RiverStour

About trip

The Stour is a navigation with a long history, as it served Canterbury. A statute

of Henry VIII in 1514 granted rights of navigation above Fordwich to the

inhabitants of Canterbury, but was repealed by a Kent County Council Act in

the 1970s as one of a number of local Acts thought to be no longer needed.

The rights of navigation between Canterbury and the upper tidal limit at Sturry

are now in doubt.

From Fordwich bridge the tidal river runs through pleasant countryside past

water covered areas caused by subsidence near Chislet to Grove Ferry, inn,

5 miles from Fordwich. The ferry has been replaced by a bridge. There is a

choice between returning to Fordwich and continuing for another 3 miles or

so to the mouth of the Little Stour and Plucks Gutter bridge (B.2046), inn.

Half a mile before the Little Stour a sluice on the left marks the Wantsum,

which before reclamation divided the Isle of Thanet from the mainland; but

the right to use boats on it is now disputed.