The River Bela is a short (approximately ) river in the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers 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. Cumb ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is in the ancient county of

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

. The river is formed by the confluence of

Peasey Beck Peasey Beck is a beck flowing through Cumbria, England. It rises on Lambrigg Fell where it is known as the Sparishaw Beck, flows through Killington Reservoir and converges with Stainton Beck to form the River Bela at Milnthorpe. Prior to 191 ...

and Stainton Beck at Overthwaite. It runs through

Beetham Beetham is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, situated on the border with Lancashire, north of Carnforth. It is part of the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In the 2001 census the parish had a populatio ...

where it powers the

Heron Corn Mill The Heron Corn Mill is a working 18th-century water mill on the River Bela at Beetham, Cumbria, England. The mill and its mill race are grade II* listed, and in 2013 it was awarded a £939,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund for major resto ...

, and then flows through the deer park of

Dallam Tower Dallam Tower is a grade I listed country house in Beetham parish, near Milnthorpe, South Lakeland, Cumbria, England. It is a member of the Historic Houses Association but is not open to the public except for occasional charity events, visits to ...

before skirting around the south of the village of

Milnthorpe Milnthorpe is a small market town on the southern border of Cumbria, 7 miles south of Kendal, civil parish and electoral ward are in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. Historically in the county of Westmorland and on the A6, the ...

and joining the

River Kent The River Kent is a short river in the county of Cumbria in England. It originates in hills surrounding Kentmere, and flows for around 20 miles (32 km) into the north of Morecambe Bay. The upper reaches and the western bank of the estuary ...

estuary between Sandside and Milnthorpe. At its mouth it was formerly crossed by the Sandside Viaduct on the Hincaster Branch Line railway from

Arnside Arnside is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, historically part of Westmorland, near the border with Lancashire, England. The Lake District National Park is located a few miles North. Travelling by road, Arnside is to the south of Kendal, ...

Hincaster Hincaster is a small hamlet and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, located between Kendal and Milnthorpe. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 195, increasing at the 2011 census to 209. "Caster" oft ...

, demolished after the line was closed to passengers in 1942 and the track lifted in 1966. Bela Viaduct

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camp was built beside the river near

Whasset Whasset or Whassett is a hamlet near Milnthorpe in South Lakeland, Cumbria, England. It is in the historic county of Westmorland. It is in the parish of Beetham and lies south of Ackenthwaite. The spelling ''Whasset'', with single "t", is used ...

. After the war the camp became an

open prison An open prison (open jail) is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and are often not locked up in their prison cells. Prisoners may be permitted to take up employment w ...

, and there is now a residential school on the site. Head of River Bela at Overthwaite

Hydro power

The river has been used for power since at least 1096 when there was a

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

at or near the present

. It is now used both to power the corn mill and to generate electricity using a

Kaplan turbine The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to ach ...

References

External links

A snippet about the pow camp
Bela, River Westmorland 1Bela {{England-river-stub