The River Tame flows through
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
, England. It rises on
Denshaw Moor and flows to
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
where it joins the
River Goyt to form the
River Mersey
The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...
.
Sources
The Tame rises on
Denshaw Moor in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
, close to the border with the modern metropolitan county of
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
but within the historic
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...
.
Course
Most of the river's catchment lies on the western flank of the
Pennines
The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...
. The named river starts as compensation flow (that is, a guaranteed minimum discharge) from Readycon Dean Reservoir in the moors above
Denshaw. The source is a little further north, just over the county border in West Yorkshire, close to the
Pennine Way
The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...
. The highest point of the catchment is Greater Manchester's highest point at
Black Chew Head.
The river flows generally south through
Delph,
Uppermill,
Mossley
Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, south-east of Oldham and east of Manchester.
The town grew ...
,
Stalybridge
Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, it had a population of 26,830.
Historic counties of England, Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east o ...
,
Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 48,604 at the 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, Greater Manchester, ...
,
Dukinfield,
Haughton Green,
Denton and
Hyde. The Division Bridge (which spans the river at
Mossley
Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, south-east of Oldham and east of Manchester.
The town grew ...
), marks the meeting point of the traditional boundaries of
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
,
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
and
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
. The section through
Stalybridge
Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, it had a population of 26,830.
Historic counties of England, Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east o ...
was once mooted as a diversion route for the restoration of the
Huddersfield Narrow Canal
The Huddersfield Narrow Canal is an Navigability, inland waterway in northern England. It runs just under from Lock 1E at the rear of the University of Huddersfield campus, near Aspley, West Yorkshire, Aspley Basin in Huddersfield, to the ju ...
although the canal was later de-culverted along a different route. At the end of its course, the confluence with the
River Goyt forms the
River Mersey
The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...
at
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
.
The 19th-century industrial concentrations in the above-named urban areas resulted in the Tame being a much polluted waterway. As well as industrial pollution from the dyes and bleaches used in textile mills, effluent from specialised paper-making
cigarette papers, engineering effluents, including base metal washings from battery manufacture, phenols from the huge coal-gas plant in Denton, rain-wash from roads and abandoned coal spoil heaps there was also the sewage effluent from the surrounding population. Up to two-thirds of the river's flow at its confluence with the Goyt had passed through a sewage works. The anti-pollution efforts of the last thirty years of the 20th century resulted in the positive fauna distributions listed below.
The
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology measures the flow at two points for the National River Flow Archive, at
Portwood weir (Stockport) and at Broomstairs weir (Denton). Portwood weir is above the confluence with the
Mersey
The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it ...
and contains the great majority of the final flow (with the exception of waste water from a concrete facility).
Boundary line
The river has been a border from the earliest times between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of
Northumbria
Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland.
The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...
and
Mercia
Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...
.
For its course after the Division Bridge in Mossley the river marks much of the historical boundary dividing
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
and
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
.
Mouth

The Tame joins the
River Goyt at
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
, forming the
River Mersey
The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...
which eventually flows into the
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...
just past
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
.
Toponymy
The name ''Tame'' is attached to rivers across the UK in several forms, including
Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...
,
Thame,
Taff, and
Tamar, alongside two other instances of
Tame.
The name is Celtic in origin, but the meaning is uncertain.
''Dark river'' or ''dark one'' has been suggested, but Ekwall
finds it unlikely; Mills suggests it may simply mean ''river'' (cf.
Avon,
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Trent, Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms ...
,
Tyne).
The names of the Mersey's co-tributaries Etherow and Goyt are equally ancient and mysterious.
Mersey is an
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
name (i.e. more recent) derived from "river at the boundary". The earlier name is lost: Dodgson suggests that Tame may have been the name for the whole of the Mersey.
The
Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is named after the river. While it flows through the borough, the river neither rises nor finishes inside its boundaries; however, most of the built-up area alongside the river is in Tameside.
Fauna
The fish species present vary along the river's length. The lower reaches (near
Reddish Vale
Reddish Vale is in the River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame Valley close to Reddish, Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The centre of the vale is around the bottom of Reddish Vale Road. Reddish Vale Country Park is a country park managed by ...
