The River Stour is a river in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, England that flows into the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
at
Pegwell Bay
Pegwell Bay is a shallow inlet in the English Channel coast astride the estuary of the River Stour north of Sandwich Bay, between Ramsgate and Sandwich in Kent. Part of the bay is a nature reserve, with seashore habitats including mudflats and ...
. Above
Plucks Gutter
Plucks Gutter is a hamlet in the civil parish of Stourmouth, Kent, England. The hamlet is situated where the Little Stour and Great Stour rivers meet.
Etymology
The hamlet is named after a Dutch Drainage Engineer called Ploeg, whose grave is ...
, where the
Little Stour
The Little Stour is one of the tributaries of the River Stour in the English county of Kent. The upper reaches of the river is known as the Nailbourne, whilst the lower reaches were once known as the Seaton Navigation.
The intermittent source ...
joins it, the river is normally known as the Great Stour. The upper section of the river, above its
confluence with the
East Stour at
Ashford is sometimes known as the Upper Great Stour or West Stour. In the tidal lower reaches, the artificial Stonar Cut short cuts a large loop in the natural river.
The Stour has Kent's second largest catchment area (the
River Medway having the largest). The lower part of the river is tidal; its original mouth was on the
Wantsum Channel
The Wantsum Channel was a strait separating the Isle of Thanet from the north-eastern extremity of the English county of Kent and connecting the English Channel and the Thames Estuary. It was a major shipping route when Britain was part of the Rom ...
, an important sea route in medieval times. The river has three major
tributaries
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...
, and many minor ones. For much of its length, it flows in a generally south-west to north-east direction.
The historic city of
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...
is situated on the river, as are the former
Cinque Port
The Confederation of Cinque Ports () is a historic group of coastal towns in south-east England – predominantly in Kent and Sussex, with one outlier ( Brightlingsea) in Essex. The name is Old French, meaning "five harbours", and alludes to t ...
of
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...
and the
railway town
A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated or was greatly developed because of a railway station or junction at its site.
North America
During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporar ...
of Ashford. The route of the
Stour Valley Walk
The Stour Valley Walk is a recreational walking route that follows the River Stour, through the ''Low Weald'' and ''Kent Downs,'' from its source at Lenham to its estuary at Pegwell Bay.
The walk passes through some of Kent's finest landsca ...
follows the river.
Course
Upper Great Stour
The source, of what is known at that point as the Great Stour, is near the village of
Lenham
Lenham is a market village and civil parish in Kent situated on the southern edge of the North Downs, east of Maidstone. The picturesque square in the village has two public houses (one of which is a hotel), a couple of restaurants, and a tea ...
, within a short distance of the
River Len
The River Len is a river in Kent, England. It rises at a spring in ''Bluebell Woods'' to the southeast of the village centre of Lenham from the source of the River Great Stour; both rise on the Greensand Ridge. Its length is c. It enters the ...
, a tributary of the
Medway. The source is at a high elevation close to the
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills a ...
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...
. At first, the river flows south east in a narrow valley parallel to the escarpment and the
Greensand ridge
The Greensand Ridge, also known as the Wealden Greensand is an extensive, prominent, often wooded, mixed greensand/sandstone escarpment in south-east England. Forming part of the Weald, a former dense forest in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, it r ...
to the south, before breaking through the ridge near
Hothfield
Hothfield is a village and civil parish in the Ashford Borough of Kent, England and is 3 miles north-west of Ashford on the A20. It is completely split in two by Hothfield Common.
Geography
In the north west is Hothfield Common, 58 hectares (1 ...
into a broad valley. Three small streams enter from the north, having their headwaters on the close to Downs escarpment. Flood defences can turn this valley into a large lake and an embankment has had to be built to prevent overflow into the Medway catchment barely away to the south. The river turns north east by the village of
Great Chart in the direction of its outlet to the sea.
The confluence with the
East Stour, flowing from its source near
Hythe
Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to:
Places Australia
* Hythe, Tasmania
Canada
*Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada
England
* T ...
, is to be found at Pledge's Mill at the bottom of East Hill in Ashford.
Lower Great Stour
The town of
Ashford marks the start of the middle section of the river, sited at a crossing point of the river and on ancient track ways. In Ashford, the river helps form part of the
Ashford Green Corridor.
After Ashford, the Stour breaches the North Downs; for most of this distance there are no tributaries. After the
Brook stream enters from the right, there are now to Canterbury. In this stretch the river flows through the villages of
Wye,
Chilham
Chilham is a mostly agricultural village and parish in the English county of Kent with a clustered settlement, Chilham village centre, in the northeast, and a smaller linear settlement, Shottenden. Well-preserved roads and mostly residential list ...
and
Chartham
Chartham is a village and civil parish in the Canterbury district of Kent, England. It is situated on the Ashford side of the city, and is in the North Downs area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, south west of Canterbury, England. The Great St ...
, with Wye being a fordable crossing.
The historic city of
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...
lies at the junction of four branches of the
Roman road Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main ...
which connected Canterbury with ports around the Kent coast –
Lympne
Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Lympne ...
