone rural setting and
imagines it running completely free through the valley prior to an human
intrusion. Compare and contrast with photograph beneath motorway (M40). A poignant
quote from the second chapter, as he views the river – already corralled near a
car park – disappearing underground through a grate, “As the water falls, the
river speaks…beyond this rush [down through the grate] … the sound of water
lost to a man-made drain. The sound of a river ceasing to be a river.”. Being anthropomorphic,
I imagine desperate pleas and perhaps a scream of “No….!”. Later he speaks of
the old London-Oxford road running along the valley floor through the town as
becoming the new river with traffic instead of water flow.
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I’d had all this very much in mind during the attempts
to head out to Dell Quay this morning, roughly following the Lavant through its
artificially culverted, then corralled course through Chichester, then getting
lost beneath the railway, roads, warehouses and dual carriageway. Smaller
rivers are easier to lose than large ones amid urban sprawl, but it can happen
at least to some degree anywhere. There’s also the physical, at least temporary
loss when the water ceases to flow during droughts. Rivers and the landscape
have evolved throughout history as people have exploited them. Nonetheless, a
strong case for any new development to be as sustainable as possible, enabling
future generations to enjoy rivers as well. All the more in a densely populated
area. In West Sussex they should start
with the Great Divide.
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The latest on the A27 / Arundel bypass:
The latest news from SCATE is a “gaping hypocritical
flaw” in transport ambitions, with virtuous aims of encouraging more cycling,
walking and car-free travel vs Bring-on-the-Roads!
Simon Gray, Readers’ Letters to West Sussex County
Times, 5th April
http://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/news/letters/letter-cycle-and-road-campaign-conflict-1-6666938
My Previous entries along the A27:
A27 - Bad Tidings, 24/03/15
Storms of Protest..., 23/01/15
