Newhaven

Newhaven, Lewes, England

Newhaven, town (parish), Lewes district, administrative county of East Sussex, historic county of Sussex, southeastern England. It lies at the mouth of the River Ouse.

“New” haven developed after the great storm of 1570, when the course of the lower Ouse shifted westward from its former outlet at Seaford. The port is the English terminus of a cross-Channel ferry service to Dieppe, France.

Fishing fleets have been based in Newhaven for hundreds of years, and the town has been the site of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Lifeboat Station since 1803. Newhaven Fort—perched atop the town’s west cliff on a site that was originally occupied by a Roman fortication—has protected the coast since its completion in 1871. Next to the fort is the 34-acre (13.8-hectare) Castle Hill Nature Reserve. On the eastern side of the town is the Ouse Estuary Nature Reserve, near which is Tide Mills, the ruins of an 18th-century village and tide mill (a flour-grinding mill powered by the tide).

Paradise Park, affiliated with a large commercial garden centre, houses the Planet Earth Museum, Sussex heritage trail and gardens, and the Newhaven Local History and Maritime Museum. Sussex Downs College has a campus at Newhaven on Denton Island, which is also the site of the Newhaven Enterprise Centre. Every summer the town holds the Fish Festival in celebration of its fishing industry. Newhaven’s economy is further grounded in light industry, boatbuilding, and tourism. Pop. (2001) 11,171; (2011) 12,232.