The River Bourne is a long river that flows through

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

and

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

in Dorset. It originally reached the sea at Bournemouth, giving the town its name, but now, in normal circumstances, it flows directly into the

combined sewer A combined sewer is a type of gravity sewer with a system of pipes, tunnels, pump stations etc. to transport sewage and surface runoff, urban runoff together to a sewage treatment plant or disposal site. This means that during rain events, the se ...

beneath the approach to

Bournemouth Pier The history of Bournemouth and human settlement in the surrounding area goes back for thousands of years. Bournemouth is a coastal town on the island of Great Britain in Dorset, England, United Kingdom. Before Inclosure In 1800, the area was ...

. Its name derives from the

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

word ', meaning a small river. It also gives its name to the

BCP Council Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, which styles itself BCP Council, is the local authority for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. The council is a unitary author ...

ward of Alderney and Bourne Valley in Poole. Approximately 70% of the Bourne's drainage basin lies within the boundaries of the Borough of Poole.NB: Though Poole Borough Council has been dissolved, its status as a borough and its boundaries are preserved by the

Charter Trustees In England and Wales, charter trustees are set up to maintain the continuity of a town charter or city charter after a district with the status of a borough or city has been abolished, until such time as a civil parish council or in larger settle ...

of Poole.

Course

The River Bourne rises in Poole beneath Ringwood Road at the confluence of three culverts; one is believed to drain Canford Heath, another drains the effluent from the water works on Francis Avenue, and the third is fed by Ringwood Road's surface water drainage. It first flows through an artificial lagoon and wetland built as part of a

sustainable urban drainage system Sustainable drainage systems (also known as SuDS, From the Scott Road Pond, it continues to flow east, parallel to Bloxworth Road, before flowing into South Park Road Pond just upstream of Alder Road. South Park Road Pond formed after the demolition of a factory on the west side of Alder Road and it was supplemented by an artificial reed bed excavated in September, 2003, by the Bourne Stream Partnership. The pond drains through a culvert beneath Alder Road, and the river then flows through Talbot Heath. On Talbot Heath, the Bourne turns south and flows beneath the

South West Main Line The South West Main Line (SWML) is a 143-mile (230 km) major railway line between Waterloo station in central London and Weymouth on the south coast of England. A predominantly passenger line, it serves many commuter areas including south wes ...

and Wren Crescent into Coy Pond, an ornamental pond and former

decoy A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''eenden kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to ...

built in 1888. The river then drains through a grate at the southern end of the pond and flows beneath Coy Pond Road before entering Coy Pond Gardens near a footbridge where it is joined from the right by its main tributary, Kinson Brook. It flows through Coy Pond Gardens to Poole's boundary where it enters

Bournemouth Gardens Bournemouth Gardens is a neighborhood in the eastern area of Kingston, Jamaica, off of Kingston Harbour Kingston Harbour in Jamaica is the seventh-largest natural harbour in the world. It is an almost landlocked area of water approximately lo ...

, a Grade II listed public garden centred on the river which extends all the way to the Bournemouth Pier Approach. Beneath the pier approach, the Bourne reaches a

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

which it only overtops during heavy rainfall. In normal conditions, the Bourne flows directly into the combined sewer. This is due to diffuse pollution in the river's catchment from 62 recorded surface water drain outfalls threatening the quality of the bathing water on Bournemouth Beach. When river flow exceeds the capacity of the sewer, the Bourne flows over the weir and into

Poole Bay Poole Bay is a bay in the English Channel, on the coast of Dorset in southern England, which stretches 16km from Sandbanks at the mouth of Poole Harbour in the west, to Hengistbury Head in the east. Poole Bay is a relatively shallow embayment ...

through a concrete outfall east of Bournemouth Pier.

Wildlife

Upstream of the gardens, the Bourne Valley is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

under Section 28 of the

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (c. 69) is an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom implemented to comply with European Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. In short, the act gives protection to native species ...

. The valley plays host to threatened species including the

Dartford warbler The Dartford warbler (''Curruca undata'') is a typical warbler from the warmer parts of western Europe and northwestern Africa. It is a small warbler with a long thin tail and a thin pointed bill. The adult male has grey-brown upperparts and is d ...

, the

sand lizard #REDIRECT Sand lizard {{redirect category shell, {{R from alternative capitalisation{{R from move ...

, the

European water vole The European water vole (''Arvicola amphibius'') or northern water vole is a semi-aquatic rodent. It is often informally called the water rat, though it only superficially resembles a true rat. Water voles have rounder noses than rats, deep bro ...

, and the

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

. The river has a population of

common roach The roach, or rutilus roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), also known as the common roach, is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the family Cyprinidae, native to most of Europe and western Asia. Fish called roach can be any species of the genera ''Rut ...

