River Itchen, Hampshire


The River Itchen is a river in Hampshire, England. It flows from mid-Hampshire to join with Southampton Water below the Itchen Bridge in the city of Southampton. The river has a total length of, and is noted as one of the world's premier chalk streams for fly fishing, especially using dry fly or nymphing techniques. The local chalk aquifer provides excellent storage and filtration and the river has long been used for public water supply. Watercress thrives all along the Itchen valley in its once pristine, crystal clear waters, now affected by some farming practices.
The river is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is also a Special Area of Conservation and an area of is Hockley Meadows, a nature reserve managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. The estuary is part of a separate SSSI, Lee-on-The Solent to Itchen Estuary.

Etymology

The origin of the name is thought to be ancient and pre-Celtic; the meaning is unknown. The settlement of Itchen Abbas on the river is given as Icene in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Course

The source of the Itchen is situated just south of the village of Cheriton. Initially the river flows north, through the villages of Cheriton and Tichborne, before joining up with its tributaries the River Alre and the Candover Brook, just below the town of New Alresford. The river then flows west down the upper Itchen Valley passing the villages of Avington, Itchen Stoke, Itchen Abbas, Martyr Worthy, Easton, and Abbots Worthy. Before entering the historic city of Winchester it crosses Winnall Moors.
The river flows in several different channels through the city of Winchester, some of which come close enough to Winchester Cathedral to have caused serious problems to the building's foundations in earlier years. The main channel flows through Winchester City Mill and to the east of the city's Roman walls, along a promenaded reach known as "The Weirs".
The river then heads south, through a series of water meadows, passing the Hospital of St Cross, the villages of Twyford and Shawford, between the town of Eastleigh and the village of Bishopstoke and through Itchen Valley Country Park before reaching the northern suburbs of Southampton at Mansbridge. Between Winchester and Mansbridge, sections of the river were once deepened or widened as part of the long disused Itchen Navigation, and the former towpath forms part of the Itchen Way.
Monks Brook flows into the Itchen at Swaythling, and the river then passes under Woodmill Bridge and becomes tidal. Four further bridges cross the river before its confluence with the River Test estuary in Southampton Water:
Between the latter two bridges, the river passes St Mary's Stadium, the home of Southampton F.C. As the river joins onto Southampton Water it passes the major mixed-development on the eastern side of the river in Woolston, called Centenary Quay.

Marinas and boatyards

The lower part of the river is an important yachting centre and contains several marinas, sailing centres and boatyards. From seaward they are:
Above Northam Bridge, the limit of navigation for masted craft, are the Vespasian Road boatyard and numerous small establishments.

Ecology

The SSSI covers the river and its banks, with fen, flood meadows, wet woodland and swamp. It has populations of the nationally rare southern damselfly and white-clawed crayfish. Other fauna include otters, water voles, Atlantic salmon, shovelers and Cetti's warblers.