The River Belah is a river in the county of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

in England. Its name derives from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

word and means the "Roaring River". The Belah is formed by the confluence of several small streams or ''sikes'' draining most of north and south

Stainmore Stainmore is a remote geographic area in the Pennines on the border of Cumbria, County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name is used for a civil parish in the Eden District of Cumbria, England, including the villages of North Stainmore and South ...

close to the border with

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. It flows north west off the hillside as Bleaberry Beck and tumbles over many waterfalls before meeting the Stow Gill Becks and becoming the Belah. It then flows in a north westerly direction past Oxenthwaite where the river is swollen by Argill Beck at Field Head and the Powbrand Beck near Thorney Scale. Having washed by

Brough Sowerby Brough Sowerby is a village and civil parish in the Eden district of Cumbria, England. It is located 22.3 miles south east of the town Penrith. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 127, increasing to 137 at the 2011 Census. The ...

, the Belah combines its waters with those of the River Eden near to the village of

Great Musgrave Great Musgrave is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Musgrave, in the Eden district of Cumbria, England. It is about a mile west of Brough. In 1891 the parish had a population of 175. Great Musgrave sits atop a hill nea ...

. The

Stainmore Railway The South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway (SD&LUR) built a railway line linking the Stockton & Darlington Railway near Bishop Auckland railway station, Bishop Auckland with the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (the West Coast Main Line) at Tebay ...

crossed the river on the huge iron-girder lattice

Belah Viaduct The Belah Viaduct was a railway viaduct on the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway, crossing the River Belah, in Cumbria, England, about south of the village of Barras and east north east of Kirkby Stephen. It was completed in 186 ...

, before it was demolished in 1964. It was the highest bridge in England,The

Crumlin Viaduct The Crumlin Viaduct was a railway bridge, railway viaduct located above the village of Crumlin, Caerphilly, Crumlin in South Wales, originally built to carry the Taff Vale Extension of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway, Newport, Ab ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

was a few feet taller, at at high.

Ecology

The Belah is designated as having a moderate ecological status by the environment agency. The flow of the river has been sped up by dredging and widening and the river is prone to siltation and bank erosion.

Notes

References

Belah, River Westmorland Regionally Important Geological / Geomorphological Sites (RIGS) in Cumbria 1Belah {{England-river-stub