The River Churnet is a river in Staffordshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Dove.

Etymology

The origins of the name "Churnet" are unknown, though it is thought to derive from the pre-English, British name for the river.

Course

The source of the river is located over above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

in the Staffordshire moorlands, near the gritstone

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 ...

of the Roaches, and next to the A53 Leek to

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Dane and Weaver, flows into the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

; however, the Churnet, through the

Dove Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

Trent Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California, ...

and Humber Estuary, ultimately 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 ...

. After flowing downhill for a few miles it reaches Tittesworth Reservoir, a major supplier of fresh water to the Potteries and Leek. After it leaves the dam at Tittesworth, it flows into the ancient market town of Leek, where it was used until quite recently to aid the manufacture of dyes that were used in the town's textile and

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...

industries. South of Cheddleton, the river flows through the Churnet Valley, an area of outstanding beauty with ancient woodland, an abundance of wildlife and industrial heritage. The

Caldon Canal Caldon Canal is a branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal which opened in 1779. It runs from Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, to Froghall, Staffordshire. The canal has 17 locks and the Froghall Tunnel. History The first plans by the proprietors of the ...

locks into the river at Oak Meadow Ford Lock, 2 miles on from Cheddleton and river and canal are one until Consall Forge, where the canal goes its own way again. The river continues through the valley, past ancient woodland and the Bolton Copper works at

Froghall Froghall is a village situated approximately ten miles to the east of Stoke-on-Trent and two miles north of Cheadle in Staffordshire, England. Population details as taken at the 2011 Census can be found under Kingsley. Froghall sits in the C ...

, then through the villages of

Oakamoor Oakamoor is a small village in north Staffordshire, England. Although it is now a rural area, it has an industrial past which drew on the natural resources of the Churnet valley. Iron was smelted from medieval times. Copper and lumber were also ...

and

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

. It flows past the JCB factory at Rocester and shortly afterwards joins the River Dove near the hamlet of Combridge.

Churnet Valley

The course of the river from Cheddleton to Rocester runs through the Churnet Valley – a part of Staffordshire that has been known either as Staffordshire's Rhineland or Staffordshire's Little Switzerland. Throughout the valley there are steep gorges and banks, with an abundance of woodland and Wildlife. There are several woods owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

and the RSPB.

Industry

The Churnet has been heavily influenced by industry along its length for nearly a thousand years and as a result became possibly the most polluted river in Europe. The river was heavily used in Leek by the textile industry to make dyes. The dyeing industry was established in 1734 and it was claimed that the water from the Churnet was the finest in Europe for this purpose. In nearby Cheddleton the Churnet was used to power a

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

mill that ground down flint for use in the pottery industry. Further downriver at

and at

the Thomas Bolton Copper works used the power of the Churnet to help manufacture the world's first transatlantic telegraph cables. The processes involved in manufacturing

copper wire Copper has been used in electrical wiring since the invention of the electromagnet and the telegraph in the 1820s. The invention of the telephone in 1876 created further demand for copper wire as an electrical conductor. Copper is the electri ...

at the sites caused high levels of pollution. The Churnet Valley was heavily involved in the iron-smelting industry and it is documented from as long ago as 1290 that iron was smelted using the river as its main source of energy. The early forges were at East Wall, near Oakamoor, but a later forge is still standing at Consall, next to the locks on the

. The Caldon Canal runs with the river through the Churnet Valley and along parts the river is canalised. There was intensive freight traffic on the waterway transporting limestone and ironstone from the wharves on the canal. Today the only industrial use of the river is by the sand quarry at Oakamoor. Since the decline of industry in Leek and the Churnet Valley, the quality of the water has improved so much that a programme of re-introducing

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

is underway.

References

{{authority control Churnet Churnet Staffordshire Moorlands 1Churnet