The River Ash is a small, shallow river in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

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 ...

. Its course of is just outside

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

. Work has been carried out to re-align, clear and build up a small, Littleton

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

of water and create two backwaters. One backwater dates to the medieval period; the other to the 1990s. It flows as one of the six

distributaries A distributary, or a distributary channel is a stream channel that branches off and flows a main stream channel. It is the opposite of a ''tributary'', a stream that flows another stream or river. Distributaries are a result of river bifurca ...

of the River Colne from the south of

Staines Moor Staines Moor is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey. It is part of the South West London Waterbodies Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area Description Staines Moor consists of alluvial ...

immediately south of the Staines Bypass eastwards through the rest of the

borough of Spelthorne Spelthorne is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Staines-upon-Thames; other settlements in the area include Ashford, Surrey, ...

before meeting the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

. It is not navigable to craft and is rich in plant and insects, particularly reeds, diverse

sedges The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large; botanists have described some 5,500 known species in about 90 generathe largest being the "true sedges" (genu ...

(many of which commonly called bulrushes), pond-skaters, amphibians and lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). It enhances the Ash Link Nature Reserve, Studios Walk woodland biodiversity site and two parks. It is recognised as a key ecological feature within its borough.

Course

The river is a

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel is a stream channel that branches off and flows a main stream channel. It is the opposite of a ''tributary'', a stream that flows another stream or river. Distributaries are a result of river bifurc ...

of the Colne. It forms the traditional boundary of

Staines-upon-Thames Staines-upon-Thames, also known simply as Staines, is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and River Colne, Hertfordshire, Colne. ...

, first with

Stanwell Stanwell is a village in the Borough of Spelthorne, Spelthorne district, in Surrey, England. It is west of central London. A small corner of its land is used as industrial land for nearby Heathrow Airport. The rest of the village is made up o ...

then with Ashford.Ecclesiastical (Anglican) Parish Map of Staines St Mary & St Peter to which the west of Ashford Park including Staines Cemetery were added
Church of England It then turns southward and splits Littleton (specifically the

Queen Mary Reservoir The Queen Mary Reservoir is one of the largest of London's reservoirs supplying fresh water to London and parts of surrounding counties, and is located in the Borough of Spelthorne in Surrey. The reservoir covers and is above the surrounding are ...

, then a thin nature reserve by

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of Pinewood Group, the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not ...

) from

Laleham Laleham is a village on the River Thames, in the borough of Spelthorne, about west of central London, England. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, it was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Laleham is downriver from Staines-upon-Thames a ...

. The Ash then resumes eastward. It is the northern limit of diminutive, near-square Shepperton Green — the western third of which was for centuries a southern outcrop (projection) of Littleton, and remains so in the Anglican church system. Eighteen-hole Sunbury Golf Course on high-landscaped former municipal waste

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

then opposes a little of

Shepperton Shepperton is a village in the Borough of Spelthorne, Spelthorne district, in north Surrey, England, around south west of central London. The settlement is on the north bank of the River Thames, between the towns of Chertsey and Sunbury-on-Tha ...

across the banks. Then a farm of

Green Belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

straddles the river partly in outer lands of

Sunbury-on-Thames Sunbury-on-Thames, known locally as Sunbury, is a town on the north bank of the River Thames in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, England, southwest of central London. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, in 1965 Sunbury and other su ...

. The river joins the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

, flowing gently into the Creek – a secondary weirstream of the Thames – facing a long residential island:

Wheatley's Ait Wheatley's Ait or Wheatley Eyot is an ait (island) in the River Thames of approximately on the reach above Sunbury Lock, close to the northern side and in the post town Sunbury-on-Thames however in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England. ...

. It marks two streets' garden ends, many of which have built footbridges. The five urban centres in the borough are well over 500 m away, which has spared the Ash from pollution and supported its biodiversity. Three parks feature the river such as a long walk in Fordbridge Park, Ashford. Canoeists avoid the river when deep enough to canoe due to short barrages, extreme narrows and culverts.

Flow

In terms of flow of the distributaries, it is mid-ranked: *flow exceeds: **Sweeps Ditch, Staines (perhaps no longer a distributary of the Colne since building works in the 1970s) **The long but ornamental

Duke of Northumberland's River The Duke of Northumberland's River or D. O. N. River consists of separate upper and lower Canal, artificial watercourses in west London, United Kingdom. The older name Isleworth Mill Stream/River more accurately describes the economic motivati ...

