The River Flit is a short river in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

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 ...

. Its name is not ancient, but rather a back formation from Flitton which originally meant that the river was spelt with as ''Flitt'' rather than ''Flit''.

Course

The river rises as a small pool beneath Carters Hill, a few metres to the east of the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which lat ...

and just to the east of the village of

Chalton, Bedfordshire Chalton is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, immediately north of the Luton/Dunstable conurbation and bounded to the east by the M1 motorway and the Midland Main Line railway line. A foo ...

. Flowing north, it reaches

Flitwick Flitwick () is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "a hamlet on the River Flitt". The spelling ''Flytwyk'' appears in 1381. The nearby River Flit runs through Flitwick Moor, a nature ...

, then north east past

Greenfield Greenfield or Greenfields may refer to: Engineering and Business * Greenfield agreement, an employment agreement for a new organisation * Greenfield investment, the investment in a structure in an area where no previous facilities exist * Greenf ...

and

Flitton Flitton (Flichtam, Fllite, Flute) is a small village in Bedfordshire, England, which forms part of the parish of Flitton and Greenfield. The village derives its name from the River Flit which flows close by it. It is notable primarily as the home ...

, then through

Clophill Clophill is a village and civil parish clustered on the north bank of the River Flit, Bedfordshire, England. It is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Clopelle''. "Clop" likely means 'tree-stump' in Old English. However, it also has cogn ...

Chicksands Chicksands is a village in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, and part of the civil parish of Campton and Chicksands, whose population in 2007 was estimated to be 2,510. By the 2011 census the figure was accurately placed ...

, and Shefford, where it is joined by the River Hit, then past

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

, before meeting the

River Ivel The River Ivel is a north-flowing river in the western part of east of England. It is primarily in Bedfordshire; it is a tributary of the River Great Ouse and has sources including in the Barton Hills. Course The river Ivel has four headwater ...

at Langford. Below its junction with the River Hit, the of its course was largely incorporated into a canal, known as the

Shefford Canal Shefford can mean the following: *Shefford, Bedfordshire, a town in Bedfordshire, England ** Shefford Town F.C., the football (soccer) club based in that town *Great Shefford, a village in Berkshire, England *Shefford, Quebec, a township in Eastern ...

or River Ivel Navigation. Completed in 1823, the canal connected Shefford with the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

allowing barges of coal to be brought to the town. The canal fell into decline over the following decades and in 1876 a dam was installed on the Ivel at

Sandy Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters *Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Sandy (surname), a list of people *Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983) * (Sandy) ...

, closing the Shefford section for good. Today, sections of the canal near Shefford are dry or have been filled in.

References

External links

Flit FLIT is the brand name for an insecticide. The original product, invented by chemist Dr. Franklin C. Nelson and launched in 1923 and mainly intended for killing flies and mosquitoes, was mineral oil based and manufactured by the Standard Oil C ...

Flitwick {{England-river-stub