The River Sence is a
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
(
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 ...
)
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 larger
River Soar
The River Soar () is a major tributary of the River Trent in the East Midlands as well as the principal river of Leicestershire, England. The source of the river is midway between Hinckley and Lutterworth. The river then flows north throug ...
. The River Sence can be traced eastwards up to the village of
Billesdon
Billesdon is a village and civil parish in the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, with a population of 745 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 901 at the 2011 census. It is just off the A47 road, A47, ...
, and then flows south west through
Great Glen
The Great Glen ( ), also known as Glen Albyn (from the Gaelic "Glen of Scotland" ) or Glen More (from the Gaelic "Big/Great Glen"), is a glen in Scotland running for from Inverness on the edge of the Moray Firth, in an approximately straig ...
, and then west (south of
Wigston
Wigston, or Wigston Magna, is a town in the Oadby and Wigston district of Leicestershire, England, just south of Leicester on the A5199. It had a population of 32,321 in 2011.
Geography
Wigston is south of the city of Leicester, at the cent ...
and
South Wigston) until the
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...
with the River Soar just to the west of
Blaby
Blaby () is a town in the Blaby District in central Leicestershire, England, some five miles south of Leicester city centre. At the time of the 2011 census, Blaby had a population of 6,194, falling slightly from 6,240 in 2001. Given Blaby's pr ...
and south of
Glen Parva. Tracing the River Sence upstream, 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 ...
does monitor the river between Blaby and Great Glen, but there has been no significant flooding in recent years, until 6 January 2025 when it reached a record height. The land along the River Sence is largely agricultural. In 1881 Sebastian Evans wrote that the usual names for this river were Billesdon Brook and Burton Brook which are in fact two of its major tributaries.
[ Evans, Arthur Benoni (1881) ''Leicestershire Words, Phrases, and Proverbs''; edited, with additions by Sebastian Evans. London: Trübner & Co.; p. 47]
The river flows past South Wigston at a point known locally as Crow Mills. After heavy rain the river level here rises quickly. It floods neighbouring fields and then flows across the road causing the road to become impassable to traffic. After prolonged rain the river floods large areas of farm land along its course. At village of Blaby it floods across the cricket pitch and also it can flood across the Leicester Road under the Leicester to Birmingham railway bridge. This can cause significant disruption to local traffic.
Over recent years the maintenance on the river appears to have been reduced. It can often be seen choked with weeds and other vegetation.
The flooding of the Soar Valley
As a tributary of the River Soar, The River Sence in the Blaby and Wigston area suffers from persistent flooding.
In the mid 1800s, the railway viaduct a
Crow Mill was swept away in a storm and subsequent floods. The destroyed wooden structure was replaced by a steel and brick construction to restore the main railway line. However, in the 1960s it was dismantled when the line was closed as part of the
Beeching cuts, branch line cuts proposed by Dr Beeching.
The road at Crow Mill still suffers closures through flooding, as does the road between Blaby (Northfield Park) and Glen Parva, due to the River Sence bursting its banks.
References
Sence, River
1Sence
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