As with most hydronymy in England (such as the
Ouse and
Avon), the name is likely to be of Celtic origin.
[2]
The same name appears in the 'Neen', the former name of the river Rea in Shropshire, which is retained in the hamlet of
Neen Savage. A.D. Mills however considers the name 'obscure' and suggests that it may be pre-Celtic.
[3]
The pronunciation of the river's name varies by locality. In Northamptonshire, it is usually
, and around
Peterborough, it is usually
. The spelling was "Nenn", as seen in Cole-Roper's 1810 engraving, or "Nyn", the Ordnance Survey of 1885 is 'Nene'
[4], and the point at which the pronunciation changes has been moving further inland for many years; the current edition of the Imray "Map Of The River Nene" suggests that it is now
Thrapston.
[5]
The River Nene is the
tenth-longest river in the United Kingdom. From its source at
Arbury Hill to
Northampton, the river falls a total of 300 feet (91 m) in 17 miles (27 km).
[1] For the remainder of its course, the Nene falls less than 200 feet (61 m).
[6] It has a catchment area of 631 square miles (1,630 km
2) and a mean flow of 328 cubic feet per second (9.3 m
3/s).
[7] The final 88 miles (142 km) from Northampton to the Wash is navigable.
[8]
The river's most westerly source can be found near the village of
Badby, near
Daventry. On the eastern slope of
Arbury Hill, and in pools between Arbury Hill and Sharmans Hill, there are three tributaries that converge at
Dodford mill to form the upper reaches of the Daventry Nene. The two northern streams flow through the villages of Badby and
Newnham to the convergence, whilst the southerly stream runs through
Fawsley Park and through the village of
Everdon before the convergence. From Dodford, the river passes through the village of
Weedon where it flows under the main
west coast railway line, the
Grand Union Canal, and
Watling Street. A little west of Weedon, the river converges with its tributary source from
Yelvertoft from the north. This tributary, the Yelvertoft Nene, is formed from a great many streams. The river now flows towards Northampton, passing through
Flore and
Nether Heyford, where it is joined by small streams on either bank. A little past
Bugbrooke Mill, the Nene passes under the
M1 motorway and falls over a weir towards
Kislingbury.
M1 Motorway viaduct over the River Nene just south of junction 16
Another tributary merges from the south at Kislingbury. The Nene's course is closely followed by the Grand Union Canal’s Northampton arm at Upton Mill.
Northampton[edit]
At Upton Mill, another tributary, called
Wootton Brook, joins the river from the south. The River Nene now approaches Northampton town from the west, passing between the suburbs of
St. James (locally known as Jimmy's End),
Cotton End and
Far Cotton. The Nene’s third northern source, the
Naseby Source or Brampton Nene, converges at the
Carlsberg Brewery. This tributary flows through the north of Northampton where several streams join. Three of these streams supply water for reservoirs at
Pitsford,
Hollowell and
Ravensthorpe, north of Northampton, before joining the Brampton Nene. At Cotton End, the Nene passes under South Bridge, then through Beckett's Park and past the site of the former
Northampton Power Station in the Nunn Mills area of the town, on the south bank of the river opposite Midsummer Meadow on the north banks.
[9] Northampton Sea Cadets is based in Nunn Mills, and uses the river for the training of boating skills. Following the training schemes of the
Royal Yachting Association (RYA),
British Rowing (BR), and the
British Canoe Union (BCU).
[10] A short way downstream, a weir can divert some of the Nene's flow to supply the
Nene Whitewater Centre.
Cole-Roper 1810 map of Northampton
South Bridge over the River Nene looking east with fast current warning notice displayed, 26 February 2010. On the south bank, the Cotton End district of Northampton
Nene Valley[edit]
From Northampton, the river flows along a broad valley, formed by the enormous amount of water released by the melting ice during
the Ice Age,
[11] towards the east coast. The Nene now meanders through this wide, flat valley with flood plains, lakes, pools and mature gravel pits on either bank, a byproduct of the large glacial deposits in the valley. At
Great Billing is
Billing Aquadrome, a popular caravan and camping park with leisure facilities and a funfair, which is based around the river and various mature gravel pits.
