The Welland rises in the Hothorpe Hills in the parish of Sibbertoft, Northamptonshire and it issues at Spring Croft, Church Street. Sibbertoft sits astride one of the principal watersheds in England. Within , the small stream forms the border between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. It flows westwards, before looping round, passing through the grounds of Hothorpe Hall in Theddingworth, now a conference centre, to flow generally eastwards through Lubenham to Market Harborough. One of the driveways to Thorpe Lubenham Hall is carried over the river by an early nineteenth century ashlar bridge which is a Grade II listed structure. To the east of Lubenham, the river passes Old Lubenham Hall, part of an H-plan house built in the late sixteenth century and modified in the early eighteenth century.
Course
River Welland
River Welland | Course
Ashlar bridge Yes, an early nineteenth century ashlar bridge . Yes, the A16 road bridge and the Fosdyke bridge. Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
where does the river welland start and finish
user
The river rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market Harborough, Stamford and Spalding, to reach The Wash near Fosdyke
assistant
what is the total length of this watercourse?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
what are some of its tributaries?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
what are the names of the fishes found in the watercourse?
user
Wild brown trout, chub and perch
assistant
apart from the source and its mouth, what are some of the places this watercourse passes through?
user
It issues at Spring Croft, Church Street. Sibbertoft sits astride one of the principal watersheds in England. Within , the small stream forms the border between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire.
assistant
what are some of the birds or mammals found near the watercourse?
user
Swans and geese
assistant
with reference to the mouth of the river which you mentioned earlier, what is its water temperature?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
how can one navigate in this river?
user
The river as far as Stamford was used by the Romans for navigation, as it formed part of a system including the Car Dyke, which ran along the western edge of the Fens and crossed the river near the modern Folly River. Navigation to Stamford was improved by the canal.
assistant
are there any bridges built across this watercourse?
user
The river as far as Stamford was used by the Romans for navigation, as it formed part of a system including the Car Dyke, which ran along the western edge of the Fens and crossed the river near the modern Folly River. Navigation to Stamford was improved by the canal. Boats used on the canal were small lighters, around wide, capable of carrying from seven to fourteen tons, and normally worked in trains of four vessels. With the arrival of the railways, river trade declined. The Midland Railway reached Peterborough in 1846, and opened their line to Melton Mowbray, passing through Stamford, in 1848.
River Welland | Navigation
Just before Stamford, the Great North Road, now labelled the A1, crosses the river, and a pumping station on the north bank at Stamford Meadows has pumped large quantities of water to the Rutland Water reservoir since its construction in 1975. Stamford was the lowest point at which the river could be forded so the Roman Ermine Street crossed the Welland there. The A16 road crosses the river by a three-arched stone bridge designed by Edward Browning in 1845. Below it, Albert Bridge is made of iron with stone piers, and was erected by Stamford Town Council in July 1881, to replace an earlier bridge which was washed away in a flood.
River Welland | Stamford to Spalding
Another pair of early nineteenth-century bridges, built of coursed limestone with ashlar dressings, carry the road over the northernmost channel. The bridge at Deeping Gate carries the date 1651, and is a Grade II* listed stone structure with three round arches. After the remains of Deeping High lock and Deeping Low lock, there is a junction where the old course, the Maxey Cut, the South Drain and the Folly River, also a drain, meet. The river is officially navigable below this point. Through Crowland and Cowbit to the edge of Spalding, the river is laid out with washlands, which were historically used as pasture, because the river was allowed to flood the land when tidal levels prevented the water discharging into the sea.
River Welland | Stamford to Spalding
The causeway has two large semi-circular passing places on its western side. The Welland passes to the north of Corby near Rockingham, and then to the south of Caldecott, where it becomes the county border between Northamptonshire and Rutland, and the Eye Brook, which has been dammed to form the Eyebrook Reservoir, joins from the north. As it flows past Harringworth, the river forms two channels, with the county border following the smaller, northern channel. It is crossed by the Welland Viaduct, with its 82 brick arches, which was completed in 1879, and carries the Oakham to Kettering Line over the valley.
River Welland | Market Harborough to Stamford
Apart from viaducts carrying suburban lines into London, it is the longest railway viaduct to be built in Britain. Uppingham Brook flows eastwards from Uppingham to join on the north bank, and the Jurassic Way long distance footpath crosses the river at Turtle Bridge. This probably dates from the fourteenth century, although it was widened in 1793, and a parapet has been added subsequently. On the road from Barrowden to Wakerley, there is a medieval bridge with five pointed arches, which was widened in the eighteenth century. Fineshade Brook flows from the south to join the river near Duddington, where there is a well-known mill building of earliest known date 1664.
River Welland | Market Harborough to Stamford
A limestone ashlar bridge with four arches crosses the river, dating from the fifteenth century but widened in 1919. After the river passes under a railway bridge at Ketton, its flow is swelled by the River Chater. The county border again leaves the river to the west of Stamford while below the town the river forms the border between Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.
River Welland | Market Harborough to Stamford
The adjacent bridge over the River Welland has three arches and dates from the seventeenth century but the canal bridge has been filled in to protect its structure. There were three locks in open countryside on this section before the canal reached Tallington where Tallington Village Lock was located just to the north of St Lawrence Church, parts of which date from the 12th to 15th centuries, with later additions. Remains of bridge piers were uncovered during archaeological excavations carried out in 1998 when a water pipeline running from Tallington to West Deeping was installed. No details of the bridge have survived, but the levels suggest that it was probably a movable bridge.
Stamford Canal | Route
Macmillan Way, a long distance footpath, crosses on its way from Abbotsbury in Dorset to Boston, Lincolnshire. Medbourne Brook joins from the north, after which the river approaches a dismantled railway and is joined by the Stoke Albany Brook, approaching from the south. The river remains on the south side of the railway, while the county border follows a meandering course to the north of it, but rejoins the river near the Bringhurst to Cottingham road. The bridge over the river is plain, but to the north of it is an eighteenth-century causeway, some long, which is made of stone and pierced by seven large arches and numerous smaller arches for drainage pipes.
River Welland | Market Harborough to Stamford
Where it crosses the Maxey Cut, to the south of the original channels, there are a series of 14 arches which comprise Lolham Bridges. They are grouped into five structures to cross the channels in the area, and were funded by the County of Northamptonshire in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The longest span is , and the cutwaters carry inscribed stones recording the County's involvement. To the north, an early nineteenth century stone rubble arched bridge carries the road over a drainage ditch near Lolham Mill, while an eighteenth-century bridge, probably rebuilt in the following century, crosses the mill stream.
