Black Brook in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

has its source at

Great Hill Great Hill is a hill in Lancashire, England, on Anglezarke Moor, between the towns of Chorley and Darwen. It is part of the West Pennine Moors and lies approximately 3 miles north of Winter Hill, which is the highest point in the area at 456& ...

in the

West Pennine Moors The West Pennine Moors is an area of the Pennines covering approximately of moorland and reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The West Pennine Moors are separated from the main ...

. The water is

acidic In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a ...

due to a high level of

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficient ...

in the uplands near to

Round Loaf Round Loaf is a late-Neolithic or Bronze Age tumulus on Anglezarke Moor in the West Pennine Moors near Chorley in Lancashire, England. The bowl barrow is a scheduled monument considered to be of national importance. It was first scheduled in Ma ...

, giving the brook its brown colour. The young river was known as Warth Brook in olden

Heapey Heapey is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, in Lancashire, England. The village is two miles from Chorley and on the western fringe of the West Pennine Moors. In 2001 the population was 955, increasing to 1,001 at the 2011 ce ...

. A feeder stream also known as Black Brook joins near Kittiwake Road - this short and weak water course commences at Eagle Tower. The jointed brook feeds

Anglezarke Reservoir Anglezarke Reservoir is the largest reservoir in the Rivington chain to the west of Anglezarke in Lancashire, England. Anglezarke Reservoir has three embankments: the Charnock Embankment, the longest, is long and high, the Knowsley Embankmen ...

, and joins the River Yarrow in lowland Chorley at

Yarrow Bridge Yarrow Bridge is a small road bridge which crosses the River Yarrow in Chorley, Lancashire, England. The bridge carries the A6 road over the river. There is also a pub and garage next door to bridge which carries the same name. The bridge ha ...

. The entire course of Black Brook and the River Yarrow fall within Chorley and its villages.

History

Black Brook powered a water mill at Leicester Mill,

White Coppice White Coppice is a hamlet near Chorley, Lancashire, England. It was the most populated part of the township of Anglezarke in the 19th century. Close to the settlement in the early 19th century were quarries and small coal mines. The hamlet lies ...

, from which Leicester Mill Quarries gained their name.

Wildlife

After suffering many years of pollution due to effluent discharge from Whitter's Factory, and Stanley's Factory, the river is now much cleaner, and as such has attracted birds such as

dipper Dippers are members of the genus ''Cinclus'' in the bird family Cinclidae, so-called because of their bobbing or dipping movements. They are unique among passerines for their ability to dive and swim underwater. Taxonomy The genus ''Cinclus'' ...

grey wagtail The grey wagtail (''Motacilla cinerea'') is a member of the wagtail family, Motacillidae, measuring around 18–19 cm overall length. The species looks somewhat similar to the yellow wagtail but has the yellow on its underside restricted to ...

and

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

, and fish including

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

, chub,

dace A dace is a small fish that can be one of many different species. The unmodified name is usually a reference to the common dace (''Leuciscus leuciscus''). This, like most fish called "daces", belongs to the family Cyprinidae, mostly in subfamily ...

and

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprinid ...

References

Rivers of Lancashire Rivers of Chorley West Pennine Moors 1Black {{England-river-stub