Beaulieu River

For other uses, seeBeaulieu.

TheBeaulieu River(/ˈbjuːli/BEW-lee), formerly known as theRiver Exe,is a small river draining much of the centralNew ForestinHampshire,southernEngland.The riverhas many small upper branchesand its farthest source is 8 miles (13 km) from its 4 miles (6 km)-long tidal estuary. Unusually, the river, including its bed, is owned byLord Montagu of Beaulieu.

Beaulieu River
The Beaulieu River at Longwater Lawn, near Lyndhurst
Location
Country	England
Region	Hampshire
District	New Forest
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Lyndhurst,Hampshire
• coordinates	50°52′47″N1°34′55″W
Mouth
• location	Needs Ore Point,Hampshire
• coordinates	50°46′16″N1°23′30″W
Length	20 km (12 mi)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Beaulieu Abbey Stream
• right	Hatchet Stream

Etymology

The current name, Beaulieu isFrench,meaning "beautiful place". The original name, Exe, isBrythonic,deriving from theAncient Britishword *Iskameaning "fishes" or "fish-place" andcognatewith the modern Welsh wordPysg(fishes).This derivation applies to many similarly named rivers throughout Britain including theAxe,ExeandUsk,with the names evolving local distinctions over the centuries.

Course

The Beaulieu River rises nearLyndhurstin the centre of the New Forest, a zone where copses and scattered trees interrupt the relatively neutral sandyheathsoil, however with insufficient organic uneroded deposition over millennia to prevent an upper charismaticdendritic drainagebasin of many very small streams. This explains the multitude of tiny headwaters across the New Forest. Many coalesce into the flow southeast and then south across the forest heaths to the village ofBeaulieu.There the river becomestidaland once drove atide millin the village. The mill ceased operations in 1942.Below, the tidal river (estuary) continues to flow south-east through the Forest, passing the hamlet ofBucklers Hardand entering theSolentat Needs Ore. For its final kilometre, it is separated from The Solent by a raised salt marsh known asGull Island.

Below Beaulieu village the river is navigable to small craft. Bucklers Hard was once a significantshipbuildingcentre, building many wooden sailing ships, both merchant and naval, includingNelson'sAgamemnon.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.

Tributaries

The river has two main tributaries, the Beaulieu Abbey Stream to the left and the Hatchet Stream to the right. In addition there are a series of artificial lakes near the mouth of the river, known as the Black Lagoons.

Water quality

The Environment Agency measures the water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties ofinvertebrates,angiospermsand fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.

The water quality of the Beaulieu River was as follows in 2019:

Section	Ecological Status	Chemical Status	Overall Status	Length	Catchment	Channel
Beaulieu River	Good	Fail	Moderate	20.0 km (12.4 mi)	3.075 km2(1.187 sq mi)	Heavily modified
Hatchet Stream	Moderate	Fail	Moderate	7.916 km (4.919 mi)	9.523 km2(3.677 sq mi)	Heavily modified
Beaulieu Abbey Stream	Moderate	Fail	Moderate	2.535 km (1.575 mi)	2.253 km2(0.870 sq mi)	Heavily modified
Black Lagoons	Good	Fail	Moderate		0.119 km2(0.046 sq mi)	Artificial

Film appearances

The river was used as a backdrop for some scenes of the 1966 filmA Man for All Seasons– the tree-lined waters were used to portray the 16th centuryRiver Thames.

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

External links

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