The River Sid, situated in

East Devon East Devon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Devon, England. Its council has been based in Honiton since February 2019, and the largest town is Exmouth (with a population of 34,432 at the time of the 2011 census). ...

, is often claimed to be the shortest complete river in England. It flows for southwards from a source in Crowpits Covert (

OSGB36 The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system (OSGB) (also known as British National Grid (BNG)) is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, distinct from latitude and longitude. The Ordnance Survey (OS) devised the ...

Grid reference SY138963) at a height of 206 metres above sea level. Th
source
is at the head of a goyle or small ravine. The underlying

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

is impermeable silty

mudstones Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' ...

and

sandstones Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) b ...

of the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

Keuper marl Keuper marl is a former and now deprecated term for multiple layers of mudstone and siltstone of Triassic age which occur beneath parts of the English Midlands and neighbouring areas e.g. Cheshire, Nottinghamshire, Devon, eastern Worcestershire ...

, overlain with permeable

Greensand Greensand or green sand is a sand or sandstone which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called ''glauconies'' and c ...

and

clay-with-flints In geology, clay-with-flints was the name given by William Whitaker in 1861 to a peculiar deposit of stiff red, brown or yellow clay containing unworn whole flints as well as angular shattered fragments, also with a variable admixture of rounded ...

. The junction between the Greensand and Keuper Marl forms a spring line. The river flows through

Sidbury Sidbury is a large village north of Sidmouth on the A375 road in Devon, England. In 2011 the built-up area had a population of 457. In 1951 the civil parish had a population of 2,507. It is situated on the River Sid, which rises at Crowpits C ...

and

Sidford Sidford is a small village in the civil parish of and on the outskirts of the town of Sidmouth in the England, English county of Devon. It has a population of just over 2,100 people according to the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census. The C ...

Sidmouth Sidmouth () is a town on the English Channel in Devon, South West England, southeast of Exeter. With a population of 12,569 in 2011, it is a tourist resort and a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town has ...

and is fed by springs flowing from East Hill and water from the Roncombe Stream, the Snod Brook and the Woolbrook. In Sidmouth the river outflows at the Ham through a shingle bar.''Sidmouth, A History''. Sidmouth, Devon:Sidmouth Museum, 1987 The

Sid Vale Association The Sid Vale Association (SVA) is a voluntary conservation charity. It is headquartered in the coastal town of Sidmouth in the English county of Devon. Following the government's restructuring of the legal framework for charities the SVA was regi ...

, the first Civic Society in Britain (founded in 1846), is based in the Sid Vale.

References

Sid Sidmouth {{England-river-stub