The River Leven (pronounced ) in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

, England is a

tributary 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 drai ...

of the

River Tees The River Tees (), in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has bee ...

. It rises on Warren Moor, part of Kildale Moor, in the

North York Moors The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a National Park in 1952, through the National Parks and ...

and flows to the north of the moors to join the River Tees at Yarm.

Course

The source of the river is on Warren Moor, part of Kildale Moor, just south of the village of Kildale. The river flows east until it reaches the

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Cl ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

where it turns around to flow west to Kildale. It then flows south-south-west through woodland to its confluence with Dundale Beck where it turns north-west through Low Easby and Little Ayton, before turning west and then south-west at Great Ayton. It runs parallel to the A173 to Stokesley. The river becomes increasingly meandering as it continues south-west past Skutterskelfe to Hutton Rudby and Rudby, where it turns north-west and then west again over Slape Stones waterfall. At Crathorne it turns north and then north-east as far as Middleton-on-Leven before passing under the A19 in a north-west direction. The final couple of miles are north and north-west between

Ingleby Barwick Ingleby Barwick is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It is south of the River Tees and north-east of the River Leven. Large scale development of the town started in the late 1970s on farm l ...

and Yarm, before the river joins the River Tees.

Water levels

* Low and High Water Levels are an average figure. In October 2022, a new flood defence project was opened on the river above Stokesley. When river levels are high, a new flood channel diverts the excess water around the town, meeting the Leven again, further downstream. The

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and en ...

funded the project at a cost of £3.7 million.

Geology

The river drains from the

Cleveland Hills The Cleveland Hills are a range of hills on the north-west edge of the North York Moors in North Yorkshire, England, overlooking Cleveland and Teesside. They lie entirely within the boundaries of the North York Moors National Park. Part of the ...

across a mixed geology of mostly

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleo ...

and

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

age bedrock of low permeability. Most of the deposits on top of the bedrock are

boulder clay Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists o ...

. There is mixed agriculture, with some moorland and forestry near the source.

Natural history

Since a weir on the lower river was built during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, migratory and territorial fish and mammals had been missing from the river. In 2007, the

built a fish bypass at the weir. In 2011, they announced the return of spawning

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 '' Onco ...

for the first time in 150 years. In 2020, it was confirmed that

crayfish plague Crayfish plague (''Aphanomyces astaci'') is a water mold that infects crayfish, most notably the European '' Astacus'' which dies within a few weeks of being infected. When experimentally tested, species from Australia, New Guinea and Japan wer ...

had infected the river after 40 dead

white-clawed crayfish ''Austropotamobius pallipes'' is an endangered European freshwater crayfish, and the only crayfish native to the British Isles. Its common names include white-clawed crayfish and Atlantic stream crayfish. Distribution It is found from the east ...

were found along a stretch of river.

History

In Stokesley, the river is crossed by Taylorson's Bridge, a 17th-century

packhorse bridge A packhorse bridge is a bridge intended to carry packhorses (horses loaded with sidebags or panniers) across a river or stream. Typically a packhorse bridge consists of one or more narrow (one horse wide) masonry arches, and has low parapets so ...

, which was once the only crossing in the town. The Domesday Book records a water mill on the banks of the river in the town. In Hutton Rudby, a plaque on a bridge marks the spot of a water mill that, amongst several uses, once made sailcloth.

Lists

Tributaries

* Lonsdale Beck * Dundale Beck * Otter Hills Beck * Main Stell * Ings Beck * Eller Beck * West Beck * River Tame * Grange Beck * Alum Beck * Carr Stell * Coul Beck * Hundale Gill * Magpie Gill * Fanny Bell's Gill * East Gill

Settlements

* Kildale * Low Easby *

Little Ayton Little Ayton is a village and civil parish in Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England and lies immediately south of Great Ayton. The population of this civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100. Details are included in the ...

* Great Ayton *

Stokesley Stokesley is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England, formerly a part of the historic North Riding of Yorkshire. It lies on the River Leven. An electoral ward, of the same name, stretches north to ...

* Skutterskelfe *

Rudby Rudby is a village and civil parish, 4 miles from the market town of Stokesley in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. Geography It is adjoined to another village called Hutton Rudby and it lies on the River Leven. Governanc ...

Hutton Rudby Hutton Rudby is a village and civil parish situated west of the market town of Stokesley in the Hambleton District, North Yorkshire, England. At the 2011 census, village's parish and built-up area subdivision had population of 1,572 while its ...

* Crathorne * Middleton-on-Leven *

Low Leven Low Leven is a hamlet within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, and is located at the bottom of Leven Bank towards the mouth of the River Leven. Until 2007, Low Leven was dominated by the ruin ...

High Leven High Leven is a village within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, and is located towards the mouth of the River Leven. It has a public house called The Fox Covert (previously Half Moon Inn) and ...

Levendale Levendale is a small housing estate in the south-east of Yarm, in North Yorkshire, England, which is bordered by the River Leven. It is also known as Ingleby Grange. The estate is built in former area occupied by Leven Mouth Farm. Levendale ...

( Yarm)

Crossings

* Petlar's Bridge, near Kildale * Unnamed road, near Kildale * Whitby to Middlesbrough Railway Line * Unnamed road north of Kildale * Whitby to Middlesbrough Railway Line * Unnamed road north of Easby * Cross Lane, Little Ayton * Holmes bridge, Little Ayton (foot) * Holly Garth, Great Ayton * A173, Levenside, Great Ayton * A172, Stokesley * B1257, Stokesley Bridge * Manor Close/Levenside, Stokesley (ford) * Malvern Drive, Stokesley * B1365, Bense Bridge, Stokesley * Hutton Bridge, Hutton Rudby * Crathorne Mill Bridge, Crathorne * Foxton bridge near Middleton-on-Leven * A19 near Middleton-on-Leven * A1044, Leven Bridge, Low Leven

Gallery

File:Bridge over the Leven at Great Ayton - geograph.org.uk - 1639516.jpg, Bridge over the Leven at Great Ayton File:Coul Beck joining the River Leven.jpg, Coul Beck joining the River Leven near Rudby File:River Leven, Great Ayton - geograph.org.uk - 594058.jpg, River Leven, Great Ayton File:River Leven, Low Green - geograph.org.uk - 477551.jpg, River Leven, Low Green, Great Ayton

Sources

* Ordnance Survey Open Viewer https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-government/tools-support/open-data-support * Google Earth * National Environment Research Council - Centre for Ecology and Hydrolog

* Environment Agenc

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leven Rivers of North Yorkshire