The River Blakewater is a river running through Lancashire, giving its name to the town of Blackburn. The Blakewater rises on the moors above Guide near Blackburn as Knuzden Brook and runs through the hamlet of that name, before taking the name Blakewater (meaning either "black water" or "clear water," the latter deriving from Old English ''blæc'') near the village of Whitebirk. From there, the river runs through the Blackburn areas of Little Harwood, Cob Wall and Brookhouse to Blackburn town centre. The section of the Blakewater running through Blackburn town centre was

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...

ed during the industrial revolution, and now runs underground. The culvert was extensively modified in the 1960s during the redevelopment of the town centre - it now runs underneath Ainsworth Street and between Blackburn Cathedral and Blackburn Bus Station. In recent years, the town has undergone a phase of regeneration with future proposals to open up parts of the culverted river so that the Blakewater will once again flow openly through areas of the town centre. On the western side of the town centre the Blakewater continues under Whalley Banks and through the Redlam area. The Blakewater joins the River Darwen outside

Witton Country Park Witton Country Park is a 480-acre (1.9 km²) public park in the west of Blackburn, Lancashire, England. Around half of the country park is mixed woodland and parkland, while the rest is either farmland or rough grassland with open access. A ...

in Blackburn, which continues on to join the

River Ribble The River Ribble runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It starts close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, and is one of the few that start in the Yorkshire Dales and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea (t ...

at Walton-le-Dale. In addition to the aforementioned Knuzden Brook, the waters of the Blakewater are swelled by Little Harwood Brook (coming from Sunny Bower), Audley Brook (from the region of Queen's Park to the confluence near Darwen Street) and Snig Brook (which rises near Lammack and runs through Corporation Park).

Tributaries

Snig Brook rises near ''Pleckgate'' and flows southwards, behind ''Lammack'' and close to ''Four Lane Ends'', before feeding the lakes in '' Corporation Park''. From there, Snig Brook flows down to the west of ''Montague Street'' through a

, meeting the Blakewater near ''Nab End''. The entirely culverted Audley Brook rises close to the former site of Audley Hall north of the ''Queen's Park'' area of Blackburn. From there, it flows westward, meeting the Blakewater near Darwen Street Bridge, where the railway between Blackburn and

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

crosses Darwen Street. Little Harwood Brook joins the Blakewater at ''Bastwell'' (recorded in the 13th century as ''Baddestwysel

the latter part deriving from an

Old English Old English (, ), 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 was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

term meaning ''place where two brooks meet''), having risen close to ''Mickle Hey'' and running through ''Brownhill'', as well as having been fed itself by Seven Acre Brook (running east from ''Rough Hey'' and joining by ''Blackburn Cemetery'' near ''Roe Lee'', for much of its course marking the boundary between

Blackburn with Darwen Blackburn with Darwen is a borough and unitary authority area in Lancashire, North West England. It consists of the industrial town of Blackburn and the market town of Darwen including other villages around the two towns. Formation It was fou ...

to the south and the Ribble Valley) and Royshaw Clough (running east from near ''Four Lane Ends''). {{DEFAULTSORT:Blakewater Rivers of Lancashire Rivers of Blackburn with Darwen 2Blakewater