[12] The park is popular with fishermen and water skiers alike. The river's landscape is now dominated by mature gravel pit lakes. Some
gravel extraction still takes place along the valley's basin. At
Cogenhoe (pronounced
locally
[13]) the river passes through a
watermill. The mill is a red-brick building built in the late nineteenth century, with a slate roof, from which all the machinery has been removed. Adjacent is a Mill House, built of coursed limestone rubble, and dated 1725.
[14] At
Earls Barton the river again passes an area of mature gravel pit lakes, and lock gates numbers 9 and 10. Further on, the river passes through Doddington Lock No 11 and the nearby Hardwater Watermill. This watermill, mentioned in the
Domesday Book, ground wheat into flour for almost 1000 years.
Thomas Becket,
Archbishop of Canterbury, used the mill as a hiding place after escaping from
Northampton Castle in 1164 and fleeing down the Nene to be sheltered by the miller before fleeing to France. The watermill ceased grinding flour after the
Second World War. The present buildings date from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and have been converted into dwellings.
[15]
Wellingborough[edit]
Victoria Mills and its jetty at Wellingborough
The river's course turns to the north-east, passing the town of
Wellingborough on its north bank and the village of
Little Irchester to the south. At Wellingborough, the river passes through Victoria Mills. Founded in 1886 by the Whitworth family, they are still run by the firm today, producing fine flours for the bakery trade. In front of the mill, there remains a jetty from the days when the river was used for transportation of goods to and from the mills. A little further on, the river is joined from the north by the
River Ise. On the opposite bank are the remains of the Roman town of
Irchester. The river now passes under a viaduct that carries the
Midland Main Line, which links
London St. Pancras International to
Sheffield Midland station in northern England via
Luton,
Bedford,
Kettering,
Leicester,
Derby,
Nottingham and
Chesterfield.
Passing
Irthlingborough on its north-western bank, the Nene now flows past
Nene Park, the former ground of
Rushden and Diamonds F.C.. Further on, the river is crossed by the disused track bed of the
Northampton and Peterborough Railway which was constructed in 1845. The river is now characterised by large curving meanders as it passes the villages of Little Addington,
Great Addington and Denford.
Thrapston[edit]
The Nine Arched Bridge at Thrapston
At Denford the river divides into two channels, one of which is used for navigation. The channels approach the town of
Thrapston, passing under two adjacent viaducts. One carries the busy
A14 trunk road; the other carries the disused railway track bed. Between the town of Thrapston and the village of
Islip, the Nene is spanned by a low nine-arched bridge. Just north of Thrapston the river forms part of the 180 acres (73 ha) of
Titchmarsh Nature Reserve.
[16] The reserve, designated in 1989, consists of two lakes, a woodland, river banks and areas of grass and scrub in which some ponds have been dug. The reserve is operated by
Northamptonshire County Council, with the approval of the
Nature Conservancy Council. At
Aldwincle another tributary, called
Harpers Brook, joins the Nene from the north-west. Harpers Brook flows between gravel pit lagoons before converging with the river. The river flows south of
Oundle passing
Barnwell Country Park and
Oundle Marina under a bridge of the
A605 road. At
grid reference TL116976, the
Romans bridged the river with
Ermine Street in the first century. Between Oundle marina and Peterborough the Nene falls towards Peterborough, navigation passing through 11 locks on the way.
Peterborough[edit]
River Nene from Frank Perkins Parkway, Peterborough
Having passed among the gentle hills of Northamptonshire the river enters the rural part of the
City of Peterborough, passing the
Nene Valley Railway and through the Nene Valley Country Park.
1⁄2 mile (800 m) upstream of the city centre is Woodston Wharf—the site of the old sea lock—originally the extent of the tidal River Nene until the Dog in a Doublet lock at
Whittlesey was opened in 1937. To the east of Peterborough city centre a branch of the river passes under the former Great Eastern Railway, now connected to the main East Coast main line and running through to Cambridge via Whittlesey and Ely. The branch terminates, for navigation, at
Stanground Lock, a connection to the Middle Levels, the drainage system of the Fens through which access is possible to the River Great Ouse. Below Peterborough, the river forms the border between Cambridgeshire and
Norfolk for about 3.7 miles (6.0 km).
