The River Keekle is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

running through the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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. C ...

. The

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

of the Keekle is to be found at Keekle Head Farm on High Park between Gilgarran and Asby. From there, the river moves gradually southwards via former

open cast mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

between

Frizington Frizington is a village in Cumbria, England, historically part of Cumberland, near the Lake District National Park. Historically, it was a collection of farms and houses, but became a unified village as a result of the mining (both coal and ...

and

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...

, past the hamlet of Keekle, to

Cleator Cleator is a village in the English county of Cumbria and within the boundaries of the historic county of Cumberland. Cleator is 1½ miles south of the town of Cleator Moor on the A5086 road. Cleator was the original village, Cleator Moor ...

, where it becomes subsumed by the River Ehen. The river is noted for its occasional abundance of

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

. Oatlands Pit was sunk at Keekle Head in 1880 by The Moresby Coal Company which also built the pit terraces of Pica Village. The pit was sunk approx 500 yards south east of Pica. It was served by the Rowrah Branch of the Cleator to Workington railway. Production at Oatlands was suspended in 1930 with closure in 1932 and final abandonment in 1934. In the 1980s, Oatlands became part of the extensive open cast coal mining operation working from Keekle Head. The River Keekle valley was an open cast coal mining site and the site was later used to bury mine spoil and other waste. In 2010, there was lobbying against plans for dumping of low-level nuclear waste at the former open cast site at Keekle Head.Protesters argue against the burial of low-level N-waste
11 August 2010 ''www.whitehavennews.co.uk'', accessed 15 November 2021 In 2012, Cumbria County Council rejected proposals by Endecom (owned by recycling and waste management company Sita) to build a repository for low level and very low level radioactive waste on the site of the former coal mine at Keekle Head. The council said the plan would have an "unacceptable impact" on the surrounding landscape. Endecom appealed against the rejection, triggering a two-week-long public inquiry, held in Kendal. There was strong opposition to the proposal to put radioactive waste in the site of the former open cast mine from Radiation Free Lakeland and others. In 2013, a fresh inquiry was held. In the 1990s, a 2.5 km stretch of the river was lined with plastic to protect it from potential mine water contamination and because of fears that possible future erosion could expose deeply buried mine waste underneath. Over the years, this plastic liner began to degrade and break up, with pieces being washed downstream, creating blockages, localised flooding and

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

in the River Keekle, as well as posing a threat to the downstream River Ehen – a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. During 2019 and 2020, the West Cumbria Rivers Trust carried out a £1.5 million project to remove the plastic liner and restore the riverbed with funding from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development's Water Environment Grant and the Environment Agency's River Restoration Programme. Around 150 tonnes of plastic was removed, with the sheets shredded, cleaned and recycled. Some of the plastic has been made into a bench and picnic table at Walkmill Community Woodland car park to mark the project's success. The river is re-naturalising itself and evidence of natural gravel, cobbles and sediment deposition can now be seen. The stretch of river has the potential to become a great habitat for people and wildlife.Saving Cumbria's plastic-lined river
''www.bbc.co.uk'', accessed 15 November 2021

References

External links

{{authority control Keekle, River 1Keekle