IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Riverbank, SHOREHAM-BY-SEA, BN43 5YH

There are a great many along here, few are ship-shape, some are not even ship shaped. The far green one is an exception, looking quite smart and conventional. Its number, 1404(U), has an unusual format - what was it?

A section of a creek off River Adur hosts houseboat moorings on its southern bank - an eclectic mixture of origins and styles. https://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/media/media,98768,en.pdf

Moored at 9 Riverbank with a view of Norfolk Bridge and the Ropetackle development in the background. Tom Wildy kindly sent these details on 1 January 2023: Happy Medium was originally an ASR. After the war my father was a Houseman at Greenbank Hospital, Plymouth. No houses were to be had (because of the Blitz), so Happy Medium was purchased. My father had recently returned from his National Service as MO to the King's West African Rifles, my mother and her sister, both with young kids, shared a tiny house in Ipswich - my uncle was in Germany, and my father in Nigeria, then Malaya. Happy Medium was moored on an Admiralty buoy off Mashford's Yard on the Cornish side of the Tamar. My father was more interested in bacteria than medicine, so he got a place in the Labs at St Thomas' Hospital where he'd been trained. This involved a move, so Happy Medium was sailed to Shoreham (a tricky business as the original powerful engines had been replaced with two Ford V8s, giving her a top speed of about 13 knots. Quite a hairy journey, with water in the fuel, engines stopping, a near-wreck at the Needles, and a tow from a destroyer. Needless to say my sister and I were aboard with our grandparents - they were experienced sailors! Eventually we arrived at Shoreham, and some of my earliest memories were of playing on the bank. This would be perhaps 1949 or 1950. In about 1951 my dad got an exchange fellowship with Melbourne University, where the Head of Department was one of the early scientists working on viruses (he became Professor of Virology at Birmingham, and later Professor of Pathology at Cambridge).

Two of the many houseboats on Riverbank, on the south side of the Adur Estuary opposite Shoreham-by-Sea. In the background is Norfolk Bridge, carrying the A259 over the main river.

These gates give access to the boathouses that lie between the public footpath and the river.

One of the many houseboats on Riverbank, on the south side of the Adur Estuary opposite Shoreham-by-Sea. In the background is Norfolk Bridge, carrying the A259 over the main river.

A recent arrival to the community - at present this is the smartest houseboat on these moorings. There are more than forty available numbered mooring facilities on this tidal stretch of the River Adur at Shoreham Beach. These are occupied by a bizarre selection of houseboats, many constructed by attaching improvised living quarters, or even a prefabricated mobile home onto a variety of old hulls. Few are conventional boats in structure. Several are artistic, almost surrealist in appearance. Much evidence of the DIY nature of the vessels' development lies around the boats in the form of stored (or discarded) materials. However dishevelled some of these houseboats appear, they are homes, and should be respected as such. Poverty must not be an automatic assumption. This lifestyle is relished by some people. Then there is the little problem that a mooring spot here can now cost as much as £200,000 before a boat is even brought here. There has been a community living here in this way for many years. There are several interesting websites giving information on the history of some of the boats. An archive list dating from 2010 can be seen here: https://web.archive.org/web/20101118031826/http://www.shorehamhouseboats.co.uk/wiki/Main_Page