River Welland | Stamford to Spalding
Footbridges cross the Welland at the Meadows, some 200 metres upstream of the Town Bridge, and at the Albert Bridge 250 metres downstream. The Jurassic Way runs from Banbury to Stamford. The Hereward Way runs through the town from Rutland to the Peddars Way in Norfolk, along the Roman Ermine Street and then the River Nene. The Macmillan Way heads through the town, finishing at Boston. Torpel Way follows the railway line, entering Peterborough at Bretton.
Stamford, Lincolnshire | On foot
The foundations of the two river locks are visible in the Deepings. The River Welland is currently only navigable to Crowland but plans for the Fens Waterways Link include a new link from above Crowland to above the Dog in a Doublet sluice on the River Nene. There are currently no plans to restore navigation to Stamford. The Dog in a Doublet sluice near Peterborough was built in 1937; the Nene is tidal below it.
Stamford Canal | Decline
Beyond Stamford, the river passes the site and ruins of the Benedictine St Leonard's Priory. Hudd's Mill marks the point at which the Stamford Canal left the river. The present mill building dates from 1751 and 1771. The River Gwash, which the canal crossed on the level, joins from the north, and the remains of the canal follow the river on its north bank. Below Uffington, the county border follows the old course of the river, first to the south to Tallington and then to the north, while the main course now flows along the Maxey Cut to Peakirk. The old course consists of two streams, fed by sluices from the Maxey Cut, which meander to The Deepings.
River Welland | Stamford to Spalding
The cut, known as the Stamford Canal, is one of the earliest post-Roman canals in England. It opened in 1670, around 100 years before the start of the Industrial Revolution which brought about the "golden age for canals" in Britain. When built, it was the longest canal with locks in Britain, and was very busy with barges carrying flour, malt, coal, timber and limestone.
River Welland | History
The river, in its upper reaches, supports a wild brown trout population and the occasional grayling. Chub and perch dominate the middle reaches around Stamford, with pike, perch, zander, roach, bream, rudd, ruffe, gudgeon and eels inhabiting the lower lengths around Spalding. A collaboration between the Welland Rivers Trust, the Wild Trout Trust and the Environment Agency has resulted in the construction of a rock ramp, to allow migrating sea trout to pass up the river beyond the weir on the Maxey Cut, which was acting as a barrier. Some 300 tons of rock, with 50 tons of finer material forming a top layer, were used to create the ramp.
River Welland | Wildlife
The millstream or leat separates the town from the Meadows at Bath Row, rejoining the River Welland just before the town bridge. The embankment for the upper reaches of the mill stream forms Melancholy Walk overlooking the upper meadows, where cattle are still sometimes grazed. The weir and sluice for the leat were replaced when the large pumping station for Rutland Water was built near the modern A1 bridge over the Welland. The line of the leat follow part of the line of the town walls.
Kings Mill, Stamford | Introduction
The River Welland was one of the earlier on which improvements, in this case to allow navigation to Stamford, were authorised by an act of Parliament. The act was granted in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in 1571, and the preamble explained how Stamford had prospered as a result of the river, but also stated that mills built between Stamford and Deeping had resulted in it no longer being navigable, as they had diverted the water. Powers were granted to restore the river using either the old channel or the new one, although it is not clear exactly what was meant by this.
Stamford Canal | History
Navigation on the upper river, including the Stamford Canal, had ceased by 1863, but Spalding remained an active port until the end of the Second World War. The Environment Agency is the navigation authority for the river, which is navigable as far upstream as Crowland, and with very shallow draught to West Deeping Bridge, where further progress is hindered by the derelict lock around the weir. The traditional head of navigation was Wharf Road in Stamford. The management of the lower river has been intimately tied up with the drainage of Deeping Fen, and the river remains important to the Welland and Deepings Internal Drainage Board, for whom it provides the final conduit to the sea for pumped water.
River Welland | Introduction
In the fourteenth century, Spalding was charged with failing to scour and repair the river, causing damage to the king's liege people, but argued that because it was tidal at this point, it was an arm of the sea, and so they were not responsible. The river was one of the earlier rivers to be granted an act of parliament for improvements, to allow navigation to Stamford. The act was granted in the reign of Elizabeth I in 1571, and detailed how Stamford had prospered as a result of the river, but also stated that mills built between Stamford and Deeping had resulted in it no longer being navigable, as they had diverted the water.
River Welland | History
An enclosure map dating from 1810 shows that the road crossed the canal by a ford, but that there was also a footbridge to allow pedestrians to cross the canal without getting wet. From West Deeping to Market Deeping, the canal was close to the northern bank of the northern river channel. There were two more locks in open countryside, and another at the western edge of the town, after which the cut rejoined the river. The final two locks were built on the River Welland, Briggins Lock in Deeping St James, and Low Lock to the south-east of the village.
Stamford Canal | Route
The county border leaves the river on the west side of Market Harborough, as the town is wholly in Leicestershire, and picks it up again on the east side. The River Jordan joins the Welland in the centre of Market Harborough, flowing northwards to the railway station. Langton Brook and Stonton Brook join from the west near Welham. The county border meanders from side to side across relatively straight sections of the river, suggesting that the channel has been engineered. A three-arched bridge, built in 1881 of fine ashlar masonry, with a causeway to the south, carries the Welham to Weston by Welland road over the river, while a four-arched bridge dating from the early nineteenth century carries the Ashley to Medbourne road.
River Welland | Market Harborough to Stamford
There have been three bridges over the River Welland here. The current (2020) stone bridge has three spans with the river entering the middle span. It was built in 1880 after the second bridge was destroyed by floods. The current bridge has been a class 2 listed building since 1984. The second bridge was a four span bridge and it was the first built with public money. It was designed by Joseph Vinrace and built of brick in 1810. The first bridge had been built for private use only by the owners of Old Hall in 1678. The owners would only allow others to use it in times of freezing or flood - when the alternative (a ford) became impassable.
Welham, Leicestershire | The Bridge
However, after the floods of 1947, new works such as the Coronation Channel were constructed to control flooding in Spalding and the washes are no longer used solely as pasture, but may be used for arable farming. Significant improvements were made to the river in the 1660s, when a new cut with 10 locks was constructed between Stamford and Market Deeping, and two locks were built on the river section below Market Deeping. The canal section was known as the Stamford Canal, and was the longest canal with locks in Britain when it was built. The river provided the final outlet to the sea for land drainage schemes implemented in the seventeenth century, although they were not completely successful until a steam-powered pumping station was built at Pode Hole in 1827.
