Hyndburn Brook 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 w ...

in eastern

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 Lancash ...

. It is approximately long, and has the catchment area (not including the

River Hyndburn The River Hyndburn is a minor river in Lancashire, England. Beginning as Woodnook Water on the slopes of Goodshaw Hill, it passes through Stone Fold, Rising Bridge and Baxenden where it is augmented by streams from Thirteen Stone Hill and conti ...

) of . Thought to begin at the confluence of Tinker Brook and White Ash Brook, to the west of Church, the river runs north. It collects the River Hyndburn just before the bridge of the M65 Motorway and Bottom Syke (from

Dunkenhalgh The Dunkenhalgh is a country manor in Lancashire, on the outskirts of Clayton-le-Moors near the river Hyndburn. Originally a large country house in Tudor style, later converted into a hotel. It is grade II listed. History The name ''Dunkenha ...

) just afterward, meeting Shaw Brook and Spaw Brook to the east of Rishton. Turning to the northeast between

Great Harwood Great Harwood is a town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England, located north east of Blackburn and adjacent to the Ribble Valley. Great Harwood is the major conurbation of the 'Three Towns'; the three towns being Great Harwood, Clayton- ...

and the Oakenshaw side of

Clayton-le-Moors Clayton-le-Moors is an industrial town in the borough of Hyndburn in the county of Lancashire, England. located two miles north of Accrington. The town has a population of 8,522 according to the 2011 census. To the west lies Rishton, to the ...

, it is joined by Norden Brook and then Harwood Brook. After passing under the A680 Hyndburn Bridge, the brook eventually joins the River Calder, next to the district's waste water treatment works, at Martholme. Both Tinker and White Ash Brooks drain the north side of Oswaldwistle Moor. Tinker Brook originates as ''Jackhouse Brook'' at the confluence of Cocker Brook and Cocker Lumb near Jackhouse, the former having passed through the old reservoirs of Warmwithens and Jackhouse. It becomes ''Tinker Brook'' as it enters the south of town of

Oswaldtwistle Oswaldtwistle ( "ozzel twizzel") is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington and Church. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the ...

before it collects Whams Brook. While White Ash Brook begins as Lottice Brook, northeast of Belthorn, and flows in a northerly direction until it turns back east, at the bridge of Haslingden Old Road near the motorway. It becomes White Ash Brook as flows under the Smithes Bridge in Western Oswaldwistle. The name possibly originates from 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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...

words (female deer) and (stream). Brook (OE ) is a common name for a stream, which is most often found in Southern and Central England. An ongoing river improvement scheme aimed to allow migrating

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 ...

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

, and

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

s access to the ''River Hyndburn'' saw the construction of a fish bypass during 2017, at the high nineteenth century Oakenshaw Print Works

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 ...

. This was officially opened in October 2017. Work started on a similar project in June 2019, this being upstream at the Dunkenhalgh Weir near Rishton.

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 Engla ...

had put the two hundred metre stretch of Hyndburn Brook up for sale in February 2009, and it was being auctioned with no reserve price. Environment Agency officials praised ''Blythe’s Chemical Works'' for reducing pollution in the stretch of the brook in January 2000.

Tributaries

*Harwood Brook **Causeway Brook *Norden Brook *Spaw Brook *Shaw Brook *Bottom Syke *

*White Ash Brook **Wolfenden Syke **Lottice Brook *Tinker Brook **Whams Brook **Jackhouse Brook ***Cocker Brook ****White Syke ***Cocker Lumb

References

Notes Citations

External links

*Images from culverted sections at substormflow.co
Tinker BrookWhite Ash Brook
Rivers of Hyndburn 1Hyndburn {{England-river-stub