The River Cocker is a river in the Lake District in North West England, in the county of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

. Its source is at the head of the

Buttermere Buttermere is a lake in the Lake District in North West England. The adjacent village of Buttermere takes its name from the lake. Historically in Cumberland, the lake is now within the county of Cumbria. Owned by the National Trust, it forms pa ...

valley. It flows north through Buttermere and then

Crummock Water Crummock Water is a lake in the Lake District in Cumbria, North West England situated between Buttermere to the south and Loweswater to the north. Crummock Water is long, wide and deep. The River Cocker is considered to start at the north of ...

, through Lorton Vale, to the town of

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...

, where it joins the River Derwent. It is roughly long. The river takes its name from the Brythonic Celtic word ''kukrā'', meaning 'the crooked one.' The river supports a range of wildlife; the predominant fish species include

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 ...

, sea trout, brown trout,

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 ...

minnow Minnow is the common name for a number of species of small freshwater fish, belonging to several genera of the families Cyprinidae and Leuciscidae. They are also known in Ireland as pinkeens. Smaller fish in the subfamily Leusciscidae are c ...

s, sticklebacks and the stone loach. Cocker Bridge, Cockermouth - geograph

The small river came to national prominence in the 2009 Great Britain and Ireland floods. The county of

was the hardest hit area during the floods, when the River Cocker and River Derwent both burst their banks, covering the town of

in as much as of water, causing extensive damage to houses, shops, workplaces as well as the home of Cockermouth Cricket Club. An important and pioneering project to reduce the flooding hazards associated with the river Cocker began in 2014. It involved the restoration of the Whit Beck, a tributary of the river Cocker near Lorton. The project was called The Whit Beck Restoration Project 2014.

References

Cocker, River 1Cocker {{England-river-stub

See also

References