The River Anker is a river in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

that flows through the centre of

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...

. It is a major tributary of the River Tame, which it joins in Tamworth. The name of the river derives from an old British term for ''winding river''. From source to river mouth at Tamworth is .

Course

The river rises near Wolvey and flows in a north-westerly direction to pass between Bramcote and Burton Hastings, it is designated a

main river Main rivers () are a statutory type of watercourse in England and Wales, usually larger streams and rivers, but also some smaller watercourses. A main river is designated by being marked as such on a main river map, and can include any structure o ...

at Stretton Baskerville where it also forms the boundary between the boroughs of Rugby, Nuneaton and Bedworth. On the outskirts of Nuneaton it collects the Sketchley Brook, and then passes alongside the

Liberty Way Liberty Way is a multi-use Stadium, sports stadium in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, which is leased by Nuneaton Town F.C. but is also used by Nuneaton R.F.C., which rents the stadium from the football club. Liberty Way has been used by the rug ...

sports stadium. At this point the river splits, with a flood relief channel to the north, and the main channel passing through the Nuneaton town centre. The relief channel re-joins beyond the town at Weddington, where the river then continues in the same north-westerly direction to pass the village of Caldecote, then

Mancetter Mancetter is a village and civil parish on the southeastern outskirts of Atherstone in North Warwickshire, at the crossing of Watling Street over the River Anker. The population had reduced from 2,449 to 2,339 at the 2011 census. It is situated ...

(where it is crossed by

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...

) and

Witherley Witherley is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : The civil parish of Witherley includes Atterton, Fenny Drayton, and Ratcliffe Cul ...

, before reaching

Atherstone Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire w ...

where it is joined by the

River Sence The River Sence is a river which flows in Leicestershire, England. The tributaries of the Sence, including the Saint and Tweed, fan out over much of western Leicestershire from Charnwood Forest and Coalville in the north-east to Hinckley and ...

. Downstream of the confluence, it reaches Grendon and then flows through

Polesworth Polesworth is a large village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Polesworth is situated close to the northern tip of Warwickshire, adjacent to the border with Staffordshire. It is east of Tamworth, an ...

before passing beneath the

M42 motorway The M42 motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, passing Redditch, Solihull, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Tamworth on the way, serving the east of the ...

. Beyond the motorway it passes through Alvecote Pools and meadows, a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI) and nature reserve. It continues past

Amington Hall Amington Hall is an early-19th-century former country house at Amington, near Tamworth, Staffordshire which has been converted into residential apartments. History The manor of Amington was anciently owned by the Clinton family. In 1422 Willia ...

before turning south-westerly to flow through Tamworth and join the River Tame near

Tamworth Castle Tamworth Castle, a Grade I listed building, is a Norman castle overlooking the mouth of the River Anker into the Tame in the town of Tamworth in Staffordshire, England. Before boundary changes in 1889, however, the castle was within the edge of ...

. The Anker is popular with anglers and is known to contain some large

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

and chub. Also there are barbel present with fish over 15 lb being reported.

Hydrology

The flow of the Anker has been measured at a

gauging station A stream gauge, streamgage or stream gauging station is a location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water. Hydrometric measurements of water level surface elevation ("stage") and/or volu ...

in its lower reaches at

since 1966. The

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

to the station of yields an average flow of . The highest river level recorded at the station occurred on the 25 November 2012, with a height of and a flow of . The catchment upstream of the station has an average annual rainfall of and a maximum altitude of near

Bardon Hill Bardon Hill is the highest Hill in Leicestershire and on a clear day the Malvern and Shropshire Hills (approx. 50–60 miles), summits in Derbyshire (approx. 30–40 miles) and Lincoln Cathedral (almost 50 miles away) can be seen. However, ...

Charnwood Forest Charnwood Forest is a hilly tract in north-western Leicestershire, England, bounded by Leicester, Loughborough and Coalville. The area is undulating, rocky and picturesque, with barren areas. It also has some extensive tracts of woodland; i ...

at the north-eastern edge of the basin.

Flooding

The River Anker has flooded Nuneaton town centre several times in the past, including 1968, prompting the construction of a

flood relief channel Flood control channels are large and empty basins which let water flow in and out (except during flooding) or dry channels that run below the street levels of some larger cities, so that if and when a flood occurs, the water will run into these ch ...

in Weddington in 1976. In July 2007 the river flooded the

pitch, forcing

Nuneaton Town Nuneaton Borough Football Club is an English football club that is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The men's 1st team competes in the , the seventh tier of English football. In 1889, Nuneaton St. Nicholas FC was the first team in Nuneaton to ...

and

Nuneaton RFC Nuneaton RFC is an English rugby union club. They were founded in 1879 and play at Liberty Way in Nuneaton. They currently play in the Midlands Premier, a fifth tier league in the English rugby union system. History Nuneaton R.F.C. was found ...

to cancel matches while the river water drained away.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anker, River Rivers of Staffordshire Rivers of Warwickshire 1Anker

Course

Hydrology

Flooding

See also

References

External links