thumb|The river at its mouth, looking northwest towards the town of Lymington

The Lymington River drains part of the New Forest in Hampshire in southern England. Numerous headwaters to the west of Lyndhurst give rise to the river, including Highland Water, Bratley Water and Fletchers Water. From Brockenhurst the river runs southwards to the Solent at Lymington.

Highland Water rises north of the Ocknell Inclosure () and flows for to Bolderford Bridge () where it meets Ober Water. From there, it is known as the Lymington River and flows for a further to ().

History

In 1731 a merchant navy captain, Captain Cross, constructed a causeway and bridge across the estuary to the north of Lymington. He built toll houses and charged travellers using his causeway, more than a mile south of the existing bridge at Boldre. This impedes the river and further silted up Lymington harbour, losing its minor shipping rapidly.

The causeway was taken over by the regional rail firm who collected the tolls until, after nationalised rail, it was bought out by Hampshire County Council in 1955 – tolls paid down the price and ceased a few years later.

Against the sea, the outer limit of the end of the estuary's mud at low tide is 550–650 metres closer to land than in 1895.

Reedbeds

The river's extensive reedbeds are a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Water quality

The Environment Agency measure 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 of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.

Water quality of the Lymington River in 2019:

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Section !! Ecological<br/>Status !! Chemical<br/>Status !! Overall<br/>Status !! Length !! Catchment !! Channel

|-

|

|

|

|

|

|

| Heavily modified

|-

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|-

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|-

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|}

See also

  • Lymington and Keyhaven Marshes
  • Hurst Castle and Lymington River Estuary

References

<!---->