Everything about River Nene totally explained
The River Nene is a
river in the east of
England that rises from three sources in the
English county of
Northamptonshire. The
tidal river forms the border between Cambridgeshire and
Norfolk for about six kilometres. It is the Ninth longest river in the
United Kingdom. From the source at
Arbury Hill to
Northampton the river falls a total of 300ft in 17 miles, For the rest of its course, the Nene falls less than 200ft.
The River's Course
The river's most westerly source can be found near the village of
Badby near
Daventry. On the eastern slope
Arbury Hill and in pools between Arbury Hill and Sharmans Hill there are three tributaries that converge at
Dodford mill to form the upper reaches of the
Daventry Nene. The two northern streams flow through the villages of
Badby and
Newnham to the convergence, whilst the southerly stream runs through Fawsley Park and through the village of
Everdon before the convergence. From Dodford the river passes through the village of
Weedon where it flows under the main
west coast railway line and also under the
Grand Union canal. A little west of Weedon the river converges with its tributary source from
Yelvertoft from the north. This tributary, the Yelvertoft Nene, is formed from a great many streams. The river now flows towards Northampton, passing through
Flore and
Nether Heyford, where it's joined by small streams on either bank. A little past
Bugbrooke Mill the Nene passes under the
M1 motorway and falls over a weir towards
Kislingbury.
Another tributary merges from the south at Kislingbury. The Nene's course is closely followed by the Grand Union canal’s Northampton arm at Upton Mill. From Northampton Arm of the
Grand Union Canal the Nene is navigable to the
Great Ouse.
Northampton
At Upton Mill, another tributary, called
Wooton Brook, joins the river from the south.
The River Nene now approaches Northampton town from the west, passing between the southern suburbs of
St. James (locally known as Jimmy's End) and
Far Cotton. The Nene’s third northern source, the
Naseby Source or Brampton Nene, converges at the
Carlsberg Brewery. This tributary flows through the north of Northampton where several streams join. Three of these streams supply water for reservoirs at
Pitsford,
Hollowell and
Ravensthorpe, north of Northampton, before joining the Brampton Nene. At Cotton End, the Nene passes under South Bridge, then through Beckett's Park and past the disused and now demolished Northampton Power Station in Midsummer Meadow
The Nene Valley
From Northampton, the river flows along a broad valley, formed by the enormous amount of water released by the melting ice during
the Ice Age, towards the east coast. The Nene now meanders through this wide, flat valley with flood plains, lakes, pools and mature gravel pits on either bank, a by-product of the large glacial deposits in the valley. At
Great Billing is
Billing Aquadrome, a popular caravan and camping park with leisure facilities and a funfair, which is based around the river and various mature gravel pits. The park is popular with fishermen and water skiers alike. The river's landscape is now dominated by mature gravel pit lakes. Some
gravel extraction still takes place along the valley's basin. At
Cogenhoe the river passes through a
watermill. Cogenhoe is pronounced 'cook-no' locally The mill is the red brick building and the sluice can be seen beneath. The Mill House on the left is dated
1725. At
Earls Barton the river again passes an area of mature gravel pit lakes and lock gates numbers 9 and 10. Further on the river passes through Doddington Lock No 11 and the nearby Hardwater Watermill. This watermill, mentioned in the
Domesday Book, has ground wheat into flour for almost 1000 years.
Thomas à Beckett,
Archbishop of Canterbury, used the mill as a hiding place after escaping from
Northampton Castle in
1164 and fleeing down the Nene to be sheltered by the miller before fleeing to France. The watermill ceased grinding flour after the
Second World War
Wellingborough
The river's course turns north easterly, passing the town of
Wellingborough on its north bank and the village of
Little Irchester to the south. At Wellingborough the river passes through Victoria Mills. Founded in
1886 by the Whitworth family, they're still run by the firm today, producing fine flours for the bakery trade. In front of the mill there remains a jetty from the days when the river was used for transportation of goods to and from the mills. A little further on the river is joined from the north by the
River Ise. On the opposite bank are the remains of the roman town of
Irchester. The river now passes under a viaduct that carries the
Midland Main Line which links
London St. Pancras International to
Sheffield Midland station in northern
England via
Luton,
Bedford,
Kettering,
Leicester,
Derby,
Nottingham and
Chesterfield.
Passing
Irthlingborough on its north western bank, the Nene now flows past
Nene Park, the home of
Rushden and Diamonds Football Club. Further on the river is crossed by the disued track bed of the
London & Birmingham Railway (L&BR) which was constructed in
1845. The river is now characterised by large curving meanders passing the villages of Little Addington
Great Addington and Denford.
