The River Crane, a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of 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 ...

, runs 8.5 miles (13.6 km) in West London, England. It forms the lower course of

Yeading Brook Yeading Brook is the dominant source of the River Crane, in outer North West then West London. The western branch flows south. It rises in the far south of suburban Pinner and drains all of the western suburbs of Harrow, insofar as they have ...

. It adjoins or passes through three

London boroughs The London boroughs are the current 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London, England; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs wer ...

Hillingdon Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civil pari ...

Hounslow Hounslow ( ) is a large suburban district of West London, England, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 14 metropolitan cen ...

and

Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in south-west Greater London, London, England, forms part of Outer London and is the only London boroughs, London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller ...

, in the historic county 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 ...

. The

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is heavily urbanised but many of the Hayes to Whitton

flood-meadow A flood-meadow (or floodmeadow) is an area of grassland or pasture beside a river, subject to seasonal flooding.Huhta, Ari‐Pekka, Rautio, Pasi (2014). Flood meadows in Finland - their development during the past century. '' Nordic Journal of ...

s have been conserved, forming a narrow, green vale, opening out to what remains of

Hounslow Heath Hounslow Heath is a local nature reserve in the London Borough of Hounslow and at a point borders London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames. The public open space, which covers , is all that remains of the historic Hounslow He ...

in the centrea near-continuous belt of semi-natural habitat. At the start of the twentieth century, several small sewage works discharged to the river. However, these have been consolidated with others into one ( Mogden Sewage Treatment Works) which discharges directly to the upper estuary of the Thames (the

Tideway The Tideway is the part of the River Thames in England which is subject to tides. This stretch of water is downstream from Teddington Lock. The Tideway comprises the upper Thames Estuary including the Pool of London. Tidal activity Depending ...

). The Crane's form has been greatly altered by

river engineering River engineering is a discipline of civil engineering which studies human intervention in the course, characteristics, or flow of a river with the intention of producing some defined benefit. People have intervened in the natural course and b ...

works: over centuries the watercourse has been subject to widening, narrowing, straightening, dredging and bank reinforcement. The greatest of such works has been the two-phase construction of the

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 ...

(DNR), a tributary and distributary, to guarantee water power to mills, now demolished, across the south and southeast of

Isleworth Isleworth ( ) is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hounslow, West London, England. It lies immediately east of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane, London, River Crane. Isleworth's original area of ...

, which in latter decades worked calico cloth as well as grain. The Lower DNR also waters the grand

fish pond A fish pond or fishpond is a controlled pond, small artificial lake or retention basin that is stocked with fish and is used in aquaculture for fish farming, for recreational fishing, or for ornamental purposes. Fish ponds are a classical g ...

inherited from Syon Abbey, which gave way in the dissolution of the monasteries to Syon House and Syon Park. The semi-private park, with its scenic tea room, garden centre and hotel, has a nature reserve zone alongside the Thames. Its lake is still refreshed via sluice and

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 ...

from the Lower DNR's Mill Plat, and thus is supplied by virtue of the Crane from the

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. The town is northeast of Nelson, Lancashire, Nelson, northeast of Burnley and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The ...

and the

. The latter means the river system has sources in the London Boroughs of Harrow and

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

n Southall as an overflow offtake from the Paddington Arm">Southall.html" ;"title="n Southall">n Southall as an overflow offtake from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal].

Location

The Crane has always been so marked in maps of Cranford, rather than as the Yeading Brook. Here the east end of North Hyde Road in the far south-east of Hayes has a bridge which is on the boundary between the two districts (and the traditional parishes), from where its course is nearly semi-circular to the south then east, joining the tidal Thames at the boundary of St Margarets and

, just to the south of Isleworth Ait.Map
created by

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

, courtesy of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

Passing through Cranford, the river crosses Cranford Countryside Park, skirts the eastern side of Heathrow Airport's car parks (formerly the Cranford Heath part of Hounslow Heath) and North Feltham, the latter split from Hounslow West on the other bank by most of what is left of

