Those humps at Watersfield are indeed solid!
I've stood on them at low tide a few times and trotted the channels between them. All l caught were dace ,tiny chub and bleak but they look as if something more interesting really should be around there somewhere.
Someone with more fishing skill than me could probably find out
.
I think the rise in the tidal limit came about when serious attempts to make the river navigable up to Pulborough then to Pallingham were made over the course of the years . This involved buying up fand destroying fishery weirs to open the channel .The woods that lay close to Pallingham were l have been told, part of the Arundel
Estate so a water route was probably the quickest way of getting timber ,charcoal and glass from the woods down to Arundel.
Then when the Arun Navigation company built its cut from Pallingham to join the Wey Navigation at Billingshurst it inherited the headache of keeping the whole river navigable . It had to keep the banks stable and the river dredged and free of obstructions. But due to the right of free navigation on tidal water the Company could not charge river users for the improvements . Yet they had to keep the river open so that vessels could reach the Company-owned
canal section where they could start charging tolls .
The construction by the Company of the Hardham Tunnel bypassed the Pulborough loop of river thus saving a bit of travel time and enabling the Company to charge a toll for its use .
I do agree with you RoyO; The middle section of the Arun is very Avon-like in places . I'm probably biased
but if l owned both rivers l"d rent out the Avon as a day ticket glamping water sport centre and keep the Arun to myself. Though she can be very annoyingly fickle!
In order to shoot some close-ups, wildlife photographer ,the late Len Scapstillon, lured the orca to him by dressing as a seal.......
