The River Burn is a river that flows wholly within
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...
, England. The river starts as several small streams on Masham Moor and drains
Colsterdale
Colsterdale is the valley of the River Burn, a tributary of the River Ure, in the Yorkshire Dales in North Yorkshire, England. It gives its name to a hamlet and civil parish in the upper part of the dale, about west of Masham. The population ...
flowing eastwards before emptying into the River Ure just south of
Masham
Masham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 1,205 at the 2011 census.
The town is located northwest of York and was in the former Borough of Harrogate, Harrogate ...
. Conservation work on removing a weir, and introducing fish to the river in 2016, has meant that salmon have been recorded spawning in the river for the first time in over 100 years.
Whilst the River Burn valley is not in
Nidderdale
Nidderdale, historically also known as Netherdale, is one of the Yorkshire Dales (although outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park) in North Yorkshire, England. It is the upper valley of the River Nidd, which flows east from its source, the ...
, almost all of it is included in the
Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
The Nidderdale National Landscape is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in North Yorkshire, England, bordering the Yorkshire Dales National Park to the east and south. It comprises most of Nidderdale itself, part of lower Wharfedale, the Wa ...
.
History
During the
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
, a glacier forced water to build up in what are now the valleys that hold the Pott Beck and the River Burn. This created large lakes that deposited minerals such as limestone and chert. The river flows over several types of bedrock (limestone, sandstone, mudstone and shale) which is covered by gravel and silty clay which is a result of
riverine
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it run ...
alluvia
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 ...
. When tested in the 1990s, this alluvia was found to be the largest and coarsest of all sediment that was flowing out through the Humber basin.
The name of the river is from the
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 ...
''Burna'' (literally meaning a beck or a brook) and has been written variously as either Bourne, Burne or Burn. Curiously, unlike most other of the
Yorkshire Dales
The Yorkshire Dales are a series of valleys, or Dale (landform), dales, in the Pennines, an Highland, upland range in England. They are mostly located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, but extend into C ...
, the name of the river does not lend itself to the valley that it flows through (Colsterdale).
Wensleydale
Wensleydale is a valley in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the Yorkshire Dales, which are part of the Pennines. The Dale (landform), dale is named after the village of Wensley, North Yorkshire, Wensley, formerly the valley's market tow ...
is the other major oddity, but it was named Uredale/ Yoredale for some time. The valley acquired its name in the 12th century when coal was mined in the upper reaches and transported down the valley by a track known as ''The Coal Road'', which still exists today. The dale is sometimes called the ''Burn Valley'' or the ''River Burn Valley''.
A desire to site reservoirs on the River Burn itself had been in the minds of the planners of the Leeds Corporation as far back as the turn of the 20th century. Work started on building a reservoir in 1904 at
Gollinglith Foot
Gollinglith Foot (), historically also spelt Gownley Foot, is a hamlet in the civil parish of Healey in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Burn near the foot of Colsterdale.
It takes its name from the moorland ridge ...
, but had to be abandoned in 1906 due to landslips.
In 2016, a £20,000 project to remove a weir at Breary Banks on the river was completed. It was reported in 2017 that salmon had managed to negotiate this part of the river and spawn there for the first time in over 100 years. The project was part financed by
ABP as part of the wider Green Port Hull Project which was initiated to aid migratory fish through the Humber Basin.
To help with this project, the Ure Salmon Trust released over 30,000
salmon smolts into the river to encourage adult salmon to return in later years. The removal of the weir would also benefit other fish (sea trout, brown trout, grayling, elvers, bullhead, stoneloach and brook lamprey) to migrate further upriver to reproduce. The damming of Pott Beck to create the reservoirs at Leighton and Roundhill, had a detrimental effect on the migration of the fish through Colsterdale.
Catchment area
The river travels for and drains over of moorland and farmland as it flows towards the River Ure. The river has been designated as being "heavily modified" by 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 ...
and the water quality is moderate but projected to be good by 2027.