Continuing downstream leads to the impressive 'Embankment' area and after the
cathedral city itself, passing through
Whittlesey the landscape changes to the
Nene Washes in
The Fens and their vast horizons. Beyond
Flag Fen the river flows through the
port of
Wisbech, then
Sutton Bridge in
Lincolnshire, and it finally enters
The Wash between two towers known as "the lighthouses".
The Nene links the
Grand Union Canal to the
River Great Ouse, via the
Middle Level Navigations. Much of its route has been upgraded to a wide canal with locks at regular intervals. Some sections where artificial cuts run adjacent to the course of the river are known as the "Nene Navigation".
Navigation[edit]
The Nene is navigable from just above its junction with the Northampton Arm of the Grand Union Canal to the sea. Most leisure use is between Northampton and Peterborough, where it makes a junction with the Middle Level Navigations at Stanground Sluice, which give access to the Bedfordshire River Ouse. There is no longer any significant commercial traffic.
[17]
Above Peterborough[edit]
The first recorded attempts to improve the upper river for navigation occurred in 1567 and 1606, when the people of Northampton commissioned surveys. In 1653, a printed pamphlet suggested that 33 locks to bypass the mills could be built for £8,000, to make the river navigable. Eventually, an
Act of Parliament was obtained in 1713, which appointed large numbers of Commissioners, but stated that work could only proceed if any nine of them could find someone to make the entire river navigable. No-one was prepared to take on the task, although it appears from the Act that the river was navigable from Peterborough to
Alwalton at the time. The Act was superseded by a second one obtained in 1724, which allowed the river to be improved in stages, the work to be carried out at the contractor's expense, with the cost to be recouped from tolls. Robert Wright and Thomas Squire agreed to these terms for the section from Peterborough to the bridge at
Oundle North in September 1726, and completed the work by 1730. Squire then agreed to the same terms for the next section to Thrapston in 1736, and completed it by late 1737. This part of the river was then designated as the Eastern Division.
[18]
A failure to find anyone prepared to work on the Western Division from Thrapston to Northampton resulted in a third Act being obtained in 1756, which allowed the Commissioners to borrow money to finance the work. Lenders would become Proprietors of the Navigation, and the work was to begin at
Thrapston and extend the navigable section towards Northampton. It took the Commissioners two years to agree who should carry out the work, but on 22 June 1758, John Smith jnr from Attercliffe, Yorkshire was contracted to construct 20 pound locks, 20 horse haling bridges and various other works at a cost of £14,070. The river opened to navigation in stages over the next three years, with a great celebration being held at Northampton on 7 August 1761 when the work was completed.
[19]
The proprietors had the right to use tolls as they saw fit, and the Commissioners found that they had no powers to ensure the navigation was maintained in good order. They obtained another Act of Parliament in 1794, which aimed to rectify the situation, but it was not until 1801 that Thomas Wright replied to their requests, and some repairs were made. There was little traffic and income from tolls was low, at just £488 per year between 1801 and 1804. The Commissioners were also keen to see a link constructed from Northampton to the
Grand Junction Canal, but the canal company argued that there was an insufficient supply of water. It was agreed that a link would be built in two halves, but that there would be 1 mile (1.6 km) of railway in the middle. When built, the canal company constructed the entire link as a railway, which opened in 1805. In a bid to get a navigable link, the Commissioners opposed the bill to build a link between the Grand Junction Canal and the Old Union Canal, but relented when they had a firm agreement that a navigable link to Northampton would be built. The link cost £35,000, was supervised by
Benjamin Bevan, and was built between 1812 and 1815. It was nearly 5 miles (8.0 km) long, and dropped 107 feet (33 m) through 17 locks.
[20]
Tolls rose to a little over £1,000 per year, but the Commissioners decided that the canal boats damaged the locks, and all traffic had to be transferred to river barges. This order was withdrawn in 1827, but the condition of the river gradually deteriorated, and the arrival of the Blisworth to Peterborough Railway in 1845 further reduced profitability. Flooding was also a problem, but the Commissioners had no powers to act as Commissioners of Sewers, to address the problems of drainage. With serious flooding in December 1848, a public meeting was held, and a committee was elected to consider Nene drainage. The main problem was a restriction at Wisbech, and the engineer
James Rendel estimated that £120,000 was required to reconstruct the river below Peterborough. The Nene Valley Drainage and Improvement Act was obtained in 1852, to allow this work to be completed.
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