River Bewl

The River Bewl rises in the High Weald between Lamberhurst, Wadhurst and Flimwell in Sussex. Its valley cuts deeply into Tunbridge Wells red sandstone, with alluvium resting on Wadhurst clay. The river once powered several watermills along its course. Two of these mills now lie beneath the waters of Bewl Water. A dam built between 1973 and 1975 turned the headwaters into a 308-hectare reservoir. Dunsters Mill was an unusual overdrift watermill, with millstones driven from above like a windmill. Its 3.66-metre waterwheel and cast iron pit wheel were dismantled and rebuilt at Three Legged Cross. Chingley Forge, built between 1574 and 1589, produced 46 tons of iron in 1717. Chingley Furnace, owned by the Culpeper family in the sixteenth century, was powered by an undershot waterwheel. Bewl Water now covers the sites of these historic mills. The reservoir stores water pumped from the River Medway at Yalding. The river passes under the A21 road and by Scotney Castle before joining the River Teise at Finchcocks. The valley’s sandstone cliffs and clay base remain visible around the water’s edge.