Bourn Brook is a minor tributary of the

River Cam The River Cam () is the main river flowing through Cambridge in eastern England. After leaving Cambridge, it flows north and east before joining the River Great Ouse to the south of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely, at Pope's Corner. The total distanc ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Course

The Bourn Brook has its source just to the east of the village of

Eltisley Eltisley is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, on the A428 road about east of St Neots and about west of the city of Cambridge. The population in 2001 was 421 people, falling slightly to 401 at the 2011 Census. Hist ...

, 10 miles west of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, where the hills rise to around 60 metres above sea level. Minor tributaries known as the Eastern Brook, Hay Dean, Crow Dean and Gascote Dean merge just to the west of Caxton before it flows through Caxton, crossing the Roman road

Ermine Street Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (''Londinium'') to Lincoln ('' Lindum Colonia'') and York ('' Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earninga ...

at its junction with the Bourn and Gransden roads. A footpath then follows its course to the outskirts of

Bourn Bourn is a small village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England. Surrounding villages include Caxton, Eltisley and Cambourne. It is 8 miles (12 km) from the county town of Cambridge. The population of the parish was 1,015 at t ...

, where it is forded by the Caxton End road, and then bisects the village of Bourn. The village takes its name from the brook − "bourn" being another word for a brook. Flowing south-east from Bourn, it runs through Bourn Golf Course where it merges with the Dean Brook. Upon meeting the B1046 it turns east and runs alongside the former

Varsity Line The Varsity Line was the main railway line that linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated by the London and North Western Railway. In World War II, the line became a strategic route for freight avoiding London, a ...

railway that closed in 1968. From this point until it reaches the River Cam it also forms the boundary between neighbouring parishes. Firstly it forms the northern parish boundary of

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

then Great Eversden and the southern boundary of Caldecote and Toft, though at points it deviates slightly from the boundaries, indicating that its flow has altered since early medieval times.Ordnance Survey, Explorer Series. Sheet 209 After skirting the southern edge of Toft village, it crosses the

Prime Meridian A prime meridian is an arbitrarily chosen meridian (geography), meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. On a spheroid, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian ...

still following the former railway line that is now used as part of the

Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory The Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (MRAO) is located near Cambridge, UK and is home to a number of the largest and most advanced aperture synthesis radio telescopes in the world, including the One-Mile Telescope, 5-km Ryle Telescope, and ...

. Here it forms the southern boundary of

Comberton Comberton is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, just east of the Prime Meridian. History Archaeological finds, including a Neolithic polished stone axe (found to the south of the current village) and a Bronze Age ba ...

and then Barton and the northern boundary of Little Eversden,

Harlton Harlton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom. The village is south-west of Cambridge and neighbours Haslingfield. History The parish of Harlton covers an area of . Its southern border is marked by the ancient tr ...

, and

Haslingfield Haslingfield (''haiz''-ling-field) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, South Cambridgeshire, England. The village is about six miles south-west of Cambridge, between Harston, Barton, Cambridges ...

parishes, though it flows some distance away from the villages themselves. Finally it crosses the

M11 motorway The M11 is a motorway that runs north from the A406 road, North Circular Road (A406) in South Woodford to the A14 road (Great Britain), A14, northwest of Cambridge, England. Originally proposed as a trunk road as early as 1915, various plans ...

and forms the boundary between

Grantchester Grantchester () is a village and civil parish on the River Cam or Granta (river), Granta in South Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about south of Cambridge. Name The village of Grantchester is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Granteset ...

and Haslingfield before flowing into the

Byron's Pool Byron's Pool is a 4.4 hectare Local Nature Reserve in Grantchester in Cambridgeshire. It is managed by Cambridge City Council and the City Greenways Project. The site is named after Lord Byron, who used to swim in the water. It is a pool and ad ...

a few hundred metres south of Grantchester village, where the poet

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

is reputed to have swum.Bourn Brook
University Social Club

Usage

Bourn Brook is used for angling, though there are few fish in its waters. The fish most commonly seen are small

roach Roach or The Roach may refer to: Animals * Cockroach, various insect species of the order Blattodea * Common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), a fresh and brackish water fish of the family Cyprinidae ** ''Rutilus'' or roaches, a genus of fishes * Cal ...

dace A dace is a small fish that can be one of many different species. The unmodified name is usually a reference to the common dace (''Leuciscus leuciscus''). This, like most fish called "daces", belongs to the family Leuciscidae, mostly in subfami ...

and

perch Perch is a common name for freshwater fish from the genus ''Perca'', which belongs to the family Percidae of the large order Perciformes. The name comes from , meaning the type species of this genus, the European perch (''P. fluviatilis'') ...

Flooding

After exceptionally heavy rainfall, Bourn Brook has occasionally flooded, most notably in 2001 when it reached an all-time high of 3.11 meters at bourn causing significant damage was done to properties in Bourn and other villages. It regularly rises significantly in height making the Caxton End ford in Bourn impassable.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Cambridgeshire River Cam