The River Quin is a small watercourse which rises near
Barkway
Barkway is a long-established village and civil parish in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England, about five miles south-east of Royston, 35 miles from London and 15 miles from the centre of Cambridge. The Prime Meridian pa ...
in north east
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
, England. The river is fed by a number of sources including
spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season), a season of the year
* Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy
* Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water
* Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...
s from Biggin Moor, Great Hormead Brook, Little Hormead Brook and various field ditches, including the Braughing Bourne - the site of a former
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
from the Ice Age. It flows south, close to the B1368 road to the southwest of
Braughing
Braughing is a village and civil parish, between the rivers Quin and Rib, in the non-metropolitan district of East Hertfordshire, part of the English county of Hertfordshire. Braughing gave its name to a county division in Hertfordshire, known ...
where it joins the
River Rib
The River Rib originates near the East Hertfordshire village of Therfield and runs parallel with the A10 through Chipping, Wyddial, Buntingford, Westmill, Braughing, Puckeridge and Standon, before dividing the villages of Thundridge and Wa ...
at Gatesbury. This area was the site of a former Roman settlement. Until recently the river was diverted at this point to irrigate
watercress
Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae.
Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf ve ...
beds before flowing into the Rib.
The Quin Valley also includes the villages of Hare Street and
Great Hormead
Great Hormead is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Hormead in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It stands near the River Quin, on the B1038 road. The village of Little Hormead is ...
as well as the smaller settlements of
Hay Street and
Dassels. The valley is shallow around the river with gently sloping sides at the northern end, becoming slightly narrower with steeper sides at the southern end of the area. Its sides are dominated by open arable
farmland
Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...
in small to medium fields with some occasional large fields particularly at the northern end. There is an absence of
woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...
and few mature trees grow alongside the river.
Landscape Assessment of North Hertfordshire. URL accessed 9 June 2007.
/ref>
In Braughing, there are two ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
crossings, one at Sheeps Lane and the other at Maltings Lane. The river is prone to severe flooding after heavy rain, rendering the fords impassable, particularly in the autumn and winter months. In 1922, a donkey and cart were swept away when its owner tried in vain to cross Sheeps Lane Ford. The animal was drowned.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quin
Rivers of Hertfordshire
2Quin