, which were introduced by the Bourne Stream Partnership.

Species found in Scott Road Pond

The following species were found in the Scott Road Pond in a 2006 survey: *

smooth newt The smooth newt, European newt, northern smooth newt or common newt (''Lissotriton vulgaris'') is a species of newt. It is widespread in Europe and parts of Asia, and has been introduced species, introduced into Australia. Individuals are brown ...

* greater water boatman * lesser water boatman *

mayfly Mayflies (also known as shadflies or fishflies in Canada and the upper Midwestern United States, as Canadian soldiers in the American Great Lakes region, and as up-winged flies in the United Kingdom) are aquatic insects belonging to the orde ...

* hog louse *

diving beetle The Dytiscidae, from the Ancient Greek word δυτικός (''dystikos''), meaning "able to dive", are the predaceous diving beetles, a Family (biology), family of water beetles. They occur in virtually any freshwater habitat around the world, bu ...

* water-flea *

damselfly Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies (which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Epiprocta) but are usually smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the win ...

nymphs *

ramshorn snail The term ''ramshorn snail'' or ''ram's horn snail'' is used in two different ways. In the aquarium trade it is used to describe various kinds of freshwater snails whose shells are planispiral, meaning that the shell is a flat coil. Such shells ...

* freshwater

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

leech Leeches are segmented parasitism, parasitic or Predation, predatory worms that comprise the Class (biology), subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the Oligochaeta, oligochaetes, which include the earthwor ...

flatworm Platyhelminthes (from the Greek language, Greek πλατύ, ''platy'', meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), ''helminth-'', meaning "worm") is a Phylum (biology), phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, Segmentation (biology), ...

s * orb shell * great pond snail *

midge A midge is any small fly, including species in several family (biology), families of non-mosquito nematoceran Diptera. Midges are found (seasonally or otherwise) on practically every land area outside permanently arid deserts and the frigid ...

* screech beetle * pond skater * water stick-insect * bloodworm * sludge worm *

caddisfly The caddisflies (order Trichoptera) are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the basis ...

bladder snail ''Physella acuta'' is a species of small, left-handed or sinistral, air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Physidae. Common names include European physa, tadpole snail, bladder snail, and acute bladder snail. ...

* wandering snail

2005 Scott Road Pond fish kill

On the 11th of July, 2005, an unidentified chemical was spilled in the industrial estate on Leyland Road in

Wallisdown Wallisdown is a residential and commercial area situated partly in Bournemouth and partly in Poole, in southern England. The appropriate ward is called Wallisdown and Winton West. Geography Wallisdown is situated on the border between Bourne ...

. To make the area safe, the chemical was rinsed into the surface water drainage system leading to the River Bourne. At least 200 roach died over the 11th and 12th of July along with an unknown number of amphibians and invertebrates. The pond at Alder Road was unaffected.

History

was established in the Bourne Valley as a health resort by George Tapps-Gervis in 1836. The location of Bournemouth Square was originally the point at which the road leading from Poole to

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

and

Holdenhurst Holdenhurst is a village in the civil parish of Throop and Holdenhurst, in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole district, in Dorset, England, situated in the green belt land of the north-east suburbs of Bournemouth. The village comprises fewe ...

and the road from Christchurch to

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 ...

converged to cross the Bourne on a wooden plank bridge. The Bourne Valley was chosen by the town commissioners of Bournemouth as the location of the Bournemouth Gas & Water Works in 1863. The site, which was then part of the Branksome Estate in the parish of

Kinson Kinson is a former village which has been absorbed by the town of Bournemouth, in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole district, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. The area became part of Bournemouth on 1 April 1931. There were two ...

, was selected as it lay outside of the town's boundaries and kept the air pollution resulting from the production of

town gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...

away from prospective holiday makers. The municipal water supply was initially abstracted from Kinson Brook just upstream of the confluence. This source was later supplemented by another on the River Stour in

Longham Longham is a village situated in the Breckland District of Norfolk and covers an area of 540 hectares (2.1 square miles) with a population of 219 in 100 households at the 2001 census, increasing to a population of 224 in 99 households at the 2 ...

. In 1886, a drought rendered the town's water supply at Longham inoperative and the supply from Kinson Brook was unable to keep up with demand. Water was drawn from the Bourne to cover the shortfall but the river had become heavily polluted by both domestic and agricultural runoff. As part of broader works to reduce sewage pollution in Poole Bay, the Bourne was diverted into a combined sewer. The pumping station at the mouth of the Bourne Valley along with the inland treatment works to which it connects are honoured by a plaque on Bournemouth Pier Approach unveiled by

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

B. G. Dillon on the 27th of March, 1974.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourne, Dorset Rivers of Bournemouth Rivers of Poole Rivers of Dorset Dorset Bournemouth