River Welland | Introduction
The river is bounded on the north and west by a bank, while the New River, a drainage channel to the south and east of it, is bounded by another bank. The land between the channels forms Crowland High Wash, Crowland Fodder Lots and Cowbit Wash. The southern bank is variously named Corporation Bank, Wash Bank and Barrier Bank. These wash lands were designed to be flooded "in extremis", although the building of the Coronation flood relief channel has made this purpose obsolete.
River Welland | Stamford to Spalding
During the 1960s and 1970s, several sections of the river above Stamford were made straighter and deeper, to reduce the risk of flooding of agricultural land. To address the habitat and environmental issues causes by such engineering work, the Welland Rivers Trust, a limited company and charitable trust, was set up in 2010. They are seeking to direct regeneration of the river by co-ordinating various organisations, which are known collectively as the Welland Valley Partnership. They published a major document outlining their proposals in February 2013.
River Welland | The Outfall
The finer material ensures that water mainly flows over the ramp, rather than through it. The ramp also enables young eels or elvers to move up the river, and provides habitat for stone loach and bullheads. Large numbers of swans and geese use the river around Crowland, and out to sea. Smaller populations of each can be seen around the Stamford Meadows, and further upstream.
River Welland | Wildlife
Stamford Wharf was the upper limit of navigation, and was situated below Town Bridge, which carries the A43 road over the river at Stamford. There were buildings associated with the canal on both sides of the river, including a large warehouse next to the bridge, parts of which date from 1671, and which is Grade II listed. Barges followed the river down past the ruins of St Leonard's Priory, established in 1090 by the Benedictines, to Hudds Mill, where the cut began, on the north side of the mill. Hudds Mill Lock was almost at the start of the cut.
Stamford Canal | Route
A wall of the former wharf at Shefford is beside a bridge over the Flit (tributary). A maintained towpath adjoins the canalized river. After crossing the footbridge over the River Hit, the path continues straight ahead for some way until the river returns. The canal, made from the river, used to run immediately to the left of the path, but was filled in after World War II as it was considered dangerous. The present course of the river there was originally the millstream for Shefford Mill, close to the remains of the tower mill still visible. Further on, to the east of the village of Stanford a wooden footbridge crosses the river at the site of Stanford Lock, one of the best preserved on the old canal.
River Ivel | Industrial heritage structures
East of Stamford, its course is now fixed but it lies in a small flood plain which shows clear signs of the river's former meandering. The pasture fields include depressions which fill in wet seasons forming oxbow lakes, though they are not of the classical shape. Near Stamford it is the parish boundary between Stamford and Uffington. West of Stamford, the Gwash crossed the Stamford Canal, requiring some elaborate hydraulic works. Although the canal has been dry for over a century, the Borderville weir has only just been removed, and some meanders re-watered.
River Gwash | Course
Below the town is Thrum Mill, the restoration of which was featured on Channel 4 television. It loops around Brinkburn Priory, founded in the 1130s for Augustinian Canons, and its associated mill. At Felton it is crossed by two bridges, one dating from the 15th century, and its replacement, built in 1927, both of which are listed structures. Below the bridges is a sewage treatment works, built in the 1990s. At Brainshaugh, the river passes over a large horseshoe dam, built in 1775 by the engineer John Smeaton to power an iron and tin works, which later became a woollen mill, and subsequently one of the first factories to be powered by hydroelectricity.
River Coquet | Introduction
Continuing to the south-west of Baschurch, Milford Bridge is another two-arched structure, which carries the Baschurch to Little Ness road over the river. It was designed by Thomas Stanton in 1831, and was built by Nathaniel Edwards. Stanton was the civil engineer Thomas Telford's deputy at the time, when Telford was the County Surveyor of Bridges for Shropshire. The river passes along the south-western edge of Yeaton Peverey parkland, to reach Forton Heath, where there is a bridge with a single elliptical arch, built in the early nineteenth century, which carries the Mytton to Forton road. Below the bridge, the river joins the River Severn, close to the contour.
River Perry, Shropshire | Route
King Charles I is believed to have stayed there before the Battle of Naseby. Three arms of a square moat surround the house, and the site is a scheduled ancient monument.
River Welland | Course
The section between the rivers Nene and Welland may be restored to navigation as a section of the new Fens Waterways Link for leisure craft. An engineering study has been made, but because of concerns for its historic status it is not the preferred route, with the Cat's Water Drain being the other considered option.
Car Dyke | Fens Waterways Link
It was widened in the 19th and 20th centuries, but was disused after 1927, when a new concrete bridge by Considere Constructions, also with three spans, was built to replace it. It is grade II listed because it is one of the earliest bridges of its type produced by the company. Beyond the bridges, a new sewage treatment works was built on the north bank, after it was authorised in 1991. It was designed to discharge of treated effluent to the river each day, and replaced old inefficient works at Felton, Longframlington, Swarland and Thirston. Near Brainshaugh, the river passes over a horseshoe dam, built in 1775 by John Smeaton for John Archbold of Acton and Edward Cook of Brainshaugh.
River Coquet | Middle section
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw the construction of a great many structures in England. Canals, harbour schemes, railways, roads and bridges were all built. What is now known as the Old Shoreham Tollbridge was built during this period over the River Adur between Shoreham and Lancing. Before the building of the bridge in 1781–2, the Adur presented the one major obstacle to east-west communication along the coastal plain of Southern England. The choices open to the traveller wishing to cross the Adur were to travel miles out of the way and use the bridge at Bramber, to ford the river on horseback or to use the ferry that was operating at that time on the site of what is now the bridge.
Shoreham Tollbridge | Old Shoreham Tollbridge
Records show that this was repaired in the 13th and 16th centuries. A map from 1724 shows this bridge to have been upstream from the current bridge. In the 18th century the weir and the by-pass canal and lock, known as the New Cut, were built and the medieval bridge was replaced with the current structure.
Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire | The bridge
Welland Viaduct, Harringworth Viaduct or Seaton Viaduct, crosses the valley of the River Welland between Harringworth in Northamptonshire and Seaton in Rutland, England. The viaduct is long and has 82 arches, each with a span. It is the longest masonry viaduct across a valley in the United Kingdom. Built by the contractor Lucas and Aird, a total of 30 million bricks were used in the viaduct's construction. Completed during 1878, it has since become a Grade II listed building. The Welland Viaduct is on the Oakham to Kettering Line between and Manton Junction, where it joins the Leicester to Peterborough line.
Welland Viaduct | Introduction
The eastern stream supplied power to Lolham and Maxey mills, while the western stream did the same for Tallington Mill, which dates from around 1700, West Deeping mill, and Molecey's mill, which still retains its seventeenth-century undershot waterwheel, modified in the 19th century to Poncelet's improved design, and the only surviving waterwheel of its type in Lincolnshire. At the western edge of Market Deeping the two streams join, and they are also joined by the Greatford Cut, which has carried the diverted waters of the West Glen river since the early 1950s. This section is crossed by King Street, which follows the course of a Roman road.