Thrapston
At Denford the river divides into two channels, one of which is used for navigation. The channels approach the Town of
Thrapston, passing under two adjacent viaducts. One carries the busy
A14 trunk road; the other carries the disused railway track bed. Between the town of Thrapston and the village of
Islip, the Nene is spanned by a low nine-arched bridge. Just north of Thrapston the river forms part of the 73 hectares of
Titchmarsh Nature Reserve. The Reserve, designated in
1989, consists of two lakes, a woodland, river banks and areas of grass and scrub in which some ponds have been dug. The Reserve is operated by
Northamptonshire County Council, with the approval of the
Nature Conservancy Council. At
Aldwincle another tributary, called
Harpers Brook, joins the Nene from the north west. Harpers Brook flows between gravel pit lagoons before converging with the river.
At, the
Romans bridged the river with
Ermine Street in the
first century.
Having passed among the gentle hills of Northamptonshire it enters the rural part of the
City of Peterborough, passing the
Nene Valley Railway and through the Nene Valley Country Park. Half a mile upstream of the city centre is Woodston Wharf - the site of the old sea lock - originally the extent of the tidal River Nene until the Dog in a Doublet lock at
Whittlesey was opened in 1937.
Continuing downstream will take you along the impressive 'Embankment' area and after the
cathedral city itself, the landscape changes to the
Nene Washes in
The Fens and their vast, seemingly endless horizons passing through
Benwick. Beyond
Flag Fen the river flows through
Wisbech, then
Sutton Bridge in
Lincolnshire, and finally enters the
North Sea at
The Wash between two towers known as "the lighthouses"
The Nene links the
Grand Union Canal to the
River Great Ouse, via the Middle Level system. Much of its route has been upgraded to a wide canal with locks at regular intervals. Some sections where the "canal" runs adjacent to the "river" are known as the "Nene Navigation".
Origins of the Name
Pronunciation of the river's name is a bone of contention in its locality, and changes as one moves downstream. Through Northamptonshire locals mostly refer to it as the [nɛn] (rhyming with "hen"), but around
Peterborough it changes to [niːn] (rhyming with "mean"). The spelling was "Nenn" (as seen in Cole-Roper's
1810 engraving) or "Nyn" until the beginning of the
20th century, and the point at which the pronunciation changes has been moving further inland for many years; the current edition of the Imray "Map Of The River Nene" suggests that the cut-off point is
Thrapston.
Whatever the spelling and pronunciation, it's suggested that the name originates from the nine springs that once fed the head of the river, though not many people would be aware of this enough to reference this in the name. It is more likely that the name comes from a
Celtic word meaning 'bright one'. Many rivers' names retained their pre-Roman names, such as the
River Ouse and
River Avon.
The river gave its name to the former Nene College of Higher Education in
Northampton, now
University of Northampton.
The river also gave its name to the
Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engine,
Rolls-Royce practice being to name their
gas turbine designs after British rivers.
Navigation
The Nene is navigable from just above its junction with the Northampton Arm of the
Grand Union Canal to the sea. Most leisure use is between
Northampton and
Peterborough, where it makes a junction with the Middle Level Navigations at Stanground Sluice, which give access to the
Bedfordshire River Ouse. There is no longer any significant commercial traffic.
There are
canal locks at fairly regular intervals which will accommodate boats up to 14 feet wide and 72 feet long, although most of the boats on the river are canal-type
narrowboats and river cruisers. All but a handful of the locks have conventional mitre gates at the upstream end and a single vertically lifting guillotine gate at the downstream end. This arrangement permits the use of the locks as additional weirs in time of flood, when the mitre gates are chained open and the guillotines lifted to allow the water to flow straight through. This precludes navigation at these times.
Traditionally the guillotines were manually operated by turning a large wheel some 150 times to raise or lower the gate; since the locks have to be left empty this operation will always have to be done twice to pass through. In recent years the navigation authority (the
Environment Agency) have been installing electric operation of the guillotines and in some cases replacing them altogether with mitre gates.
Easter 1998 Floods
In April 1998, days of constant, torrential rain caused flooding across large parts of the
English Midlands. On
Good Friday,
10th April 1998, the floods peaked and many rivers burst their banks. The Nene was badly affected, flooding low-lying parts of Northampton, Wellingborough and the surrounding villages.
The town centre of Northampton lies on the northern slope of the Nene Valley and escapes the river's flooding. However, the Far Cotton and St. James areas of the town occupy the flood plain and have borne the brunt of severe flooding over the years, culminating in the 1998 Easter floods
In 2002, a siren warning system was installed in Northampton to warn residents in the event of further flooding, and embankments and flood walls were bolstered to protect the town.
In Kislingbury village, a flood alleviation scheme was completed in
2004.
In 2007, the
British Government announced it would spend 6 million pounds on flood defences at Upton Mill in the west of Northampton; Wetland areas and embankments are to be constructed along the river. .
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