,
Dover,
Richborough
Richborough () is a settlement north of Sandwich on the east coast of the county of Kent, England. Richborough lies close to the Isle of Thanet. The population of the settlement is included in the civil parish of Ash.
Although now some dist ...
and
Reculver
Reculver is a village and coastal resort about east of Herne Bay on the north coast of Kent in south-east England.
It is in the ward of the same name, in the City of Canterbury district of Kent.
Reculver once occupied a strategic location ...
. Within the city, the river flows in two channels, one through the centre of the city, and the other to the north of the city walls. The two channels rejoin to the east of Canterbury, before the river reaches
Fordwich
Fordwich is a market town and a civil parish in east Kent, England, on the River Stour, northeast of Canterbury.
It is the smallest community by population in Britain with a town council. Its population increased by 30 between 2001 and 2011.
...
, a former
outport
An outport is any port considered secondary to a main port (including a provincial one as opposed to a capital one), and often (especially) a small port built to support the commercial operations of a large port. The Port of Tilbury from the Port ...
of Canterbury and the current tidal limit of the river.
Beyond Fordwich, the river passes between several former
gravel pit
A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used either ...
s and through the
reed beds of the
Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve
Stodmarsh SSSI is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Stodmarsh, north-east of Canterbury in Kent. Parts of it are a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, a National Nature Reserve, a Ramsar internationally important wetl ...
. Beyond the nature reserve lies the open farmland on the reclaimed marshes surrounding the river crossing at
Grove Ferry Picnic Area
The Grove Ferry Picnic Area is near Upstreet, in Kent, England, on the site of an old hand-drawn ferry that once crossed the River Stour here. The area is maintained and managed by Kent County Council.
It is beside the Grove Ferry Public House ...
, near the hamlet of
Upstreet
Upstreet is a village in the civil parish of Chislet in Kent, England. It is in the local government district of Canterbury, and the electoral ward of Marshside. It is about 62 miles away from London.
Upstreet is a ribbon development along the ...
.
At the hamlet of
Plucks Gutter
Plucks Gutter is a hamlet in the civil parish of Stourmouth, Kent, England. The hamlet is situated where the Little Stour and Great Stour rivers meet.
Etymology
The hamlet is named after a Dutch Drainage Engineer called Ploeg, whose grave is ...
, the second of the large tributaries enters the main river: the long
Little Stour
The Little Stour is one of the tributaries of the River Stour in the English county of Kent. The upper reaches of the river is known as the Nailbourne, whilst the lower reaches were once known as the Seaton Navigation.
The intermittent source ...
, which begins life as a spring stream in
Bekesbourne
Bekesbourne is a village near Canterbury in Kent, South East England.
The village is centred ESE of the city's cathedral and its centre stretches less than 1 km from its railway station to the A2 road to the south.
Amenities
The parish c ...
. From here on, the river is normally known as the River Stour.
River Stour
The twin villages in the parish of
Stourmouth (West and East) mark the original point where the Stour entered the erstwhile
Wantsum Channel
The Wantsum Channel was a strait separating the Isle of Thanet from the north-eastern extremity of the English county of Kent and connecting the English Channel and the Thames Estuary. It was a major shipping route when Britain was part of the Rom ...
, a
strait used for hundreds of years until silting and land reclamation turned the sea channel into a large drainage ditch. At this point the third large tributary, the 8.4-mile (13.4 km)
Sarre Penn
Sarre Penn is a tributary of the River Stour in Kent, England, joining with the River Wantsum near Sarre, where it is known locally as the ''Fishbourne Stream''.
The stream runs from its source in the parish of Dunkirk, north of Canterbury, ...
(named locally as the '’Fishbourne Stream'’) enters with the Wantsum Channel.
Here the river turns southwards to the once-thriving port of
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...
, after which it loops back on itself to the north before entering the
Strait of Dover at
Pegwell Bay
Pegwell Bay is a shallow inlet in the English Channel coast astride the estuary of the River Stour north of Sandwich Bay, between Ramsgate and Sandwich in Kent. Part of the bay is a nature reserve, with seashore habitats including mudflats and ...
. The ''Stonar Cut'' obviates the need for seagoing craft to take the longer route around the loop at Sandwich.
From the tidal limit at Fordwich to the sea, the river is fringed with
marshes
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...
. Most of them are located on what was the floor of the Wantsum Channel, whilst those to the south lie behind the sand dunes of the Sandwich Flats. These marshes are criss-crossed with drainage ditches. The principal marshes are those of
Chislet
Chislet is an English village and civil parish in northeast Kent between Canterbury and the Isle of Thanet. The parish is the second largest in the district. A former spelling, 'Chistlet', is seen in 1418. The population of the civil parish incl ...
, within the ancient
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
of the river; Wade, west of
Birchington
Birchington-on-Sea is a village in the Thanet district in Kent, England, with a population of 9,961.
