River Bewl
| River Bewl | |
|---|---|
| Basin features | |
| Main source | Streams feeding Bewl Water |
| River mouth | River Teise |
The River Bewl is a tributary of the River Teise in Kent, England. Its headwaters are in the High Weald, in Sussex between Lamberhurst, Wadhurst and Flimwell. The valley is deeply incised into Tunbridge Wells red sandstone, with a base of alluvium on Wadhurst clay.
Between 1973 and 1975, a 900-metre dam (980 yd) was built across the Bewl valley, cutting off the headwaters. This formed Bewl Water, a 30-metre-deep storage reservoir (98 ft), with a surface area of 308 hectares (760 acres). In times of good flow, water is extracted from the River Medway at Yalding and pumped through pipes into Bewl Water, where it is stored for times of heavy water demand.
The River Bewl passes under the A21 road and by Scotney Castle. At Finchcocks it enters the River Teise.
The River Bewl and its tributaries powered a number of watermills. From source to mouth they were:-
TQ 689 323 51°03′54″N 0°24′41″E / 51.065054°N 0.411489°E
The site of this watermill now lies in the middle of Bewl Water. It was one of those very rare watermills that was an overdrift mill, with the millstones driven from above. This arrangement is more commonly found in windmills. When Bewl Water was built, the fourteenth century Mill House was dismantled and re-erected at Three Legged Cross, Wadhurst.
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Wikipedia