River Welland | Stamford to Spalding
Potter Heigham bridge is one of the most well-known structures on the Broads. It consists of three arches, two triangular ones built in the fourteenth century, and a central circular arch built when the bridge was altered in the fifteenth century. The brick parapets date from the late eighteenth century. The bridge is a grade II listed structure, and is also a scheduled ancient monument. Just to the north of it is the A149 Potter Heigham Bypass bridge, which now carries most of the traffic which formerly used the medieval bridge, and provides a navigable headroom of . The only other place at which vehicles can cross the navigable channel is at Martham Ferry, where a nineteenth-century bridge was replaced in the 1920s by a floating swing bridge, the structure was grade II listed in 1987 but replaced in the same year and was de-listed in 2011.
River Thurne | Structures
The Wells River Bridge between Wells River, Vermont and Woodsville, New Hampshire, is a steel double-decked Baltimore truss bridge over the Connecticut River. It was built in 1903 to carry rail and road traffic.
Wells River Bridge | Introduction
A tall red brick railway viaduct, built in 1841, spans the broad Dane Valley between Holmes Chapel and Twemlow. It has 23 arches and is a Scheduled Monument. It crosses the River Dane at Saltersford where Cheshire salt traders drove their horse-drawn carts through a ford along the toll road. Nearby downstream is the small stone Hermitage Bridge built in 1772. Some years the river floods widely across the meadows here. In 1451 when the River Dane flooded in Congleton, it destroyed the town's corn mill, half of the timber-framed buildings and the wooden bridge over the river. To prevent it happening again the river was diverted away from the town.
River Dane | History
It was built in the early 19th century. Beyond the village, the river is crossed by four railway bridges, only one of which is still in use, carrying the line from Grantham to Nottingham. A fifth bridge, located in fields to the north of the village, consisting of three brick arches, carried the Newark to Leicester railway line over the river. It was opened in 1860, and ceased to be used for railway traffic in 1960. The centre arch collapsed after heavy rain in 2007, and the whole structure has been replaced by a single steel span, resting on the remains of two of the piers.
River Devon, Nottinghamshire | Course
The Welland rises in the Hothorpe Hills in the parish of Sibbertoft, Northamptonshire and it issues at Spring Croft, Church Street. Sibbertoft sits astride one of the principal watersheds in England. Within , the small stream forms the border between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. It flows westwards, before looping round, passing through the grounds of Hothorpe Hall in Theddingworth, now a conference centre, to flow generally eastwards through Lubenham to Market Harborough. One of the driveways to Thorpe Lubenham Hall is carried over the river by an early nineteenth century ashlar bridge which is a Grade II listed structure. To the east of Lubenham, the river passes Old Lubenham Hall, part of an H-plan house built in the late sixteenth century and modified in the early eighteenth century.
River Welland | Course
The canal flowed initially to the east, but turned to the north east to cross the River Gwash at right angles. It then entered Uffington Park, where the remains of the weir that regulated river levels at the crossing can still be seen. The Gwash now has much less flow than it did when the canal was active, since the construction of the reservoir at Rutland Water further upstream. The earthworks of the canal continue through the park. The route of the canal is just to the north of the river, and a public footpath follows it through Uffington Park until it reaches the Uffington to Barnack road.
Stamford Canal | Route
There has been a river crossing since at least Roman times. The river upstream of the current bridge was passable except at times of flood via a natural rock ford. There was a bridge at or near the village in the 11th century as one is referred to in accounts of the battle of 1066, noted in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Manuscript 'C'. Archaeological research has shown that there was a bridge crossing of the River Derwent one mile (1.6 km) south of the present village which linked the east and west bank of the Roman settlement of Derventio. In the medieval period a new bridge made of timber supported on three stone piers was erected.
Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire | The bridge
Immediately after the junction, the River Penk joined the Sow, and a footbridge carried the towpath over the confluence. The river follows a generally western course towards Stafford. At Fairway Bridge, the site of the first of the oxbox lakes formed by straightening the channel, the towpath crosses to the north bank of the river. The next bridge carried Riverway over the navigation. Its single span is made of reinforced concrete, and it was designed by William Plant, who was the Stafford Town surveyor and engineer at the time. It was formally opened on 15 December 1914. The next bridge is much more recent.
River Sow Navigation | Route
Below the lakes are the remains of a Cluniac priory and the extensive drained area of Mendham Marshes. Mendham, which is the birthplace of the artist Alfred Munnings, lies on the Suffolk bank, Wortwell is in Norfolk, and Homersfield is again in Suffolk. In 1869, Homersfield Bridge, one of the first bridges to be constructed from concrete and iron was built across the river here. It was commissioned by Sir Shafto Adair, had a span of and predated the introduction of true reinforced concrete by several years. It is now the oldest concrete bridge in England and is a Grade II* listed structure.
River Waveney | Course
Shrewsbury, being almost entirely encircled by the River Severn, has nine bridges across the river and many that cross the Rea Brook. Working downstream from Frankwell Bridge, a modern pedestrian footbridge spans the River Severn between Frankwell and the town centre. Welsh Bridge was built in the 1790s to replace the ancient St George's Bridge. Further along from the Welsh Bridge is the Porthill Bridge, a pedestrian suspension bridge running between The Quarry and Porthill, built in 1922. The next bridge along the river is Kingsland Bridge, a privately owned toll bridge, and the subsequent bridge is the Greyfriars Bridge, a pedestrian bridge between Coleham and the town centre.
Shrewsbury | Bridges
Documentary evidence states the bridge was built in 1339 by St Werburgh's Abbey in Chester. Originally it had ten arches with a large gate tower on the fifth arch (from the English side). The tower was demolished down to road level in 1770 and at some time two of the arches on the Welsh side were lost. The area is reputedly haunted by two sons of a Welsh Prince who were drowned in the river at this point by their English guardians, John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and Roger Mortimer de Chirk. During the English Civil war, a brief skirmish occurred near the bridge in 1643 when Parliamentarian forces advanced towards the Royalists holding Holt on the western side of the river.
Farndon Bridge | Introduction
At that time it was known as the Wellstream or Old Wellenhee, and parts of that course are marked by the Old Croft River and the border between Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. After major inland flood events in the early 13th century it breached another watershed near Denver and took over the channel of the old Wiggenhall Eau, and so achieved a new exit and so joined the Wash at Kings Lynn. Parts of the old course were later used for the River Lark, which flows in the reverse direction along the section below Prickwillow, after the main river was moved further to the west.