**The

Longford River The Longford River is an artificial waterway, a distributary designed to embellish a park, that diverts water from the River Colne at Longford near Colnbrook in England, to Bushy Park and Hampton Court Palace. Its main outlet is to the reac ...

. *flow normally dwarves: **the short final main Colne channel **the

Colne Brook The Colne Brook is a river in England that is a distributary of the River Colne which runs from Uxbridge Moor, there forming the western border of Greater London, to the River Thames just below Bell Weir Lock in Hythe End, Wraysbury, Berkshi ...

**the

River Wraysbury The Wraysbury River is an anabranch of the River Colne to the west of London. Course The river leaves the Colne at West Drayton and runs under the M4 motorway then close to Longford when it passes under the M25 motorway. A branch then feeds ...

which just rejoins the Colne tens of metres from the Thames (so is more properly a later corollary) acting as a distributary.

Soil divide and water characteristics

Alluvium on gravel (save for

London Clay The London Clay Formation is a Sediment#Shores and shallow seas, marine formation (geology), geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 54-50 million years ago) age which outcrop, crops out in the southeast of England. The London C ...

outcrops, such as

Harrow on the Hill Harrow on the Hill or Harrow-on-the-Hill is a locality and historic village in the borough of London Borough of Harrow, Harrow in Greater London, England. The name refers to Harrow Hill, ,Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) ...

Hampstead Heath Hampstead Heath is an ancient heath in London, spanning . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London Clay. The heath is rambling ...

and the

Grim's Ditch (Harrow) Grim's Ditch or Grim's Dyke or Grimes Dike is a linear earthwork in the London Borough of Harrow, in the historic county of Middlesex. Thought to have been built by the Catuvellauni tribe as a defence against the Romans, it extended east–west a ...

) is the soil setting of the north bank, west of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

as far as the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills or the Chilterns are a chalk escarpment in southern England, located to the north-west of London, covering across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire; they stretch from Goring-on-Thames in the south- ...

. As to topsoil the river marks a divide between permeable shallow gravelly topsoil for many miles to the north and almost impermeable

alluvium Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

to the south. A very thin, agriculturally prosperous alluvial belt by the

to away was caused by deposition from seasonal floods.Natural England - Geodiversity
This prevents for the whole course the rivers joining despite their proximity. As the gravel former terraces of the Thames very gently slope from north to south no abrupt halts to the water table exist no springs arise and only modest interaction with the

Thames Basin The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

water table The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...

. The sources are water from the Colne and run-off principally of a fresh water waterworks.

Water quality

Water quality is ordinarily clean given improvements in the effluent treatment works along the quite populous Colne valley – for a low-gradient river

eutrophication Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; ie. the process of too many plants growing on the s ...

and deposition is moderate to low. The river is recognised as a key ecological feature within its Borough.http://www.spelthorne.gov.uk/article/18090/Other-sites Spelthorne Borough Council: Biodiversity and Conservation: Other Sites The Environment Agency measures the 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 ...

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 Ash in 2019:

History

Ashford gains its name from the river, forming the southern limit of all but its east half (ex-manor

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...

and

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

). Relevant maps date to medieval times, showing course changes, some clearly man-made. The earliest at close resolution recounts various channels by

(Littleton Manor demesne), commissioned by the Lord of Shepperton Manor, two miles to the south. This refers to the monks of Westminster, who caused the local widening into heads of water as fish "pond"s. Since 1910 the ex-

Metropolitan Water Board The Metropolitan Water Board was a municipal body formed in 1903 to manage the water supply in London, UK. The members of the board were nominated by the local authorities within its area of supply. In 1904 it took over the water supply functio ...

's Staines Aqueduct resembles the western of the Ash. It takes water from the

much further west to works at

Hanworth Hanworth is a district of West London, England. Historically in Middlesex, it has been part of the London Borough of Hounslow since 1965. Hanworth adjoins Feltham to the northwest, Twickenham to the northeast and Hampton, London, Hampton to the ...

and

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria ** Hampton railway station, Melbour ...

. To cross this and

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...

, the river is in a

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...

next to: Birch Green; Shortwood Allotments; and

. The mid-course was shifted a little west to make way for the

in Littleton. A slight trace of the original course is near the reservoir's pumping station. In the early 1960s, the outflow (source) from the Colne was moved back south. Further east; 100 metres is diverted to make way for the Staines Bypass ''(the A30)''. It then flows underground for 270 metres beneath the Crooked Billet roundabout.