Country Park) are home to
coarse fish such as
gudgeon (''Gobio gobio''),
chub (''Leuciscus cephalus''), and
roach (''Rutilus rutilus'');
pike (''Esox lucius'') and
perch (''Perca fluviatilis'') are also present. The upper reaches (above Ashton) support
brown trout
The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...
(''Salmo trutta'') and smaller numbers of some coarse fish. The populations are self-sustaining. Migratory fish such as
Atlantic salmon
The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Hucho taimen, Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlan ...
and
sea trout cannot navigate the river as the weir at Reddish Vale is too tall and has no fish pass. Furthermore,
* Carr Brook (from its source to the Tame)
* Diggle Brook (from Diggle Reservoir to the Tame)
* Hull Brook (Head of Lower Castleshaw Reservoir to the Tame)
* Swineshaw Brook (from the Head of Swineshaw Reservoir to the Tame)
* and the Tame (from the Head of Readycon Dean Reservoir to foot of New Years Bridge Reservoir)
are all declared as salmonid waters by statute, and as such have set physical and chemical water quality objectives.
Hull Brook is a
Site of Biological Importance (SBI). Hull Brook and Castleshaw Reservoir have populations of
white-clawed crayfish. The river is now clean enough in principle to support
otters
Otters are carnivorous mammals in the Rank (zoology), subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic animal, aquatic, or Marine ecology, marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae Family (biology), family, whi ...
, but none were found in a survey in 2000–2002.
Environment
In 2018 a study found that the river contained the greatest amount of
microplastic contamination of any river yet surveyed.
Later history
On New year day 2025, following heavy rain, the Tame burst its banks and triggered widespread flooding in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
,
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...
and
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
.
Tributaries
* Denton Brook ? (R)
* Horse Close Brook ? (R)
* Hulmes Brook ? (R)
* Longacre Brook ? (L)
* Pole Bank Brook ? (L)
* Apethorne Brook ? (L)
* Gower Hey Brook (L)
* Wilson Brook (L)
** Werneth Brook (L)
** Godley Brook
** Westwood Brook
*
Swineshaw Brook (L)
** Cock Knarr Brook ? (L)
** Wicken Spring Brook (R)
* Staly Brook (L)
** Micklehurst Brook (R)
*** Tamyon Brook (R)
**
Carr Brook
*** Iron Tongue
**** Far Harehill Brook
* Quick Brook (R)
*
Chew Brook (L)
* Wickens Brook (R)
* White Brook (L)
* Pickhill Brook (L)
** Capper Brook
** Royle Brook
** Wickens Brook
*** Broadstone Clough
*
Diggle Brook
** Thorns Brook (R)
*** Dean Head Brook
** Brun Brook (R)
*** Will Brook (L)
** Stable Brook (R)
** Wicken Brook (L)
** Dry Brook (L)
** North Brook (R)
*** Hoar Brook (L)
** Birchen Brook (L)
** South Brook
* Wall Hill Brook (R)
* Thurston Clough Brook (R)
*
Hull Brook
** Waters Brook (L)
** Lee Brook (L)
** Bank Brook (R)
** Spa Brook
** Cudworth Brook
** Oaken Lee Brook
* Coal brook (R)
* Rams Brook (R)
* Summer Hill Brook (L)
* Lumb Hole Brook (R)
** Cherry Brook
** Brimmy Brook
* Dowry Water (R)
* Readycon Dean Brook (L)
** Great Brook (R)
** Middle Brook (R)
** Black Gulf (R)
* Dowry Water
See also
*
River Tame, West Midlands
*
List of rivers of the United Kingdom
For details of rivers of the United Kingdom, see
* List of rivers of England
* List of rivers of Scotland
* List of rivers of Wales
* Northern Ireland: see List of rivers of Ireland and Rivers of Ireland
* Longest rivers of the United Kingdom
Ov ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Mersey basin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tame, River
Rivers of Tameside
Rivers of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport
Rivers of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham
Rivers of Greater Manchester
1Tame
Tame catchment (Greater Manchester)