River Great Ouse | History: drainage and navigation
The railway line crosses it again, before it reaches Ruyton-XI-Towns, where there is a large loop around higher ground to the east. The river is crossed by Platt Mill Bridge, designed and built in 1791 by Edward Cureton. The river forms the border between civil parishes at this point, and so one half of the bridge is in Ruyton-XI-Towns, while the other is in Baschurch. The bridge has two arches, and is a grade II listed structure. A circular toll-house, built of red sandstone with a conical slate roof, was erected in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century close to the bridge, and is now used as a house.
River Perry, Shropshire | Route
Powers were granted to restore the river using either the old channel or the new one, although it is not clear exactly what was meant by this. There is no evidence that any work was carried out under the terms of the act. The powers were revived in 1620, when Stamford Corporation was given permission by the Commission of Sewers to build a new artificial cut, which would run from the eastern edge of Stamford near Hudd's Mill, to Market Deeping, where it would rejoin the river. The decision was ratified in 1623 by a grant of James I, and the corporation expected to have the work completed by 1627.
River Welland | History
However, they were unable to find a suitable contractor to carry out the work, and failed to reach agreement on terms with David Cecil in 1636, and two other potential contractors after that. Finally in 1664, an alderman from Stamford called Daniel Wigmore took the job. He built the cut and 12 locks, which included the High Lock and the Low Lock on the river at Deeping St James, at a cost of £5,000. In return for his expenditure, he was given the lease of the tolls for the next 80 years, for which he paid a rent of one shilling (five pence).
River Welland | History
It is close to a five-arched railway viaduct, which was built in 1837 to carry the London to Birmingham Railway over the river. Each of the arches spans around and is high. The structure was designed by Robert Stephenson, and is grade II listed. At London Colney there is a seven-arched brick bridge which carries Barnet Road over the river. It dates from 1774, and is called Telford's Bridge, although it is not thought to have been designed by Thomas Telford. It was modified in the 20th century, when parapets and railings were added. There was a long-running dispute over water levels in the Batchford area, following construction of the Grand Junction Canal, which were resolved in 1825, when an obelisk was erected in a pond, to act as a water gauge.
River Colne, Hertfordshire | Structures
At Stamford the road is close to the 50m contour, falling to 22m at Uffington, 11m at West Deeping, and with spotheights of 2m or 3m across Deeping fen to the A16, rising only to cross the Welland Bridge. The route roughly follows the route of the River Welland from Stamford to Spalding, and actually crosses it near either end, in Stamford and on the Cowbit Washes.
A1175 road | Terrain
It is one of the best-preserved monuments of this type in south east England. The river is crossed by Stopham Bridge, a fine medieval stone bridge built in 1422-23. The centre arch was raised as part of the improvements made to the navigation in 1822. It is a Grade I listed structure, and also a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It was damaged by army lorries in the Second World War, but has been repaired, and the heavy traffic on the A283 road was diverted onto a new bridge just upstream of it in the 1980s.
River Arun | Route
The marshland of the River Ribble and the Savick Brook were natural obstacles preventing easy access north-west of Preston. Before the private toll road and modern roads A583/A584 were built crossing the marsh and the brook would have been much further inland, north-east of the present crossing and supportive evidence is this may have been at what is now the footbridge at Lea Golf Course. On the first 1840 Ordnance map this is called Wads Bridge but more importantly also shows a ford. This route also leads south to St Catherines Well on Lea Marsh, suggesting a route of pilgrimage and antiquity.
Ribble Link | History
In times of flood it is unnavigable. The bridge spans the river for , and consists of an arch built in c1160, with extensions added in 1235, 1540 to 1550 and 1762/3. It is the only British bridge which still has secular medieval buildings standing on it, and is believed to be the second oldest masonry arch bridge in the country. It is currently a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I Listed Building. There are traffic lights on the short section between Brayford Pool and Stamp End Lock, which are used to indicate the state of the river in times of flood.
River Witham | Current navigation
Lying on the main north-south route (Ermine Street, the Great North Road and the A1) from London to York and Edinburgh, Stamford hosted several Parliaments in the Middle Ages. The George, the Bull and Swan, the Crown and the London Inn were well-known coaching inns. The town had to cope with heavy north-south traffic through its narrow roads until 1960, when a bypass was built to the west of the town. The old route is now the B1081. There is only one road bridge over the Welland, excluding the A1: a local bottleneck. Until 1996 there were plans to upgrade the bypass to motorway standard, but these have been shelved.
Stamford, Lincolnshire | Road
Just before the bridge are two large ponds, the second one constrained by a grade II listed dam, long by wide, with vertical wooded sluice gates on the upstream side. The adjacent two-arched bridge was built in 1800, although it was modified somewhat in the twentieth century, and its function has been partially superseded by the A617 bypass. Next the river passes through "Pleasley Vale", where the water has cut through the underlying limestone escarpment to form a deep, narrow valley, much of which is wooded. Several mill buildings were constructed here out of local limestone. Two large mill ponds remain, with two mill buildings, while a third building is located on a stream which flows from the north to join the Meden at this point.
River Meden | Route
As no archive sources record that the Hemington bridge existed, there may have been other medieval bridge projects now forgotten. (Until the late 18th century, a long period of stagnation for economic and technical reasons limited the number of bridges over the Trent; it has been noted that relatively few bridges were constructed in England on new sites anywhere between around 1250–1300 and 1750.) Cavendish Bridge was itself damaged beyond repair by a flood in March 1947, requiring a temporary Bailey bridge to be used until a new concrete span was constructed in 1957.
River Trent | Crossing the Trent
Rising at Bradfield Combust, to the south of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, it flows through Bury, Mildenhall and Prickwillow, and joins the Great Ouse south of Littleport in Cambridgeshire. It is about long, of which is navigable. The upper river is an important focus for prehistoric activity, particularly relating to the Neolithic enclosure at Fornham All Saints. This comprises a large causewayed enclosure, several ring features, and a long cursus. Just above Barton Mills, a side weir connects the river to the start of the Cut-off Channel, a drain running from there to Denver along the south-eastern edge of the Fens, which was constructed in the 1950s and 1960s.
River Lark | Course
The River Welland is a lowland river in the east of England, some long. It drains part of the Midlands eastwards to The Wash. The river rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market Harborough, Stamford and Spalding, to reach The Wash near Fosdyke. It is a major waterway across the part of the Fens called South Holland, and is one of the Fenland rivers which were laid out with washlands. There are two channels between widely spaced embankments with the intention that flood waters would have space in which to spread while the tide in the estuary prevented free egress.
