The River Bain is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or 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 drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the

River Witham The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversid ...

.
The Bain rises in the

Lincolnshire Wolds The Lincolnshire Wolds are a range of low hills in the county of Lincolnshire, England which run roughly parallel with the North Sea coast, from the Humber Estuary in the north-west to the edge of the Lincolnshire Fens in the south-east. They ar ...

at Ludford,J. N. Clarke, (1990), ''The Horncastle and Tattershall Canal'', Oakwood Press, a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

on The

Viking Way The Viking Way is a long distance trail in England running between the Humber Bridge in North Lincolnshire and Oakham in Rutland. History The route was officially opened on Sunday 5 September 1976 at Tealby, by the Deputy Chairman of Lincoln ...

long-distance

footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide ...

, and flows through or past the villages of Burgh on Bain, Biscathorpe,

Donington on Bain Donington on Bain is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is approximately south-west from Louth and north from Horncastle, and is on the east bank of the River Bain, and in the Linco ...

, Goulceby,

Asterby Asterby is a hamlet between Goulceby and Scamblesby, west of Louth, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The civil parish of Asterby had a population of 103 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 159 (including Stenig ...

and Hemingby before reaching the town of

Horncastle Horncastle is a town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls remains. History Romans Alt ...

where it is joined by the River Waring, which rises at Belchford, to the north east of Horncastle. After leaving Horncastle, the Bain flows through the villages of

Kirkby on Bain Kirkby on Bain is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the River Bain between Horncastle and Coningsby, and just west of the A153 road. Close to the north is the village of Haltham. H ...

Coningsby Coningsby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England, it is situated on the A153 road, adjoining Tattershall on its western side, 13 miles (22 km) north west of Boston and 8 miles (13 km) so ...

and

Tattershall Tattershall is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A153 Horncastle to Sleaford road, east from the point where that road crosses the River Witham. At its eastern end, Tatter ...

, and joins the Witham at

Dogdyke __NOTOC__ Dogdyke is a hamlet in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately south from Tattershall, and at the confluence of the Rivers Bain and Witham, and close to where the River Slea joins the Witham. ...

. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and after protracted negotiation, a group of

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

ists led by Sir

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James ...

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

ized the Bain between Horncastle and the Witham. The Horncastle Canal opened in 1802 and was an important goods route before the coming of the railway. It is no longer navigable, but is used extensively by anglers,

canoeists A canoe is a lightweight narrow watercraft, water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British Englis ...

, and naturalists. The river contains significant populations of chub (''Leuciscus cephalus''),

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Acanthopagrus'', ''Argyrops'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', ''Etelis'', '' L ...

roach Roach may refer to: Animals * Cockroach, various insect species of the order Blattodea * Common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), a fresh and brackish water fish of the family Cyprinidae ** ''Rutilus'' or roaches, a genus of fishes * California roach ...

and

rudd ''Scardinius'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without any further qualifiers is also used for individual species, particularly the common rudd (''S. erythrophthalmus''). Th ...

, as well as

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

, and smaller species such as miller's thumb (''Cottus gobio''),

gudgeon A gudgeon is a socket-like, cylindrical (i.e., ''female'') fitting attached to one component to enable a pivoting or hinging connection to a second component. The second component carries a pintle fitting, the male counterpart to the gudgeon, ...

and stone loach (''Nœmacheilus barbatus''). It is also home to the

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

Austropotamobius pallipes ''Austropotamobius pallipes'' is an endangered European freshwater crayfish, and the only crayfish native to the British Isles. Its common names include white-clawed crayfish and Atlantic stream crayfish. Distribution It is found from the eas ...

'', though there are also populations of the introduced

American signal crayfish The signal crayfish (''Pacifastacus leniusculus'') is a North American species of crayfish. It was introduced to Europe in the 1960s to supplement the North European ''Astacus astacus'' fisheries, which were being damaged by crayfish plague, bu ...

(''Pasifastacus leniusculus''), which competes with the native species for food. The Bain valley was formed by a

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

in the most recent

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 gree ...

and, although small, is very obvious. The River Bain is very susceptible to flooding and many floods have occurred during its history, about once every 30–50 years, the most recent being the

2007 United Kingdom floods A series of large floods occurred in parts of the United Kingdom during the summer of 2007. The worst of the flooding occurred across Scotland on 14 June; East Yorkshire and the Midlands on 15 June; Yorkshire, the Midlands, Gloucestershire, Here ...

, when the river overtopped its banks all along its course. Horncastle was particularly badly hit.Horncastle News, (23 July 2007), ''Floods return to Horncastle''
/ref> Settlements in the valley include

, Haltham,

Roughton Roughton, as a person, may refer to: *Roughton "Rou" Reynolds, English musician in the post hardcore band Enter Shikari *Julian Roughton, the current Chief Executive of Suffolk Wildlife Trust Roughton, as a place, may refer to: *Roughton, Linco ...

, Hemingby, Goulceby with Asterby,

, Burgh on Bain and Ludford.

Crossings of the River Bain/Horncastle Canal

''This list is incomplete.'' ''This list is incomplete.''

References

{{authority control

Bain Bain may refer to: People * Bain (surname), origin and list of people with the surname * Bain of Tulloch, Scottish family * Bain Stewart, Australian film producer, husband of Leah Purcell * Saint Bain (died c. 711 AD), Bishop of Thérouanne, Ab ...