<![CDATA[Southampton River Rights

<![CDATA[Southampton River Rights - Blog]]>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:27:00 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[River rights pilgrimage by Ancasta]]>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 17:07:16 GMThttps://www.southamptonriverrights.com/blog/june-19th-2026On Sunday 31st May Southampton River rights team held a short pilgrimage from Mansbridge through to Cobden Meadows along the banks of the River Itchen in Southampton. They day had been themed around some of the proposed river rights and there were talks, shared stories and song along the route. The pilgrims were joined by Ancasta, the Roman goddess of the River Itchen.

The following is her account of the day.

A group of people walk together along a sunlit, tree‑lined path, carrying and guiding a large, colourful puppet with a friendly human‑like face. The puppet has bright blue and yellow hair, wide expressive eyes, oversized hands, and a flowing grey fabric body supported by long poles held by several participants. The atmosphere feels festive and communal, with people dressed in casual summer clothes and dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves overhead.

The River has the right to be supported by a healthy catchment

I was called to a gathering of humans on the 31st May at Mansbridge in Southampton. A sizeable crowd of people had come together to celebrate the River Itchen, with me Ancasta the goddess of the River. As I waited to be called upon, I could hear the humans singing a song that likened ‘the sound on the river as she flows across the stones’ to ‘ the sound of the blood in their bodies as it flows across their bones’. I am water, we are water, we share the same source.

Kat Barbour, the newly appointed Sheriff of Southampton told a little of my history, for there is only a little to be told. My name was inscribed on a Roman altar at the old settlement of Clausentum, which is now the site of Bitterne Manor. It is thought that I was revered by those indigenous to the area prior to Roman settlement and that the Romans adopted me as their river goddess too. Kat then called upon me to rise and I felt the love and the need of all those humans present to be with them in a physical form. I felt strongly that they were all there to represent the River Itchen.

A group of people walk beside a riverside path during a community parade, guiding a tall, colourful puppet with an oversized painted head, large hands, and a long grey fabric robe. The puppet’s bright blue, yellow, and orange features stand out as several participants support it with poles, while others carry streamers or wear high‑visibility vests. Trees, a stone wall marked “The River Itchen,” and nearby buildings frame the lively, collaborative scene.Picture

The River has the right to representation

I then led the chattering, singing, smiling flow of people along the bank of the old navigation canal towards Woodmill. On the way we stopped to hear Paul Jenks, chair of Friends of Riverside Park, talk about the river channels as they flow away from my main course and into the wild area of the old Woodmill Activities Centre. I shared my plea with all those present about the right to flow.

The River has the right to flow

We walked on, gaining numbers as passersby joined us. We stopped and communed with children feeding the ducks, families out on picnics and with the trees and wildflowers at the water’s edge and the other wildlife. With a short pause at Woodmill Café we crossed the road into the sacred land at the old Woodmill Activities Centre, which is now owned by the Scouts and Southern Water.
What a delight to see the old salmon pool and gaze upon the watery depths. The feel of the woodland and additional waterways and pools in this wild area of the riverside was a balm to my soul and I felt cleansed and invigorated seeing all these humans enjoying this wonderful space.

The river has the right to biodiversity

Leaving the old activities centre we continued on to what is locally know as ‘the beach’, a spot on the inside of a bend on the river, where the water is shallow and dogs love to swim. This spot is opposite the outflow from the St Denys Sewage works and here Gavin Millar, heartfelt campaigner for the river, talked about the history of the sewage works. He had us all worried when he brandished two sample bottles of what he claimed to be effluent from the treatment works, and he took a sip from both bottles. Eurrgghhh! That could make him really ill. We found out later they weren’t really effluent but water with mango juice added!
We were also joined by the young River Guardians at the beach. Their inherent love and passion for the river and call for protection from pollution was palpable in their shared stories and words.

A large group of people sit in a wide circle on a grassy area surrounded by trees and bushes, listening to a person standing and speaking in the centre. Most participants are seated on the ground, some on chairs, dressed in casual summer clothing and hats. In the foreground, a brightly painted sign reading “LET LIFE RETURN” rests on the grass. The atmosphere feels like a relaxed outdoor gathering, workshop, or community meeting focused on nature or environmental themes.Picture

The river has the right to be free from pollution

We then drifted to the realms in between worlds as Chris Townsend led us all in a gentle storytelling where we would each meet our creature teacher. I could hear the voices of many river beings, the Atlantic salmon, the otter, the mayfly and many others all being called into the space.

The group then shared in a chant for the earth… E, A, R, T, H… E, A, R, T, H…… until it slowly morphed into H, E, A, R, T…. H, E, A, R, T….. the thing we need more of to help heal the river and our world.

The River has the right to regeneration and restoration

We then wandered on along the river to the great oak tree and picnic bench, a place in Riverside park where there are steps down to the river. Here Martin Brisland shared some of the stories of the human endeavours on the river and their importance to national and international affairs. The wind had picked up by this stage and as we all reached the final stop of the day, I decided to take my leave as I am not suited to such conditions when in my physical form. I was still with the humans in spirit though as they came together for some final thoughts from Neil Williams, local resident and co-founder of the UK River Rights network.

