River Adur

The Adur is a river in Sussex, England; it gives its name to the Adur district of West Sussex. The river, which is some long, was formerly navigable for large vessels up as far as Steyning, where there was a large port, but by the 11th century the river valley became silted up and the port moved down to the deeper waters nearer the mouth in Shoreham-by-Sea.WatercourseThe Adur begins as two separate branches, the western Adur and the eastern Adur, which meet 2km west of Henfield.The western Adur rises at Slinfold from where it flows around Coolham and then through Shipley, where it meets Lancing Brook and flows on to West Grinstead and Knepp Castle. The western Adur is tidal as far north as Bines Bridge near Bines Green, south of West Grinstead.The eastern Adur rises at Ditchling Common, in East Sussex, from where it crosses into West Sussex and meets another major stream at Twineham. At Shermanbury, the eastern Adur is fed by the Cowfold Stream. The Normal Tidal Limit is just below this at the footbridge near Shermanbury Church although a weir just above the confluence with the Western Adur means that only the highest tides reach here. Up to the early 1800s boats could navigate to Mock Bridge where the A281 crosses the Adur.