River Welland | Introduction
To connect the Glen to the Welland requires a new tidal lock at the Surfleet Sluices and reconstruction of the tidal Fulney Lock in the River Welland, leading to Spalding. Another major innovation will be a new cut between the Welland, probably at Peakirk and the River Nene downstream of Peterborough, costing at least £20m and probably using the "Folly River" and part of either Car Dyke or Cat's Water Drain, entering the Nene near Flag Fen. From here the link will follow the existing Middle Levels through Whittlesey Dyke, King's Dyke and Vermuyden's Drain (Forty Foot Drain) to Chatteris.
Fens Waterways Link | New Cuts
Already the river has dropped below the contour. It is joined by several more streams before it reaches Arnold Bridge on the A28 Northiam Road. Grade II listed timber framed buildings dating from the seventeenth-century lie on both sides of the river, Maplestone Farmhouse to the north and a barn associated with Conster Manor Farm to the south. Just before the next bridge is Beckley Furnace Farm. Between 1578 and 1770, this was the site of an iron works, which produced cannons for the Royal Navy. The bellows for the charcoal furnaces were water-powered, but the works was unable to compete with furnaces located near to coalfields, which used coke for fuel.
River Tillingham | Route
Six aqueducts were required to allow the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal to cross the River Irwell, the River Tonge and four roads. On the Bolton arm these were Hall Lane Aqueduct, Fogg's Aqueduct and the larger Damside Aqueduct. The Damside Aqueduct was demolished in June 1965 for a road and river crossing at Darcy Lever. Many bridges were constructed along the length of the canal, most were small allowing access to farmland, although many are wide enough for a horse and cart. In places where the canal crossed important thoroughfares, such as Water Street in Radcliffe, Radcliffe Road in Darcy Lever and Agecroft Road in Salford, larger bridges were constructed.
Darcy Lever | Canals
A new south face was then constructed, using the original materials and to the same design. Two footbridges survive, built of cast iron in 1811 by the Butterley Works. The works was established in 1790 by Benjamin Outram at Ripley, Derbyshire. One is the Hospital Bridge in Boston, while the second is near Cowbridge Lock. Both carry the text "CAST AT BUTTERLEY 1811" stamped into the girders, and are supported by gritstone piers. Vauxhall Bridge, a third example of the type, was replaced by a road bridge in 1924. At the south end of the drain, Maud Foster sluice survives largely in original condition, although some alterations were made in the twentieth century.
Witham Navigable Drains | Structures
At the eastern border of the village, a three-arched bridge carries the A1041 road over a small stream. In 1628, the drainage engineer Cornelius Vermuyden diverted the River Don northwards, to join the River Aire. The work was part of the drainage of Hatfield Chase, and the river skirted the eastern edge of the village, to join the Aire at Turnbridge. A "Great Sluice" was constructed where the rivers joined, which included a navigable lock. Following flooding of the villages bordering the new route, a channel was constructed from Newbridge near Thorne eastwards to Goole, where water levels in the River Ouse were between lower than at Turnbridge.
East Cowick | River Don
Throughout the 1990s, there was discussion of various options for the construction of a Wellow bypass route to relieve the village of the increasing volume of traffic on the A36; but none of these were constructed. The northern boundary of the modern village is effectively the River Blackwater, and the surrounding area is agricultural. The former Wellow Mill on the Blackwater was served by a complicated series of sluices to deal with changes in water level but was converted to a private residence in 1945, and no machinery remains. Along the river are a series of lakes which form the site of Woodington and Whinwhistle fisheries.
Wellow, Hampshire | Amenities
Fingle Bridge is a Grade II* listed structure that crosses the river near Drewsteignton on Dartmoor. Until 1827 the most downstream bridge was Teign Bridge at Teigngrace. When it was being rebuilt in 1815 it became apparent that at least four successive bridges had been erected at various times with or over the remains of the previous constructions. Mr. P. T. Taylor, who investigated the matter at the time, gave as his opinion that: the last or upper work was done in the sixteenth century, and that the red bridge had been built on the salt marsh in the thirteenth century; since which time there has been an accumulation of soil to the depth of ten feet.
River Teign | Crossings
Once the boundary crosses back over the canal, the river resumes its meandering course on the eastern side of the canal. A little further to the south is another straight cut, with the old course still visible on the other side of the canal. Soon it reaches Newbridge on the A272 road near Wisborough Green. The location of the wharf which was the northern terminus of the Arun Navigation was just to the south of the bridge. Wharf Farm was nearby, and the modern 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map shows buildings named "The Old Wharf". Brockhurst Brook joins from the east before the river turns briefly westwards.
River Arun | Route
The first bridge at this crossing was built in 1805. In 1853, the Boston, Concord, & Montreal Railroad built a double-decked wooden Burr truss covered bridge over the Connecticut River on this alignment. The railroad collected tolls from users of the highway. The current Wells River Bridge was built in 1903 by the Boston & Maine Railroad, which took over the route, to carry rail and road traffic, to replace the previous bridge. In 1917, the road traffic was rerouted over a new bridge just downstream, called the Ranger Bridge. The railroad continued to use this bridge until no later than 2001, when it was used for vehicle traffic while the Ranger Bridge was being rehabilitated.
Wells River Bridge | History
Hogard devised a scheme to cut a new channel from the junction of the Welland and the Glen to Wyberton, on the estuary of the River Witham below Boston. At the end of the cut, there would be a huge sluice and a navigation lock. The Adventurers asked Thomas Tofield for a second opinion, who suggested a shorter cut from Spalding to Fosdyke. They requested help from Grundy, who proposed a cut to Fosdyke, and that the outfall of Vernatt's drain should be moved downstream. Improvements to the drain were carried out under an act of parliament obtained in 1774, and an act was obtained in 1794 to sanction the Wyberton cut, although the work was not carried out, and Grundy's cut was built under a new act of 1801.
River Welland | Deeping Fen
The oldest structure spanning the Welland River was O'Reilly's Bridge, which was built in 1901 and crossed the river between the townships of Pelham and Wainfleet. The settler, Patrick O'Reilly, son of Sgt. John Reilly, of Stamford Township (present-day Niagara Falls), settled in Wainfleet in 1806. After meeting Sarah, the daughter of John Brown of Pelham Township, Patrick O'Reilly felled a couple of very tall trees across the River to shorten his journey to see her. A better bridge was built after they married and Patrick realized Sarah was frightened of walking along the logs. John Brown O'Reilly was their son who acted as Clerk of Wainfleet Township for many years.
