The River Ouse once ran parallel to the coast to emerge at Seaford, but by the mid 18th century it had changed its route to emerge at Newhaven, creating a tidal creek where the river once ran.
In 1761, the landlowner gave permission to local corn merchants to build a mill that could harness the power of the tides to grind corn to flour. The mill was built and a village developed to house the workers. In 1808, orn merchant William Catt took over control of the mill and expanded the village, which become a bustling community with a blacksmith, a coal yard, and education for the children. You can read more here.
In 1864, the railway was extended to Seaford and a station opened at the edge of Tide Mills village, where you still have to cross the track. After more than over 100 years of producing flour, the village and mill suffered terrible storm damage in 1875, and by 1883, the last of the mill machinery was sold off. The mill was finally demolished in 1901, but the ruins can still be seen in the walk from the car park to the sea.
The results of our surveys can be seen below. The March 2023 survey was a Brand Audit carried out for Preventing Plastic Pollution from the Rivers Trust. The survey in May 2023 was carried out with young volunteers from Kings Academy for the Marine Conservation Society.