Ees (plural of ''ee'') is an archaic English term for a piece of land liable to

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

, or

water meadow A water-meadow (also water meadow or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Working water-m ...

. It is derived from the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

''¯eg'' (or ''¯ieg'') meaning "'island', also used of a piece of firm land in a

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. T ...

and of land situated on a stream or between streams". It is still used locally in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

to indicate former water meadows and flood basins adjoining the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...

Chorlton Ees Chorlton Brook is a stream in Greater Manchester, England. It heads westward through Chorlton-cum-Hardy, having been formed at the confluence of Platt Brook and Shaw Brook (or Red Lion Brook), and after passing north of Chorltonville it flows ...

, Sale Ees and

Stretford Stretford is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, south of Manchester city centre, south of Salford and north-east of Altrincham. Str ...

Ees. In the Lake District there are Ees and Strickland Ees on Esthwaite Water. The term is also modified to "eye" and "eea" in the name of Park Eye (or Park Eea).Lloyd, John M. (1972) ''The Township of Chorlton-cum-Hardy''. Manchester: E. J. Morten ; pp. 3-4 (Lloyd gives the derivation as from "ea", (=water or a river) )

Notes

Water-meadows {{Vocab-stub