1947 and 2014 flooding

Short residential streets in north-eastern

Staines upon Thames Staines-upon-Thames, also known simply as Staines, is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middle ...

were flooded in February 2014. At least 80 homes reported internal, outhouse or grounds flooding to the Environment Agency. Causes were complicated by the interweaving of an aqueduct which overflowed and various sluices; one found to be inadequate, another not best-operated. A precedent for the river was in 1947 when flooding was widespread in the Thames Valley.

Flood risk alleviation

Upgrade of the fresh water treatment works at Ashford Common (1994–95) by Thames Water Utilities caused greater steady outflow east of the M3. This heightened flood risk to properties abutting in Shepperton. Public budget work then arose, the River Ash Flood Alleviation Scheme of 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 enha ...

. Deep holding troughs exist before the works run-off discharge and in Sunbury Golf Course a relief channel exists, bridged twice, built in January to May 1995 for £450,000.

Listed bridge

Squires Bridge is a long two-arch bridge which has substantial neat (ashlar) stone-dressings, such as seven balusters across six lightly recessed stone panels, each side, each arch. It has statutory protection and recognition in the initial starting category (Grade II). It was built in about 1870, partly by commission of the Wood family whose Manor House, standing at today's

, had a costly fire in 1874. Its central newel (pilaster) as to its outer, upstream side has a coat of arms with three swords, not the family's which was that of a bull, instead that of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

Nature reserve and biodiversity woodland

Ash Link Local Nature Reserve, the first nature reserve in Spelthorne, was opened by the Mayor of Spelthorne in June 2012. It is managed by volunteers from Spelthorne Natural History Society and subgroup of its Friends in partnership with the Borough who own the land. It is in Shepperton, either side of the M3 as Splash Meadow in the south-east and Nutty Wood to the north-west. The Reserve is linked by a large footbridge and has a variety of wildlife, mixed woodland, wildflower glades, ponds and the river. Conservation over the years has helped to increase the biodiversity of the area and as well as monitoring and recording the wealth of species; the volunteers continue to enhance the site for the benefit of the wildlife and enjoyment of the public. In 2017 the Ash Link Local Nature Reserve was awarded a Gold Medal in the 'South and South East in Bloom' competition run by the Royal Horticultural Society; the next year the Friends received the 'Queen's Award for Voluntary Services.' On the edge of Shepperton Studios (the Littleton "new" manor house estate), Studios Walk is a strip of Ash-side habitat. A surfaced path runs from west to east ends offering easy access and viewpoints over the river, unsurfaced paths also exist. The woodland onsite is ecologically important thanks to numerous veteran oaks of type ''

quercus robur ''Quercus robur'', the pedunculate oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native plant, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It ...

'' which promote a vast array of invertebrates. An oak tree can support 100 times the invertebrate abundance of ''

acer pseudoplatanus ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', known as the sycamore in the British Isles and as the sycamore maple in the United States, is a species of maple native to Central Europe and Western Asia. It is a large deciduous, broad-leaved tree, tolerant of wind an ...

'' sycamores. which, in turn, sustain bats, mice and squirrels. The rough bark and natural crevices that appear over time make ideal roosting. The natural progression of woodland into dead wood make the site an ideal habitat for stag beetles

lucanidae Stag beetles comprise the family Lucanidae. It has about 1,200 species of beetles in four subfamilies.Smith, A.B.T. (2006). A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections to nomenclature and a c ...

, iconic insects requiring large sections of dead wood to feed and for the development of larvae. Kingfishers of type ''

alcedo atthis The common kingfisher (''Alcedo atthis''), also known as the Eurasian kingfisher and river kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. It is resident in much of ...

'' often are seen at these zones using the river as a foraging corridor. The marginal and in-channel habitat along with the sections of still water also offers ideal refuge for amphibians. In 2016 a project was undertaken alongside the Environment Agency which formed part of the ColnCAN's "Weir today: gone tomorrow" programme. The works were the notching of a weir, installation of a new control structure and restoring a relic channel to serve as a by-pass channel to the main weir. The principal aim being to improve fish passage. About 600 metres was restored to provide favourable flow variations and enhanced aquatic and terrestrial habitat for a broad range of species.

Notes and references

;Notes ;References

External links

{{Hydrology of Surrey Ash Ash