Walverden Water is a minor
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
,
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 approximately long and has a
catchment
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...
area of .
Course
Beginning at Walverden Reservoir, which is fed by Catlow Brook (from the Coldwell Reservoirs near
Boulsworth Hill
Boulsworth Hill is a large expanse of moorland, the highest point of the South Pennines of south-eastern Lancashire, England, separating the Borough of Pendle from Calderdale.
Its summit, Lad Law, is 1,696 ft (517 m) above sea level, a ...
) and its tributaries, the river heads northwest into the town of
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
. It flows under Scholefield Mill, where it is presumably still met by Clough Head Beck, and continues on through Walverden Park. Shortly afterwards it enters a series of
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 ...
s as it passes through the town centre and under the
East Lancashire railway line viaduct and the
A56 Leeds Road bridge, emerging at Bradley Road and collecting Bradley Syke. It turns to the north and then west and is again culverted, before entering a tunnel under the
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...
and junction 13 of the
M65 motorway
The M65 is a motorway in Lancashire, England. It runs from just south of Preston through the major junction of the M6 and M61 motorways, east past Darwen, Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley, Brierfield, Nelson and ends at Colne.
History
The ...
, emerging next to
Nelson and Colne College
Nelson & Colne College is situated in the town of Nelson, Lancashire, North West of England, providing Further Education to Pendle and the surrounding districts. It is a tertiary college, offering courses to post-16 students, adult learners and t ...
and shortly after flowing into
Pendle Water
Pendle Water is a minor river in Lancashire, England. Rising on Pendle Hill, Pendle Water cuts a deep valley between Barley Moor and Spence Hill where it feeds into the reservoirs of ''Upper'' and ''Lower Ogden''.
Upon exiting the lower rese ...
.
History
The name possibly originates from a contraction of the
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 ...
words (stream) and (
frith
Frith is an Old English word meaning "peace; protection; safety, security".
Etymology
Derived from Old English ''friðu, friþ'', it is cognate to Old Norse '' friðr'', Old Saxon '' frithu'', Old High German '' fridu'', German ''Friede'', Du ...
), with (valley). Water (OE ) is a common name for a stream, most often found in southern Scotland.
Walverden Water anciently formed the boundary between the
manor
Manor may refer to:
Land ownership
*Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England
*Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism
*Man ...
of
Ightenhill
Ightenhill is a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a population of 1,975.
Since its creation as Ightenhill Park in 1866 the parish has seen a number of boundary changes. The modern civil parish includes Gawthor ...
and the manor of
Colne
Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds.
The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...
, also dividing what was then 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 ...
of Marsden in two, with Great Marsden to the northeast and Little Marsden on the southwest side. The
lord of Clitheroe had a mill on the river in 1311, thought to have been sited near the confluence with Clough Head Beck, and there is also evidence of an ancient
fulling mill
Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to elimin ...
close to the reservoir.
Duchy of Lancaster
The Duchy of Lancaster is the private estate of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster. The principal purpose of the estate is to provide a source of independent income to the sovereign. The estate consists of ...
records show that
Richard Towneley
Richard Towneley (10 October 1629 – 22 January 1707) was an English mathematician, natural philosopher and astronomer, resident at Towneley Hall, near Burnley in Lancashire. His uncle was the antiquarian and mathematician Christopher Townele ...
of
Towneley Hall
Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, cov ...
was prevented from operating a
corn mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...
called Walveden Mill in 1482 (as was his son John in 1495) as it caused a loss to the king's mills at
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...
and Colne.
The first
Ordnance Survey
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map of the area, published in 1848, shows a corn mill with a pond at what was still the small village of Bradley (today the centre of town). Also a little further north, a
sluice
Sluice ( ) is a word for a channel controlled at its head by a movable gate which is called a sluice gate. A sluice gate is traditionally a wood or metal barrier sliding in grooves that are set in the sides of the waterway and can be considered ...
appears to feed a
mill race
A mill race, millrace or millrun, mill lade (Scotland) or mill leat (Southwest England) is the current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel ( sluice) conducting water to or from a water wheel. Compared with the broad waters of a mi ...
to a small pond, across the canal at Hodge Bank, the only
cotton mill
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Althou ...
visible, located next to Reedyford House. By the time Nelson developed into a mill town water-power had given way to the
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
, however these still required a good supply of water. Walverden Mill (built before 1850), Victoria Mill (1857) and Vale Street Shed (1867) were constructed at sites next to the river in the decades that followed.
Although the
act that authorised the creation of a compensation
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
passed in 1866, construction was delayed as all the
tenders exceeded the budget of £3196. It was competed by 1869, under the direct management of the
local board
Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmenta ...
with a capacity of . Consequently, several more cotton mills were built along the river, including: Brook Street Mills (by 1884), Bradley Shed (by 1890), Clover Mill (by 1909), Marsden Mill (by 1909), Scholefield Mill (by 1910) and the Valley Mills (first three built between 1895–1910, No.4 in 1930). As was the Premier Dye Works, which operated from before 1909 until 1963, with the river also vital for its water supply.
[
In 2010 ]United Utilities
United Utilities Group plc (UU), the United Kingdom's largest listed water company, was founded in 1995 as a result of the merger of North West Water and NORWEB. The group manages the regulated water and waste water network in North West Englan ...
was fined after a blockage caused sewage to leak into the river through a storm overflow for four days in June, causing "a significant amount of pollution that had a serious impact on water quality".
A year-long, Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
led flood-alleviation scheme in the town-centre, completed in 2011, included raising the existing flood walls, the removal of an old weir
A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
and sluice
Sluice ( ) is a word for a channel controlled at its head by a movable gate which is called a sluice gate. A sluice gate is traditionally a wood or metal barrier sliding in grooves that are set in the sides of the waterway and can be considered ...
and repairs to the walls and culverts with some of the underground sections opened up.
References
Notes
Citations
{{authority control
Rivers of Lancashire
Rivers of the Borough of Pendle
Calder catchment