Editing Newhaven (section)

==Origins==
Newhaven lies at the mouth of the [[River Ouse, Sussex|River Ouse]], in the valley the river has cut through the [[South Downs]]. Over the centuries the river has migrated between Newhaven and [[Seaford, East Sussex|Seaford]] in response to the growth and decay of a shingle spit ([[shoal]]) at its mouth.

There was a [[Bronze Age]] fort on what is now Castle Hill.<ref name="fort-newhaven">[http://www.newhavenfort.org.uk/history.htm Newhaven Fort – History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304131811/http://www.newhavenfort.org.uk/history.htm |date=4 March 2010 }}</ref>

In about 480&nbsp;AD,<ref name="meeching-history">{{cite web |url=http://www.meeching.com/history.html |title=History of Meeching |access-date=15 May 2008 |archive-date=20 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820052841/http://www.meeching.com/history.html |url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Anglo-Saxons|Saxon]] people established a village near where Newhaven now stands, which they named "Meeching" (variously known as "Myching" or "Mitching").<ref name="salzman-newhaven">{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56917&|title=Parishes: Newhaven - British History Online|website=www.british-history.ac.uk|access-date=28 October 2009|archive-date=22 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022205157/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56917&|url-status=live}}</ref>

Throughout the Middle Ages, the main outlet and port of the Ouse was at Seaford (one of the [[Cinque Ports]]).

The growth of the shingle spit hindered the outflow of the river, which consequently flooded the Levels upstream and hindered access to the port. Therefore, a channel through the shingle spit was cut in the mid-16th century below Castle Hill, creating access to a sheltered harbour, better than that at Seaford.<ref name="salzman-newhaven"/><ref name="brsh">Brandon, P. and Short, B., 1990: The South-East from AD 1000. Longman.</ref> This was the origin of modern Newhaven.

However, shingle continued to accumulate and so the mouth of the Ouse began to migrate eastwards again. Under the Ouse Navigation Act (1790), a western [[Breakwater (structure)|breakwater]] was constructed to arrest [[longshore drift]] and so cut off the supply of shingle to the spit.<ref name="woodcock">Woodcock, A., 2003: The archaeological implications of coastal change in Sussex. pp1-16 in Rudling, D., (ed.), The Archaeology of Sussex to AD2000. Heritage, University of Sussex.</ref> A new outlet (The Cut) was built on the river's present course, below Castle Hill. At that time the settlement began to be known as the "new haven". The present breakwater was built in 1890.<ref name="meeching-history"/>

It was part of the [[Holmstrow (hundred)|Holmstrow hundred]] until the abolition of hundreds in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book|title=Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, Volume 11|publisher=[[Office of Public Sector Information|H M Stationery Office]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WzkSAAAAYAAJ&q=holmstrow+hundred&pg=PA205|date=1831}}</ref>