The village forms part of the civil parish of Birchington. It lies on the coast facing the North Sea, east of the Thames Estuary, between th ...
; and Ash Level.
Stonar Cut
In the mid-18th century, it became necessary to alleviate the problem of flooding along the lower course of the Stour. The action of tidal drift of shingle along the coast had resulted in the huge loop at the estuary end of the river, and on 29 November 1774 an
Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
was enacted to bypass the loop at the narrowest end, at
Stonar. The works, to become known as the ''Stonar Cut'', made use of an existing sluice to cut across the neck of the loop, and were completed in 1776.
During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, huge volumes of both troops and supplies were needed on the Continent and, in the utmost secrecy, a new port was built at Richborough. Landing facilities along the Cut were built, and the
East Kent Light Railway
The East Kent Light Railway was part of the Colonel Stephens group of cheaply built rural light railways in England. Holman Fred Stephens was engineer from its inception, subsequently becoming director and manager. The line ran from Sheph ...
was extended to service the port. Nothing now remains of much of those works, and the Cut has been allowed to return to its natural state.
Tributaries
Notes
*(a) tributaries of the East Stour
*(b) or ''Spiders Castle Dyke''
*(c) or ''Pen Lee''
*(d) the upper reaches of the Little Stour; some sections dry much of the time
*(e) tributary of the Little Stour
*(f) flows into River Wantsum
History
In Roman and medieval times, the river was an important highway, connecting Canterbury with the Continent. Fordwich became important to shipping after the silting up of the southern entrance to the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
.
In 1831 Joseph Priestley wrote his '’Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals and Railways'’. In it he described in one section the '’Canterbury Navigation, or River Stour'’. He includes an account of its course and the improvements being carried out at that time to assist navigation, and details of new port facilities.
Economy
Water mills
Man has used the River Stour and its tributaries for centuries as a source of power. Many different processes were performed by the use of water power:- Corn milling, fulling, paper making and electricity generation. Many of the mills survive today as house conversions, with two of them still working commercially.
Communications
Both roads and railways make use of the river. The Watling Street link to Richborough ('’Rutupiae'’) and their link from Canterbury southwards made use of the North Downs gap. The rail links from Canterbury to the
Isle of Thanet
The Isle of Thanet () is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island.
Archaeological remains testify to its settlement in an ...
and also to
Ashford, and the main
A28 road
The A28 is a trunk road in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in south east England, connecting Margate, Canterbury, Ashford and Hastings.
Starting at the seaside resort of Margate at the north-east point of Kent, the A28 runs inland and we ...
follow identical routes.
The 51.5-mile (82.4 km)
Stour Valley Walk
The Stour Valley Walk is a recreational walking route that follows the River Stour, through the ''Low Weald'' and ''Kent Downs,'' from its source at Lenham to its estuary at Pegwell Bay.
The walk passes through some of Kent's finest landsca ...
follows the river for much of its length.
[
]
Fishing
The Great Stour estuary at Plucks Gutter and Grove Ferry is renowned for its coarse fishing, particularly bream
Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Acanthopagrus'', ''Argyrops'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', ''Etelis'', '' L ...
stocks.
Flooding
The lower-lying parts of Canterbury have in the past been particularly prone to flooding . The ''River Stour (Kent) Internal Drainage Board'' has the responsibility of reducing that risk in the river catchment area
Environment
In 2006, male fish were found with signs of "feminisation" after having been exposed to treated sewage effluent in the river near Ashford. It was found that oestrogen
Estrogen or oestrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three major endogenous estrogens that have estrogenic hormonal acti ...
enters the river when the nearby Bybrook sewage works discharges its end product.
In 2009, Southern Water
Southern Water is the private utility company responsible for the public wastewater collection and treatment in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent, and for the public water supply and distribution in approximately ...
started work on a £4.2 million environmental improvement project at its Lenham treatment works to ensure wastewater is treated to higher standards. New reed beds, containing more than 7,500 reeds, will help clean up to 4.3 million litres of wastewater from more than 3,600 people each day.
In 2017 The Marine Group based in Cardiff begun work with their water injection dredger on the river through Sandwich and Richborough to tackle some of the sediment build up.
In popular culture
Author Russell Hoban
Russell Conwell Hoban (February 4, 1925 – December 13, 2011) was an American expatriate writer. His works span many genres, including fantasy, science fiction, mainstream fiction, magical realism, poetry, and children's books.
He lived in ...
repurposes the River Stour where it flows through Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...
as the "Rivver Sour" in his 1980, post apocalyptic novel ''Riddley Walker
''Riddley Walker'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Russell Hoban, first published in 1980. It won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel in 1982, as well as an Australian Science Fiction Achievement Awa ...
''.
See also
*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 ...
*Rivers of Kent
Four major rivers drain the county of Kent, England.
River Medway
The catchment area of the Medway covers almost 25% of the county. The detailed map has a diagram of that catchment area, which includes its main tributaries: the rivers Eden ...
References
{{authority control
Borough of Ashford
City of Canterbury
Dover District
Borough of Maidstone
Stour