Welland River | O'Reilly's Bridge
He sold one-third of the land to finance the project, and began work in 1730. Cowbit sluice on the Welland had six wide gates which were operated by chains connected to a treadwheel. At high tide, water was penned in Cowbit Wash, between banks which were set well back from the main channel. The bed of the river below the sluice was loosened by dragging wooden rollers with iron spikes over it. At low tide, the sluice gates were opened, and the flow scoured out the silt for some downstream. A navigation lock was constructed beside the sluice, so that vessels could still gain access to the river above.
River Welland | Deeping Fen
As a result, wharves were built, one being at Aylesford. Corn, fodder and fruit, along with stone and timber, were the principal cargoes. Due to increased road traffic in recent years, the ancient bridge has now been superseded by a modern structure nearby, but remains in use for pedestrians.
Aylesford | River Medway
Where the English Bridge is, the confluence of the Rea Brook with the Severn creates a wide, shallow area of water which was readily fordable. It is here, where the present day street "Coleham Head" exists, that an island existed and is believed to be a possible site of early Saxon settlement.
History of Shrewsbury | Foundation
The stream here forms the village duck pond, which was created as the mill race for Sutton Mill. After the streams' confluence, the river flows south into the village of Preston, where a third corn mill was situated. Downstream of the mill, the river is crossed by Roman Bridge. Although the name suggests the bridge is of Roman origin, it is more likely to have been built after the Norman conquest of England—a hypothesis supported by Charles Warne and Sir Talbot Baker. Continuing south, the river flows to the east of Jordan Hill and bisects the site of Preston Roman Villa—although at the time of the construction of the Romano-British building, the river's course was different.
River Jordan, Dorset | Course
When it reaches the hamlet of Linbriggs, it is joined by the Ridlees Burn and turns to the east. At the village of Alwinton, the Barrow Burn, Hosedon Burn and River Alwin all converge, and the Coquet continues in a south-easterly direction through Harbottle, where there is a Neolithic enclosure and several Bronze Age cairns. At Sharperton, the ford was replaced by a bridge around 1896, since the bridge and a weir just downstream of it appears on the 1897 map, but a ford appears on the 1895 map. The bridge was rebuilt in 1920 using concrete beams, with six spans and parapets with latticework.
River Coquet | Course
It was constructed from 30,000 cubic metres of concrete. Approximately of new river channel was constructed to route the river into the aqueduct. The creation of the syphon culvert lowered ground water levels for miles around, the project making many dug wells run dry. The St. Lawrence Seaway Authority denied responsibility, but paid many residents to have a drilled well installed to supply their water. (based on local witnesses) In compensation for the loss of canal banks through the city of Welland, parts of which were being used as a docking area by local industries, the project incorporated a dock, separated from the main travel route.
Welland By-Pass | Construction
After crossing under some minor roads and Sheepbridge Lane, where there was another eighteenth-century textile mill, repurposed as a joinery works, and then an internet gaming centre the river is spanned by the disused Drury Dam railway viaduct, this one built in 1875, and consisting of ten round arches, constructed of brick and rock-faced stone. At its west end, a cast-iron arch carries it over Quarry Lane. It is grade II listed, was restored in 1989, and is used as a footpath. Part of it spans the Quarry Lane local nature reserve, on the south bank of the river, where a sculpture created by Lewis Morgan was installed in December 2009.
River Maun | Course
Harrington Bridge crosses the River Trent near Sawley in Derbyshire carrying the "Tamworth Road" (B6540) into Leicestershire. The stonework of the bridge dates from 1790, but the central section was replaced in 1905 after it was damaged by flood water. The central section is the only part of the bridge that is not a listed building.
Harrington Bridge | Introduction
In the Roman era, a new road was built from London to the ford, which carried the principal road to Colchester. There may also have been a ford further south at Bow, and a further causeway existed between Homerton and Leyton, known as "Wanstead Slip". These crossings passed across a true marsh, either side of the River Lea. This wide, fast flowing river was then tidal as far as Hackney Wick, and navigable as far as Hertfordshire. Dates for the earliest use of the rivers by boats are unknown, although a late Bronze Age dugout canoe and parts of a Saxon barge have been found in the marshes at Walthamstow.
Bow Back Rivers | History
The river runs through the northern extent of the town from west to east, and is crossed by four bridges, in order: a 16th century three-arched stone bridge, now closed to road traffic; a 19th century single-span wrought-iron bridge; a suspension bridge for foot traffic only (a set of concrete stepping stones) and a prefabricated steel arched box-girder bridge. The river is prone to flooding the sports fields (and a few houses) that occupy the watermeadows.
Ilkley | Geography
Stamford Brook was a tributary of the Tideway stretch of the River Thames in west London supplied by three headwaters. Historically used as an irrigation ditch or dyke the network of small watercourses had four lower courses and mouths.
Stamford Brook | Introduction
The Roman road from Leicester to Manduessedum, now Mancetter and Witherley, entered the watershed of the Saint south-east of Sutton Cheney, where it crosses Salt Street. Between Upton Park and Fenn Lane Farm, it crosses the Hinckley–Mythe road and near Fenny Drayton church it formerly crossed the Redway. It is not aligned on Mancetter but joins the Watling Street 1 km further east because of the then impassable marshes between Fenny Drayton and Witherley. The section where it crossed the poorly drained part of the Saint–Tweed river system between Sutton Cheney, Shenton, Dadlington and Stapleton has been lost and was probably an unstable courseway when constructed.
River Sence | A Roman road, Fenn Lane: Leicester–Mancetter
In Westport, Route 136 crosses the river on the Saugatuck River Bridge, built in 1882, the oldest surviving moveable bridge in Connecticut. The moveable section consists of a hand-cranked swing span made of two pin-connected Pratt trusses. The bridge replaced a wooden truss structure erected in 1873. Before that, a ferry service, started in 1746, helped passengers cross the river. The crossings of the Saugatuck River are (from mouth to source):
Saugatuck River | Crossings
At Wayford Bridge the river passes the Wayford Bridge Hotel and its row of tiny houseboats lining the east bank of the river. There is only 8 feet of headroom under the bridge, which carries the A149 road, and the river is only three feet deep at this point, making it only passable by the smallest of pleasure craft. Some years ago the ancient hard surface of the ‘ford’ which gave rise to the name "Wayford" was found on the river bed here. Just the other side of the bridge there are boat yards on both banks and the river follows a fairly straight course until it reaches the photogenic "Hunsett Drainage Mill".
River Ant | Norfolk Broads (The Broads Authority)
Catharines, and King Street (formerly South Main Street, and also Canal Street), formerly leading to the Canada Southern Railway station, and on to Port Colborne. The "Chippawa Road" (as Main Street was then known) crossed the First Welland Canal (constructed between 1824 and 1829) via a wooden swing bridge with the pivot set to one side of the canal. This was turned manually by pushing on heavy wooden beams extending from the end of the bridge. The bridge over the Second Welland Canal (constructed 1840 to 1845) is recorded in at least one image (shown at left), which has been seen in several books, in the Welland Library and on a post card.
