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The River Allen is a river in
Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
in
South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...
. It flows for to its confluence with the River Stour at
Wimborne Minster Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Pool ...
. It has two main tributaries, the Gussage Stream and the Crichel Stream.


Route

The River Allen starts as a winterbourne at Wyke Farm in Monkton Up Wimborne, on the chalk downland of
Cranborne Chase Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The area is dominated by, ...
. It flows roughly southwards on the dip slope of the downland through
Wimborne St Giles Wimborne St Giles is a village and civil parish in east Dorset, England, on Cranborne Chase, north of Wimborne Minster and north of Poole. The village lies within the Shaftesbury estate, owned by the Earls of Shaftesbury, Earl of Shaftesbury. ...
, and is joined by the Gussage stream at Gussage All Saints and the Crichel stream south of
Moor Crichel Moor Crichel () is a village and former Civil parishes in England, civil parish, now in the parish of Crichel, in Dorset, England situated on Cranborne Chase five miles east of Blandford Forum. The civil parish includes the hamlet (place), hamle ...
, before passing through Witchampton and Hinton Parva, where the landscape transitions from chalk downland to broad valley. Finally, at Wimborne Minster, it flows into the Stour immediately south the town beside the old Canford Bridge across the Stour to Oakley. The river is known as a classic
chalk stream Chalk streams are rivers that rise from springs in landscapes with chalk bedrock. Since chalk is permeable, water easily percolates through the ground to the water table and chalk streams therefore receive little surface runoff. As a result, th ...
which supports a good fishery for trout and used to support a good salmonid population. Much of the riverbank is privately owned by two estates, including the Shaftesbury Estate at the source. There are


Watermills

There have been a number of corn mills on the river. Loverley Mill at Crichel survives as a Grade II
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. Originally there were two waterwheels but they were replaced in the early 20th century by a water turbine driving a pump to supply water to
Crichel House Crichel House is a Grade I listed Classical Revival country house near the village of Moor Crichel in Dorset, England. The house has an entrance designed by Thomas Hopper (architect), Thomas Hopper and interiors by James Wyatt. It is surrounded ...
. Other mills were Hinton Farm Mill, Stanbridge Mill and Didlington Mill.


Environment

Since 1946, the water from the Allen has been abstracted for domestic and industrial use. The amount of water taken was having a detrimental effect on the river flow whilst at the same time the salmonid population dropped significantly. Studies have been undertaken into a correlation between the two events and resulted in the abstraction rate being reduced by 50%. Over the last twenty years there has been an increase in arable farming (wheat, barley, oats oilseed rape and peas) as well as some watercress farming discharge reaching the river. The Allen is one of several rivers that are subject to a major restoration project led by
Dorset Wildlife Trust Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT) is a wildlife trust covering the county of Dorset, United Kingdom. The trust was founded in 1961 as Dorset Naturalists' Trust, to protect and conserve the wildlife and natural habitats of the county. DWT is one of 4 ...
with funding from
Wessex Water Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a water supply and sewerage utility company serving an area of South West England, covering 10,000 square kilometres including Bristol, most of Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire and parts of ...
and Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Allen had the strongest population of white clawed crayfish in Dorset, and measures such as tree planting and slowing the flow of the river were implemented to help the species. However, an outbreak of Crayfish plague was discovered on the river in 2014, with at least 100 of the native species found dead in the river. The river also has an abundance of macrophytes including the two most abundant taxa: common water-crowfoot (''
Ranunculus aquatilis ''Ranunculus aquatilis'', the common water-crowfoot or white water-crowfoot, is a plant species of the genus ''Ranunculus'', native throughout most of Europe and western North America, and also northwest Africa. This is an aquatic plant Aquat ...
'') and bur-reeds ('' Sparganium''). As well as an abundance of brown trout the river is home to minnow, dace, grayling, salmon, perch, roach, pike, bullhead and brook lamprey and the critically endangered European eel.


Water quality

The Environment Agency measure water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of
invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
s,
angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit ...
s and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail. Water quality of the River Allen in 2016:


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Dorset Allen Wimborne Minster 1Allen