Beaulieu River

Beaulieu River
River
The Beaulieu River at Longwater Lawn, near Lyndhurst
Country	England
Region	Hampshire
District	New Forest
Source
- location	Lyndhurst, Hampshire
Mouth
- location	Needs Oar Point, Hampshire
Length	20 km (12 mi)

The Beaulieu River /ˈbjuːli/, formerly known as the River Exe,^[1] is a small river flowing through the New Forest in the county of Hampshire in southern England. The river is some 12 miles (19 km) long, of which the last 4 miles (6 km) are tidal. Unusually, the entire river, including its bed, is owned by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.

The Beaulieu River rises near Lyndhurst (SU295090) in the centre of the New Forest, and flows east and then south across the forest heaths to the village of Beaulieu. At Beaulieu the river becomes tidal and once drove a tide mill in the village. Below Beaulieu the tidal river continues to flow south-east through the Forest, passing the village of Bucklers Hard and entering the sea at the Solent (SZ4397).

The tidal river below Beaulieu village is navigable to small craft. Bucklers Hard was once a significant shipbuilding centre, building many wooden sailing ships, both merchant and naval, including Nelson's Agamemnon.

Since 2000 the navigable channel at the entrance to the river has been marked by a lighthouse known as the Millennium Lighthouse or the Beaulieu River Beacon.^[2][3]

Etymology

The current name "Beaulieu" is French, meaning "beautiful place".

The original name, "Exe", is Brythonic, deriving from the Ancient British word *Iska meaning "fishes" or "fish-place" and cognate with the modern Welsh word Pysg (fishes).This derivation applies to many similarly named rivers throughout Britain including the Axe, Exe and Usk, with the names evolving local distinctions over the centuries.

Film appearances

The river was used as a backdrop for some scenes of the 1966 film A Man for All Seasons – the tree-lined waters were used to portray the 16th century River Thames.^[4]

Gallery

• 
  The infant river upstream from Dunces Arch
• 
  The river passes beneath the railway, north of Fulliford Passage
• 
  Bend in the river near Pottern Ford
• 
  Alder trees in the river north of Fawley Ford
• 
  The Mill Dam at Beaulieu
• 
  The upper tidal limit of the river
• 
  The river between Beaulieu and Bucklers Hard
• 
  The river at Bucklers Hard
• 
  A yacht entering the river from the Solent
• 
  Millennium Lighthouse at the mouth of the river

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beaulieu River.

• Geology of the Beaulieu River Estuary by Ian West and Yining Chen

Hydrology of Hampshire
Main rivers	River Alre River Anton Avon Water River Avon Bartley Water Beaulieu River River Blackwater (River Loddon) River Blackwater (River Test) Bourne Rivulet Candover Brook Cove Brook Dark Water River Dever River Dun River Ems River Hamble River Itchen Kingsley Stream River Loddon Lymington River River Meon Monks Brook Oakhanger Stream Oxney Stream River Rother River Test River Wallington River Wey River Whitewater
Canals and Navigations	Andover Canal Basingstoke Canal Itchen Navigation Portsmouth and Arundel Canal Salisbury and Southampton Canal Titchfield Canal
Ordinary watercourses	Bentworth Stream West End Brook
Lakes, ponds and wetlands	Chessel Bay Eyeworth Pond Farlington Marshes Fleet Pond Keyhaven, Pennington, Oxey and Normandy Marshes Lakeside Country Park Manor Farm duck pond Sowley Pond Testwood Lakes Waggoners Wells
Coast	Chichester Harbour Langstone Harbour Portsmouth Harbour Solent Southampton Water
Categories: Rivers, Canals

Coordinates: 50°46′N 1°24′W / 50.767°N 1.400°W / 50.767; -1.400