Welland Canal, bridge 13 | Previous bridges at this site
At places where river gravel beds formed a firm river bed fording was safe. Some such fording places were the Roman road crossing in Brentford itself, elevated to the status of a bridge in medieval times, in part funded by a small tax on Jews crossing the bridge, Green Lanes in Hanwell (a reminder that this was an old droving route, the word 'green' signifying that livestock could graze whilst on their last journey), and Hanwell Bridge on the Uxbridge Road. With only a few fordable places along the river's course, this presented an ideal natural defensive barrier. The original parish of Hanwell took in Boston Manor and Brentford, running three and a half miles north from the river's discharge but about one seventh the width.
River Brent | Post-Norman history
A railway branch line for the factory passes under the road, and further east is a junction with "Steadfold Lane", for Great Casterton, to the north. In Tinwell it passes All Saints church, to the south, and the "Crown Inn". West of Tinwell, the River Chater joins the River Welland, a few hundred metres to the south. Entering Tinwell, it meets "Casterton Lane" to the north (for the A1/A606 junction). On the eastern side of the A1 cloverleaf junction it enters Stamford, South Kesteven, and Lincolnshire as "Tinwell Road". This entry into Stamford has the best view of the Welland Valley.
A6121 road | Morcott - Stamford
As of 2011 the National Trust were looking to replace the bridge, due to the slow and cumbersome nature of its operation. An engineering survey suggested that a conventional swing bridge or bascule bridge could not easily be installed at the site, and so a replacement of a similar design, but incorporating powered operation is the preferred option. There are nine drainage mills situated along the banks of the river. Brograve Mill on the Waxham New Cut is an early nineteenth century, three-storey brick mill, which is derelict but retained parts of its sails and most of its internal machinery in 2003.
River Thurne | Structures
The construction of the Foss Dyke is often considered to date from Roman times, although this is debated by scholars, but the present channel dates from the 18th century. The channel flows in a south-easterly direction, and there is an off-line marina at Burton Waters, built in connection with a housing development. The Lincoln to Gainsborough railway line runs along the southern bank, and both are crossed by the A46 road. An aqueduct carries the Foss Dyke over a drainage channel called the Main Drain, and the A57 road crosses again as the river enters Brayford Pool, a widening of the River Witham in the centre of Lincoln.
River Till, Lincolnshire | Course
Twyford Bridge is not navigable. Twyford bridge is 16 km from Allington, where the Medway becomes tidal. The medieval Town Bridge is built of ragstone in the 15th century, it has seven arches and spans the Beult and the marshy ground each side. It is reputed to be the longest existing medieval bridge in Kent being 150m in length.
Yalding | Rivers
A stone, single-lane bridge crosses the River Nevern and adjacent water meadows to the north of the hamlet. The bridge is named Pontgynon (also recorded as Pantgynon or Pontcynon) and has existed at least since the early 17th century, but has been rebuilt since. The bridge and a 19th-century boundary stone set into the parapet were Grade II listed in 1997.
Crosswell | Bridge
The A379 road between Modbury and Yealmpton crosses the river at Sequer's Bridge, shortly below which the river flows over a weir and becomes tidal. Surrounding this stretch of the river there are several apple orchards, remnants of the many that were once here. Unlike most of the South Hams where the field boundaries consist of Devon hedge banks, hereabouts the boundaries are walls constructed from rounded river boulders, more like the dry stone walls found on Dartmoor.
River Erme | Ivybridge to Holbeton
Stamford, as a town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, on the River Welland, forms a south-westerly protrusion of Lincolnshire between Rutland to the north and west, Peterborough to the south, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. There have been mistaken claims of a quadripoint where four ceremonial counties – Rutland, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire – would meet at a point. but the location actually has two tripoints some 66 ft (20 metres) apart. The Welland forms the border between two historic counties: Lincolnshire to the north and the Soke of Peterborough in Northamptonshire to the south.
Stamford, Lincolnshire | Geography
In Hackney, the river ran through the northern part of Clissold Park, where its course is now marked by two lakes. It crossed the artificial New River, which flowed at right angles to the brook and left the park to the south (until the 1940s when the New River flow was terminated at the East Reservoir). The two Clissold park lakes are now fed from the main water supply, not the brook. It then wandered through Abney Park Cemetery to cross at the bottom of the road Stamford Hill to run along the north side of Stoke Newington Common. At this point, builders found, in the 1860s, very early evidence of human occupation in the form of 200,000-year-old palaeolithic flint axes, which were being made on the banks of the brook.
Hackney Brook | Course of the River
By this time it is below the contour. The county border between Leicestershire and Lincolnshire follows the course of the river for a short distance near the bottom lake, and beyond Woolsthorpe, the river is in Lincolnshire. Passing back into Leicestershire, it flows through Muston and Bottesford, where there are a number of bridges. At the end of Church Street, Fleming's bridge is a double-arched grade II listed medieval bridge, now just used by pedestrians, which was built for Samuel Fleming, who was rector in the village between 1581 and 1620. At Devon Lane, there is a ford, besides which stands a single-arched brick bridge, with two holes passing through the spandrels, and iron railings in the centre of the parapet.
River Devon, Nottinghamshire | Course
The river continues to the south of Thropton where Wreigh Burn joins from the north, and passes through Rothbury, where a bridge dating from the 16th century crosses it. Built as a packhorse bridge, it was made wider in 1759 by William Oliphant, a mason from Rothbury, to accommodate vehicles, and was further widened in the 20th century, when the parapets were removed and a concrete deck constructed on top of the original structure. Unlike many bridges, the earlier phases have not been concealed by later work. It is a scheduled monument and a grade II listed structure. Below Rothbury is a velocity-area gauging station, which measures the river's flow.
River Coquet | Middle section
It has double rings on the downstream side and single rings on the upstream side. It was repaired in 1624, and subsequently widened in 1819 by John Stone. It was further repaired in 1866 and in 1952–1953 after flood damage. The 18th-century Marsh Bridge was altered in 1866 when the central pier was removed and an iron bridge inserted. The parapet was destroyed in 1952 and reconstructed in steel in 1979. Towards Brushford the River Barle is crossed by the New Bridge dating from 1870, which led to Pixton Park, which was the home of John Dyke Acland and his wife Harriet Acland and later the family of Evelyn Waugh and Auberon Waugh.
Dulverton | Geography