; here the (Upper)

joins the Crane. From this point, the Crane turns gradually east and passes through Crane Park, Twickenham. In Crane Park is the site of the Hounslow Powder Mills which were built in the 16th century and continued to make gunpowder until 1927. The mills have disappeared, but the Shot Tower still stands nearby.Local History Notes. The River Crane and Gunpowder Mills
(PDF) . Retrieved on 2011-11-01. The large millpool on an island above the mills is now a Local Nature Reserve, Crane Park Island. 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 ...

splits off (forming a second section of the Duke's River) at Kneller Gardens. The Crane itself flows north east through central Twickenham and then north through the Cole Park area. The river is tidal in the final stretch between Cole Park Island and the confluence with the Thames. The Lower Duke's River is tidal for the short distance below the weir by the bridge in Church Street, Isleworth, to its confluence with the Thames. Upstream in Isleworth it has been diverted to flow through Mogden Sewage Treatment Works, where it provides coolant for the power station. Treated sewage effluent from the works is not discharged here but is instead piped to the Tideway (upper estuary of the Thames) at Isleworth Ait. The Crane in major part delimits the

of *

and

. *

and "

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

". When extending the

Piccadilly line The Piccadilly line is a Deep level underground, deep-level London Underground line running between the west and the north of London. It has two western branches which split at Acton Town tube station, Acton Town and serves 53 stations. The li ...

from Hounslow West to

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

, the high water table of the ground beneath the Crane made it impractical to tunnel under the river channel, so the lines briefly emerge from their tunnels here and cross over the watercourse via a bridge. Crane Shot Tower

Etymology

Its name is interwoven with Cranford and may be from

crane (bird) Cranes are a type of large bird with long legs and necks in the Family (biology), biological family Gruidae of the Order (biology), order Gruiformes. The family has 15 species placed in four genera which are ''Antigone (genus), Antigone'', ''Bale ...

Associated watercourses

* The

system forms the Crane's headwaters. There are two branches, the Yeading Brook West and Yeading Brook East, both of which arise in the London Borough of Harrow. They merge just south of the A40 in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The Yeading Brook becomes the River Crane in the stretch between Minet Country Park and Cranford Country Park. [The Environment Agency'
Catchment Data Explorer
shows the lower limit of the Yeading Brook and start of the River Crane to be approximately where the Great Western Railway crosses the river corridor at Southall.] Before the 19th century the Yeading Brook was also referred to as the Fish Bourne or Fishbourne. *

: this man-made river has two distinct sections, constructed at different times. The Upper DNR is purely a tributary of the Crane and a distributary of the

. It taps the Colne at Longford; it feeds the Crane at the far west of

. The Lower DNR is a distributary of the Crane, flowing from the diffluence at Whitton to the upper estuary of the Thames (the

) in the adjoining parish and former manor of

. * Frogs Ditch flows from south west Hayes, crossing under the M4 motorway before running along the western and southern boundaries of Cranford Countryside Park to feed the Crane immediately upstream of the Cranford Lane road bridge at the southern end of the park. * The Whitton Brook flows into the River Crane at the Cole Park Allotments site.

Definitive Crane reaches

The inset map shows in highlighted blue the quite steady slope used for General Roy's baseline, used for the

Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) The Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) was the geodetic survey to measure the relative position of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Royal Greenwich Observatory and the Paris Observatory via triangulation (surveying), triangulation. The English ...

, starting the first exact co-ordinating of two premier European observatories. It supposedly had about a millimetre of error per kilometre, by the mid-19th century shown to be a few centimetres. To the east of this it shows the definitive reaches of the Crane.

Pollution incidents

October 2011

From 29 to 31 October 2011, about one day of the Heathrow zone's raw sewage was, due to a valve jam, diverted into the Crane. A two-metre inter-pipe valve jammed shut on Saturday morning at Cranford Bridge on the A4 Bath Road while

Thames Water Thames Water Utilities Limited, trading as Thames Water, is a British private utility company responsible for the water supply and waste water Wastewater (or waste water) is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking w ...

engineers carried out routine maintenance. Unable to force it back open, they arranged for the backed-up sewage to be taken away in tanker lorries for treatment. The volume of sewage meant tanker removal could not keep pace. Faced with a choice between letting the excess sewage back up into basements of Bath Road hotels and various airport roads or spill to the Crane, the much cheaper option prevailed, resulting in discharge until 3am on Monday and damaged wildlife. This killed 3,000 fish.Pollution incident on the River Crane kills thousands of fish
Environment Agency. Retrieved on 2011-11-01.