Along with the rivers
Bain,
Cover
Cover or covers may refer to:
Packaging
* Another name for a lid
* Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package
* Album cover, the front of the packaging
* Book cover or magazine cover
** Book design
** Back cover copy, part of c ...
,
Laver,
Skell and
Tutt, the river is noted as being one of the main tributaries of the River Ure.
Course
The valley that the river runs through has been described as an "exquisite valley". The river starts on the moorland west of Masham and astride the watershed that feeds water to
Coverdale (to the north) and
Nidderdale
Nidderdale, historically also known as Netherdale, is one of the Yorkshire Dales (although outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park) in North Yorkshire, England. It is the upper valley of the River Nidd, which flows east from its source, the ...
(to the south). It is named the River Burn from where New House Gill and Thorny Crane Gill meet, however it has been traditionally taken as starting as a small fountain on the hill of Great Haw. The river flows at first across the peat moorland which overlies the coal measures and millstone grit beneath, and over waterfalls at High House Farm. The cascades around High House Farm have revealed the Red Scar Grit Sandstone that overlies the coal and both sandstone and coal were mined and quarried in the area; most of these workings were down in the steep valley carved by the river.
This upper section flows through a narrow
V-shaped valley
A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over a ve ...
that rises from from the riverbed to at the rim of the valley.
This section of the river is designated as part of the East Nidderdale Moors
SSSI
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 ...
because of the ancient woodland at Birks Gill, the birdlife and fauna it supports.
Below
Leighton
Leighton may refer to:
Places
In Australia:
* Leighton, Western Australia, a beachside locality
In the United Kingdom:
* Leighton, Cambridgeshire
* Leighton, Cheshire
* Leighton, North Yorkshire
** Leighton Reservoir
* Leighton, Shropshire
*Lei ...
the river is joined by its largest tributary, Pott Beck, which has been heavily modified for clean water purposes with the building of the two reservoirs at
Leighton
Leighton may refer to:
Places
In Australia:
* Leighton, Western Australia, a beachside locality
In the United Kingdom:
* Leighton, Cambridgeshire
* Leighton, Cheshire
* Leighton, North Yorkshire
** Leighton Reservoir
* Leighton, Shropshire
*Lei ...
and
Roundhill. Where the Pott Beck joins, the river valley leaves Colsterdale, flattens out and becomes less steep sided and craggy. The river runs east through farmland towards Masham and is also home to three ancient, semi-natural woodlands; Hall Wood, Fearby Low Moor and Hawkswell Wood.
As the river passes through Masham Golf Course (which straddles both banks of the river) it flows under the
grade II listed
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, H ...
High Burn Bridge. Just before the river flows into the Ure, it passes under Low Burn Bridge which carries the road between Masham and
Grewelthorpe
Grewelthorpe is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England situated south of Masham and north of Ripon. It is located in the Nidderdale AONB, Nidderdale area of outstanding natural beauty.
The name Grewelthorpe deriv ...
. The present bridge was built in 1715 and is now a grade II listed structure. A bridge had existed here previously but was only wide enough to take a single horse and was widened when financed by a local man in his will in 1623. The river joins the Ure just south of Masham town and the section of bedrock it flows over at this point is magnesian limestone deposits.
Economy
The river valley forms part of the
Swinton Estate
The Swinton Estate is a large privately owned Estate (land), estate in North Yorkshire, England. It comprises some of countryside in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, extending west from the River Ure near Masham. The estate ...
and the river is used extensively for fishing and has many access points.
As with many other rivers, the Burn Valley was home to several mills and industries that were water powered. The former saw mill at
Healey is now a
grade II
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 ...
listed dwelling. Just west of the saw-mill site is Swinton Trout Farm which supplies trout for the fishing on the Swinton Estate and at Leighton Reservoir.
The weir at Breary banks was constructed to allow for the collection of fresh water for the navvy construction camps at Leighton and Roundhill for the reservoirs. This was later used for the same purposes at the army camp at Breary Banks when recruits from
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
(the
Leeds Pals) were training for the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Both the weir and the waterwheel were the subject of an archaeological study before the weir was removed in 2016.
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burn
Rivers of North Yorkshire
Ouse catchment