The River Blakewater is a river running through

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, giving its name to the town of

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

. The Blakewater rises on the moors above Guide near Blackburn as Knuzden Brook and runs through the hamlet of that name, before taking the name Blakewater (meaning either "black water" or "clear water," the latter deriving from Old English ''blæc'') near the village of Whitebirk. From there, the river runs through the Blackburn areas of Little Harwood, Cob Wall and Brookhouse to Blackburn town centre. The section of the Blakewater running through Blackburn town centre was

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 ...

ed during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, and now runs underground. The culvert was extensively modified in the 1960s during the redevelopment of the town centre - it now runs underneath Ainsworth Street and between Blackburn Cathedral and Blackburn Bus Station. In recent years, the town has undergone a phase of regeneration with future proposals to open up parts of the culverted river so that the Blakewater will once again flow openly through areas of the town centre. On the western side of the town centre the Blakewater continues under Whalley Banks and through the Redlam area. The Blakewater joins the

River Darwen The River Darwen runs through Darwen and Blackburn in Lancashire, England, eventually joining the River Ribble at Walton le Dale south of Preston on its way to the Ribble Estuary. Course Originating at Jack's Key Clough where Grain Brook an ...

outside Witton Country Park in Blackburn, which continues on to join the

River Ribble The River Ribble runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It starts close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, and is one of the few that start in the Yorkshire Dales and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea (t ...

Walton-le-Dale Walton-le-Dale is a large village in the borough of South Ribble, in Lancashire, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Ribble, opposite the city of Preston, adjacent to Bamber Bridge. The population of the South Ribble Ward at the ...

. In addition to the aforementioned Knuzden Brook, the waters of the Blakewater are swelled by Little Harwood Brook (coming from Sunny Bower), Audley Brook (from the region of Queen's Park to the confluence near Darwen Street) and Snig Brook (which rises near Lammack and runs through Corporation Park).

Tributaries

Snig Brook rises near ''Pleckgate'' and flows southwards, behind ''Lammack'' and close to ''Four Lane Ends'', before feeding the lakes in '' Corporation Park''. From there, Snig Brook flows down to the west of ''Montague Street'' through a

, meeting the Blakewater near ''Nab End''. The entirely culverted Audley Brook rises close to the former site of Audley Hall north of the ''Queen's Park'' area of Blackburn. From there, it flows westward, meeting the Blakewater near Darwen Street Bridge, where the railway between Blackburn and Preston crosses Darwen Street. Little Harwood Brook joins the Blakewater at ''Bastwell'' (recorded in the 13th century as ''Baddestwysel

the latter part deriving from an

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

term meaning ''place where two brooks meet''), having risen close to ''Mickle Hey'' and running through ''Brownhill'', as well as having been fed itself by Seven Acre Brook (running east from ''Rough Hey'' and joining by ''Blackburn Cemetery'' near ''Roe Lee'', for much of its course marking the boundary between

Blackburn with Darwen Blackburn with Darwen is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, North West England. The borough includes the towns of Blackburn and Darwen plus a wider rural area which includes the villages of ...

to the south and the

Ribble Valley Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Clitheroe, the largest town. The borough also includes the town of Longridge and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. ...

) and Royshaw Clough (running east from near ''Four Lane Ends''). {{DEFAULTSORT:Blakewater Rivers of Lancashire Rivers of Blackburn with Darwen 2Blakewater