I then swirled and flowed amongst you all as you came together for one last song and then a collective sounding, hearing your voices bring sound to my thoughts and your need for reconnection with me touched my soul. I thank you all for caring for the river.

Ancasta x

A very special day for all and the Southampton River Rights team would like to thank all those who contributed to the day. Huge and heartfelt thanks to artist Lizzie Jones, Puppet Back Up @lizzierjones @puppetbackup

Photo credits: Jonny Templeton

A lively outdoor parade moves through a green park, with people of different ages walking together, some pushing strollers. At the centre, a tall puppet with a smiling face, raised hands, and bright blue and yellow decorations towers above the crowd. Several participants carry long blue fabric banners or poles adorned with ribbons. The scene feels festive and community‑driven, surrounded by lush trees and summer light.

]]><![CDATA[Lower Itchen restoration - a proposal for the city.]]>Sat, 21 Mar 2026 12:49:11 GMThttps://www.southamptonriverrights.com/blog/lower-itchen-restoration-a-proposal-for-the-cityTogether with Friends of the Itchen Estuary supported by the Maritime Volunteer Service, Southampton National Park City (SNPC) set about mapping the riverbank to spot opportunities for interventions that would encourage biodiversity.

Drawing upon local knowledge of the history of the Itchen navigation and the expertise of our trustee and Senior Conservationist Zeno Wijtten as well as a report by ecologist David Fairlamb of Natural Links , they have drawn together a proposal for Southampton City Council's call for sites where there is potential for biodiversity to be increased.

Download the report here

Image of the boat journey in the Lower Itchen, mapping areas where nature interventions could take place.

In 2022 SNPC put out a public consultation on priorities for their work, and the top priority identified was to work towards a clean River. Since then, Friends of the Itchen Estuary and Southampton River Rights movement have sprung up - the former to promote citizen science led campaigning and the latter to work towards a collaborative charter for the Rights of Southampton's Rivers.

Image of the Bristol Harbour floating ecosystem, where wetland plants are rooted in a floating biomatrix

In 2025, one of the ecology officers at Southampton City Council mentioned a project in Bristol harbour where floating ecosystems have been installed, and this provided the inspiration for imagining the River Itchen and her potential to be something other than a boat navigation strip or industrial waste dump.

There are a lot of organisations focussed on interventions for nature along the Itchen, but none downstream of Woodmill. According to the chief ecologist for the Council, she had had to turn down funding for biodiversity net gain in this area because there were no worked up proposals.

As well as submission to the Local Plan, the document has gone to the HIWWT, the Wessex Rivers Trust, ABP and Southern Water Services. There is money for net zero and for biodiversity net gain that can be accessed through development contributions. The tide is turning as evidenced by the SCC motion on rights of rivers. This proposal aims to take the proactive measure of submitting a plan directly to decisions makers - follow Southampton National Park City and the Southampton River Rights website for reporting on any progress.

]]><![CDATA[River Itchen - Origin Story]]>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 21:34:36 GMThttps://www.southamptonriverrights.com/blog/river-itchen-origin-storyWe showed a film recently: “I am the river, the river is me” - the story of an encounter between members of two indigenous tribes (a Maori tribe in New Zealand and an aboriginal tribe from Australia) as they travel down the Whanganui River. Various rituals are shared, and many conversations reveal the deep attachment of the Maori to the river and the natural world around them. How it nurtures and soothes them; how its recent pollution has hurt the river and them; how they have fought (successfully) to gain legal personhood recognition for the river. The Australian aboriginal tribe had lost their river to industrial processes, including a huge dam, and were mourning its loss and eager to find out how they, too, could bring back the life-giving river they had lost.

Arial image of a lush forest with a very large river running through it. The text reads 'I am the River, the River is Me'.

It became apparent that both these groups were standing in a context of “knowing” where they come from. They have rituals and language and song and music that set them in a sense of place that has lasted at least 50,000 years. This emphasised their awareness of being “guardians” of the river and not “owners” of anything - a crucial distinction for them. They were intensely aware of the colonial language that was imported which takes the perspective of ownership (and profit).

So: What is our origin story? How do we place ourselves in the historic context of the River Itchen? What does it mean to us? What stories can we tell? How far back can we go?

We humans haven’t been settled in this part of the world all that long - in small hunting groups probably before the end of the last Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago. Those groups would have roamed a dry tundra. After the Ice Age ended many more humans arrived, trees grew, plants grew. There is evidence of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age sites and workings and funerary remains from that time.
Hampshire and IOW Wildlife Trust recently hosted an online talk entitled: Headwaters - the mental health benefits of temporary streams by ecologist, Tim Sykes. He collated and coded diaries written by people who frequent winterbournes, the streams that dry up each year and then return again. As well as demonstrating the clear wellbeing benefits from spending time near a winterbourne, the discussion also turned to the spiritual and historical significance of them. There was a suggestion that there are the remains of prehistoric funerary sites near the sources of the winterbournes. The winterbournes at Cheriton and the River Alre are sources of the River Itchen.

