River Rother

The River Rother winds for 56 kilometres through East Sussex and Kent, rising near Rotherfield and reaching the sea at Rye Bay. Its lower 23 kilometres lie below high-tide level, where Scots Float Sluice keeps salt water out and fresh water in. Below the sluice the river is tidal for six kilometres, and small boats can still reach Bodiam Castle. Navigation began in Roman times and the river once looped around the Isle of Oxney until 1635, when it was rerouted. Engineers John Reynolds and later John Rennie worked on the sluice, and in the early 1800s the lower Rother became part of the Royal Military Canal’s defensive line. A 1960 flood led to major drainage improvements, raising banks and installing twenty pumping stations. The river passes villages such as Etchingham, Robertsbridge and Northiam, flowing from the High Weald’s 150-metre hills down to near sea level. Networks of ditches and canals drain the marshland, while Darwell Reservoir holds water for Hastings. Nearby Rye, once a Cinque Port, still welcomes commercial and fishing vessels despite its distance from the open sea.