The River Swift is a 14-mile (23 km) long tributary of the
River Avon that rises in south
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
, and flows through the town of
Lutterworth
Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. It is located north of Rugby, ...
before joining the Avon at its confluence at
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
in 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 ...
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
.
Course
The source of the river is a stream that rises at an altitude of around near to
Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome
Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and Proving Ground is a privately-owned former airport near the village of Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire to the south of Leicester. It was opened as RAF Bruntingthorpe in 1942.
History
The aerodrome was origin ...
in Leicestershire, on the watershed division between the Avon and
Soar catchments. The Swift passes the village of
Walton Walton may refer to:
People
* Walton (given name)
* Walton (surname)
* Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer
Places
Canada
* Walton, Nova Scotia, a community
** Walton River (Nova Scotia)
*Walton, Ontario, a hamlet
United Kingdo ...
and then
Kimcote, where it meets a number of small streams that drain the headwaters of the catchment. The river continues in a south-westerly direction, passing to the north of
Walcote then through the
Misterton Marshes, a
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
, before reaching 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 ...
bridge and the town of Lutterworth.
The river passes to the south of the town, where it is crossed by the Rugby road, near to the site of the ‘lost’ St Johns the Baptist hospital. After passing beneath the Lutterworth bypass, the Swift continues south-west until it reaches the Bransford Bridge crossing under the A5. This road follows the course of
Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...
, the Roman road that linked London to
Wroxeter
Wroxeter is a village in Shropshire, England, which forms part of the civil parish of Wroxeter and Uppington, beside the River Severn, south-east of Shrewsbury.
''Viroconium Cornoviorum'', the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, was sited ...
.
Downstream of the bridge the river passes the site of the deserted medieval village of
Cestersover, and then the modern village of
Churchover
Churchover is a small village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. The population of the parish in the 2001 census was 230, increasing to 251 at the 2011 census. It is located around 4 miles (7 km) north of Rugby, and is administrativel ...
. At this point a canal feeder takes water from the river to supply the nearby canal. After passing beneath the
M6 motorway
The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at t ...
, and past the hamlet of
Cosford, the river then flows directly south through the
Swift Valley Nature Reserve, passes
Brownsover Hall
Brownsover Hall is a 19th-century mansion house in the old village of Brownsover, Rugby, Warwickshire which has been converted for use as a hotel. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Early History (1471–1850)
The manor of Brownsover was owned f ...
and then through the Swift Valley industrial estate. It is crossed by the
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thame ...
on an
aqueduct, and then passes a retail park to join the River Avon, between
Brownsover
Brownsover is a residential and commercial area of Rugby, Warwickshire in England, about miles north of the town centre. The area is named after the original hamlet of Brownsover. Since 1960, the area has been subsumed by the expansion of Rugby, ...
and Rugby.
The River Swift connected to the original route of the Oxford Canal near Cosford in order to feed water to the canal. In 1785 there was a proposal to make the river navigable from Cosford to Lutterworth by the construction of
flash lock
A flash lock is a type of lock for river or canal transport.
Early locks were designed with a single gate, known as a flash lock or staunch lock. The earliest European references to what were clearly flash locks were in Roman times.
Developme ...
s. This proposal however never came to fruition. The River Swift is still an important feeder to the northern Oxford Canal.
Catchment
The Swift catchment lies between that of the Avon and
Welland
Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750.
The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-o ...
to the east, the
River Sowe
The River Sowe is a river in Warwickshire and West Midlands, England. It is a tributary of the River Avon, and flows into it just south of Stoneleigh about 5 miles (8 km) south of Coventry. It is about long.
The Sowe rises in Bedworth ...
to the west, and the
River Soar
The River Soar () is a major tributary of the River Trent in the English East Midlands and is the principal river of Leicestershire. The source of the river is midway between Hinckley and Lutterworth. The river then flows north through Leicest ...
and its tributaries to the north, it covers an area of .
In terms of geology of the catchment is underlain primarily by
Lias Clay and mudstones, with an overlying layer of glacially deposited till, sands and gravels. This impermeable clay means that the Swift can become responsive in terms of runoff to heavy rainfall events.
Flooding
The Swift has a minor history of flooding along its course, especially in Lutterworth, flood events being recorded in 1875, 1931 and most recently in 2008. A
flood warning and alert service exists for the catchment, in conjunction with that for the Upper Avon and the Clay Coton brook.
In February 2012, a mother and her three children had to be rescued from their car when it was swept downstream from the ford between Churchover and
Harborough Magna
Harborough Magna is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. The civil parish which also contains the nearby hamlets of Harborough Parva and Cathiron, had a population of 502 at the 2011 Census, decreasing to 481 at the 2021 Census. ...
, after it had broken down in the floodwaters whilst crossing the river.
See also
*
List of rivers of England
This is a list of rivers of England, organised geographically and taken anti-clockwise around the English coast where the various rivers discharge into the surrounding seas, from the Solway Firth on the Scottish border to the Welsh Dee on the Wel ...
*
Swift Valley Nature Reserve
References
External links
{{authority control
Swift
Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to:
* SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks
** SWIFT code
* Swift (programming language)
* Swift (bird), a family of birds
It may also refer to:
Organizations
* SWIFT, ...
Swift
Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to:
* SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks
** SWIFT code
* Swift (programming language)
* Swift (bird), a family of birds
It may also refer to:
Organizations
* SWIFT, ...
1Swift