Pilhill Brook is a tributary of the

River Anton The River Anton is a chalk stream in Hampshire in south east England. It rises in Andover, Hampshire, Andover and flows southwards for approximately to meet the River Test near Chilbolton. The principal tributary of the Anton, the Pillhill Brook ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England. It is a

chalk stream Chalk streams are rivers that rise from springs in landscapes with chalk bedrock. Since chalk is permeable, water percolates easily through the ground to the water table and chalk streams therefore receive little surface runoff. As a result, th ...

, known for its trout fishing.

Toponymy

The brook is believed to have been called the Ann, or Anna. The name ' is found in the

Close Rolls The Close Rolls () are an administrative record created in medieval England, Wales, Ireland and the Channel Islands by the royal chancery, in order to preserve a central record of all letters close issued by the chancery in the name of the Crown. ...

in 1228.

Course

The brook rises near Fyfield and passes Thruxton before flowing through

Anna Valley Anna Valley is part of the village and parish of Upper Clatford, Hampshire, United Kingdom. The settlement is effectively an outer suburb of Andover, and is located approximately south-west of the town centre. The name 'Anna' derives from the C ...

past the villages of

Abbotts Ann Abbotts Ann is a village in the parish of the same name, approximately south-west of Andover, Hampshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census, including Little Ann and Red Post Bridge, was 2,566. History The village nam ...

Little Ann Little Ann is an English hamlet attached to Abbotts Ann, approximately two miles south-west of Andover in the north-west of Hampshire. The Poplar Farm Inn is situated in the hamlet, and is part of the Vintage Inns chain, a trading name of Mitch ...

and

Amport Amport is a village and civil parish in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England, a few miles west of Andover. It incorporates the small hamlet of East Cholderton and has a population of about 1,200. There is a village green is surrounded ...

, joining the

near Upper Clatford, which flows in turn into the River Test.

Industry

in 1813, the brothers, Robert and William Tasker, set up the

Waterloo Ironworks Taskers of Andover were an Andover, Hampshire based metal works and engineering company, which became better known in the latter half of the 20th century for their lorry trailers. After 170 years in operation, the company became first part of th ...

in the Anna Valley at Upper Clatford, using a waterwheel driven by the brook to power the forge. They specialised in making agricultural equipment, progressing to the manufacture of steam traction engines from 1865. There were four conventional watermills on the brook, Upper Mill at Monxton, Upper Mill at Abbots Ann, Abbots Ann Mill and Sarsons Mill at Amport.

Water quality

The Environment Agency measures water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail. Water quality of the Pillhill Brook in 2019: In 2021 there was concern about water quality. "Villages protest Southern Water Pillhill Brook sewage"

References

External links