The Tue Brook or Tew Brook is a small river or stream in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. It flows through the suburb of

West Derby West Derby ( ) is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located East of the city and is also a Liverpool City Council ward. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West ...

and is the main tributary of the

River Alt The River Alt is an urban river that flows across Merseyside in England. The river has suffered from heavy pollution from industry and sewage upstream and run-off from farmland in its lower reaches. It empties into the River Mersey, near to wher ...

. The brook is now almost entirely culverted and runs underground, but is remembered in the name of

Tuebrook Tuebrook is a North-East area of Liverpool, England. At the 2001 census the population was 14,490. Toponymy The origin of the name may be Tew Brook, a tributary of the Alt. The brook itself is now almost entirely piped or culverted, with the l ...

ward. Although it is sometimes said to be derived from the name of the god Tiw, the name "Tue Brook", recorded as "Tubrucke" in the 16th century, may be derived 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 ...

phrase meaning "meeting place by a brook".Grant, A. and Grey, C. ''The Mersey Sound: Liverpool's Language, People and Places'', 2007, p.69 The watercourse formed the natural drainage of the districts of Walton and Club Moor, flowing north eastwards to the Alt.''Proceedings of the Liverpool Geological Society'', V.12 (1920), 238 Over time, as the suburbs of Liverpool grew, the brook came to receive much of the

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

of the

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

, with the result that it became highly polluted. The Tue Brook was, as a result, the subject of a court case in 1872, when an owner of land through which it ran was successful in obtaining an injunction in Chancery against polluters.''Proceedings of the Institution of Municipal Engineers'', V. 6 (1880), 114 Much of the brook was still open as late as the earlier 20th century, but urban development along its course has resulted in the upper Tue Brook being mostly diverted underground, and the lower brook being similarly treated with the exception of some longer open stretches near Long Lane.Liverpool City Council Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, 2008, p. 26 Despite this, the brook is still locally reputed to feed the pond in Larkhill Gardens,

Clubmoor Clubmoor is a neighbourhood of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, in the Liverpool City Council ward of Clubmoor. It is part of the Liverpool Walton Parliamentary constituency. At the 2001 Census the population of Clubmoor ward was recorded as 13 ...

, and has been identified as a significant source of historic flooding, as the culverts are of inadequate size and in poor condition.Liverpool City Council Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, 2008, pp.33-34

References

{{authority control Rivers of Merseyside Subterranean rivers of Liverpool Tributaries of the Alt