October 2013

Three days later, a temporary coffer dam of sandbags spanned the river, just north of the Piccadilly Line bridge. A bulk road tanker with flexible hoses extracted polluted water above this. The Crane Valley Partnership later noted that the EA traced the source to a fractured main (probably caused by illegal ground works) of sewage sludge between the Mogden works and

Iver Iver is a civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. In addition to the central nucleated village, clustered village, the parish includes the residential neighbourhoods of Iver Heath and Richings Park and the hamlets o ...

; escaping sludge drained away via legitimate surface water drains.

Catchment partnership

The Crane Valley Partnership (CVP) is the relevant 'Catchment Based Approach' (CaBA) catchment partnership. It strategises and co-ordinates efforts to manage and improve the Crane and its tributaries, including enhancing biodiversity, water quality and quantity, connectivity, public access, community cohesion, and historical and educational opportunities. In summary, CVP aims to restore one of London’s most natural river systems, conserve surrounding habitats and improve public access so that nearby communities can enjoy contact with the natural world. CVP stemmed from the West London Biodiversity Practitioners Group, derived from the partnerships of the Hounslow Local Biodiversity Action Plan. The Group held its first meeting on 13 November 2002, at Heathrow's "Mayfield Farm" classroom. The original members included: teams from the London Boroughs of Hounslow and Hillingdon, Groundwork Thames Valley, Syon Park Estate, Thames Water, Heathrow Airport Ltd, Glendale/British Airways, English Nature, London Wildlife Trust (LWT), Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). The main objective of the Group was to encourage local conservation work. The Group reconvened the next February and July. The partnership then evolved to become the River Crane Management Forum (RCMF), which had its first meeting the next June. Members present were: *

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 ...

(EA) *

Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the Metonymy, metonym City Hall, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved Regions of England, regional governance body of Greater London, England. It consists of two political ...

(GLA) *Heathrow Airport Landside Property Services **A Rocha, WSP for the above, Penny Anderson Associates. *Glendale for Heathrow Airport Landside Property Services *

London Borough of Hounslow The London Borough of Hounslow ( ) is a London borough in west London, England, forming part of Outer London. It is governed by Hounslow London Borough Council. The borough stretches from near Central London in the east (Chiswick) to the b ...

London Wildlife Trust London Wildlife Trust is an English wildlife charity based in London. Founded in 1981, London Wildlife Trust is one of 46 members of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (known as The Wildlife Trusts), each of which is a local nature charity ...

*Friends of the River Crane Environment (FORCE) *

London Borough of Hillingdon The London Borough of Hillingdon () is a London borough in Greater London, England. It forms part of outer London and West London, being the westernmost London borough. It was formed in 1965 from the districts of Hayes and Harlington Urban Distr ...

London Borough of Ealing The London Borough of Ealing () is a London boroughs, London borough in London, England. It comprises the districts of Acton, London, Acton, Ealing, Greenford, Hanwell, Northolt, Perivale and Southall. With a population of 367,100 inhabitants, i ...

These agreed an aspiration for action along the Crane to improve water quality and biodiversity, as well as promoting the significance of the river corridor as part of the West London Green Chain. The Forum had another meeting on 20 July 2005, when the CVP was established. Up until 2021, its meetings were customarily hosted and chaired by an educational charity: *Green Corridor In April 2013, the Partnership appointed a Development Manager employed through this charity, initially utilising a sum of £400,000 provided by Thames Water following the 2011 incident. More recently CVP's staffing/administration costs have been met by annual contributions from a number of the partner organisations including Thames Water. In 2021 the hosting/chairing service was taken on by the Crane Valley Community Interest Company (CVCIC), specifically set up for this purpose ompany Number:13302764

Notes and references

;Footnotes ;Citations

External links

London Biodiversity Audit includes "The Tidal Thames"
— from which part of the information in this article is taken
Environment Agency Flood Report: upper Crane

Environment Agency Flood Report: lower Crane

Friends of the River Crane Environment

Suspended Sediment and Discharge in the Whitton Brook
{{authority control Crane Crane Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Hounslow Crane Crane St Margarets, London