Barges at Houghton

This is a section taken from the Ordinance Survey sheet issued in 1914 which was surveyed in 1874/5 and revised in 1910. 

It shows the cut made in 1802/3 to provide an extra wharf south of the bridge, away from the stream, for transhipment of cargo between the chalk and lime works and river barges. Lord Egremont financed the cut to serve the pits he leased from the Bishop of Chichester and later the Duke of Norfolk..

This photograph, taken north of Houghton bridge, shows a view from the west bank of the Arun. Barges, both laden and empty, are seen alongside. The vessels were used to deliver coal or coke from Littlehampton for the lime kilns, and to transport completed lime for building, or raw chalk for use elsewhere on the navigations. The steam crane was moved to Littlehampton when the operations declined in 1914.  

From 1876 John Pepper and his son Thomas Cunningham Pepper operated the Pepper & Sons Lime and Brick Burners and Tile Makers, becoming the sole producers on site by 1900. The wharves continued in use until being supplanted by the railway sidings before WW1. 

This card features a barge laden with chalk in the Egremont cut and, in the middle ground, a line of cottages including the post office (shown on the map) on the right hand end. The prominent school building is to the right of those cottages,. The railway station’s platform is visible behind the buildings, and part of the chalk pit forms the background. On the river bank, note the long mooring lines required due to the shallow edges, and also the plank used for loading by wheelbarrow.

The photograph was probably taken on 1901 or 1902, but the card was posted in 1920 to a Mrs. C.A. Young in Wolverhampton noting that the site was well known for its chalk.