See some blog pieces here:
https://www.hiwwt.org.uk/watercress-and-winterbournes
https://www.taylorwimpey.co.uk/news/2023/december/we-unearth-ancient-treasures-at-new-alresford-down-development https://learn.folkestonemuseum.co.uk/questions/stone-age-to-iron-age-9-cheriton-urn-field/

Another influential conversation around this time was: Two ways of knowing: how merging science and indigenous wisdom fuels new discoveries - a conversation between Rosa Vasquez Espinoza and Nate Hagens. This showed that it’s never too late to discover our origin stories. We can learn to hold both ways of knowing when we take on the intent of becoming guardians of our precious river environment.

Add to this theme: Kinship, interconnection and spirituality - a conversation between Samantha Sweetwater (great name!) and Nate Hagens, in which a deeper dive into what “connection” and “separation” means - felt like a beautiful immersion in exactly how we, disconnected societies and individuals, can begin to “remember” what we’ve lost or forgotten. She says: Underlying the crises of crisis is the way in which we've structured our world according to the logic of separation or the idea that anything can be separated from anything else. We're in an epochal shift from the hero's journey as the primary narrative of personal development to what I call the kinship journey. The hero's journey begins when you realize that you need to understand yourself, which a lot of people's processes does begin there. And the kinship journey is a journey of recognizing that your life can't actually be meaningful if you don't find how you're part of the ecology in service to something larger than yourself.

Finding our origin story in 2026

All of the above was written in 2025. Looking online for historical records of the River Itchen we came across a survey and map of the river, drawn in 1618, and brought to our attention by a paper published in 2017 by Langdon and White - An early seventeenth-century river environment: the 1618 survey of the Itchen. The original map is held by Hampshire Records Office so we organised a group visit to have a look at it and other related documents.

Three things stood out from the survey itself - (1) that the Itchen at Woodmill and beyond had been impacted by the 1532 Statute of Sewers which had removed obstacles in the river and prompted a huge revival of the salmon and (2) that the author(s) of the survey referred to the river as a person - who knew?! - and (3) we’ve been saying the same things about the river for at least 500 years!

Image of a group of people smiling in a group photo. They are in an indoor setting and holding rolled up maps and other documents

The River Rights Committee visiting the Hampshire Records Office

16th-Century Legislation and Its Effects The 1532 Statute of Sewers, enacted under Henry VIII and championed by Thomas Cromwell, had a profound impact on the river's infrastructure:
Demolitions (1535–1539): The legislation mandated the destruction of mills, weirs, and fishing nets to improve the river environment. In Hampshire, the bishop of Winchester’s assets were early targets; Woodmill, Twyford Mill, and Brambridge Mill were all "eradicated" by late 1535. (St Denys Priory was disestablished in1536)

Late 16th-Century Reversal: The momentum of the statute weakened in subsequent reigns. By 1563, a license was granted to the Marquess of Winchester to resurrect Woodmill for grinding corn and supplying the navy. By 1618, many of these mills and dams had been rebuilt, which the survey had categorized as "nuisances" to navigation Effect on Salmon Migration The removal of barriers in the 1530s led to immediate ecological changes: Revival of Migration: A 1536 letter from Winchester officials expressed gratitude for the appearance of "kyppers" (young salmon) in the stream following the destruction of river-blocking infrastructure.

Fishing Boom: By 1538, the abundance of salmon was so great that it attracted fishers from up to 20 miles away, leading to complaints that the "new pastime" was withdrawing essential labor from the surrounding areas.

Subsequent Decline: As mills and weirs were rebuilt in the late 1500s, these obstacles once again likely impeded the movement of migratory fish, returning the river to a state dominated by milling interests rather than navigation or free fish passage. Personhood of the river As pointed out at the beginning of this story, the Maori - and most other indigenous tribes around the world - don’t objectify a river by calling it “it”. They call the river “she” or “he” or sometimes just acknowledge the being-ness of a river (1). The move towards capitalism in the early 17th century required society to begin to see the natural world as “other”, separate and exploitable for profit (and also did the same with enslaved people). In this survey in 1618, the river is referred to as “him” and “his” and the authors of the modern day translation of the medieval text say this: At several points we also removed the survey’s tendency to treat the river as a person, as, for example, when it was recorded that ‘the river changed his course’; in such situations we replaced ‘his’ with ‘its’.

1. See Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, p.48 - Learning the grammar of animacy

This is not a new story

It’s clear from the survey that some of the concerns that we have today about the wellbeing of the river were expressed in similar ways all the way back to the reign of King Henry VIII and probably long before then, perhaps back to when Winchester Cathedral was being built or the Itchen was being used by the Romans and Saxons and Jutes? We all care for the river and its prosperity and abundance. All through time we have wanted the river to care for us too. Maybe a new/old understanding is developing of how we can begin to incorporate the needs of the river into how we view our future together?

Image of a very old map showing a river tributary

1618 map: with permission of Hampshire Record Office

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