The River Welland at Stamford
The flow in the foreground is not the Welland proper, but the outflow of the Kings Mill leat. The Welland joins it just before the bridge, and is unseen to the right of the trees on the eyot

The old bridge which connects Deeping St James and Deeping Gate crosses the River Welland.

The River Welland is a river in the east of England, 56 km (35 m) long, and it has been a main waterway across the part of The Fens called "South Holland" for thousands of years. It rises in the Hothorpe Hills, (adjoining Welland Rise, Sibbertoft)^[1] in Northamptonshire, then flows generally eastwards to Market Harborough, Ketton, Stamford, The Deepings, Crowland, Cowbit and Spalding, then into The Wash at Fosdyke Bridge.

It is one of the Fenland rivers which were laid out with washes. There are two channels between widely-spaced embankments with the intention that flood waters would have space in which to spread while the tide in the estuary prevented free egress. However, after the floods of 1947, new works such as the Coronation Channel were constructed to control flooding in Spalding and the washes are no longer, of necessity, pasture but may be used for arable farming.

Outside the banks lies fertile arable land, much of it marine silt, which suits the bulb-growing for which Spalding is famous, though this is less a feature of Spalding than it once was.

The Environment Agency is the navigation authority for the river, which is navigable as far upstream as Crowland, and with very shallow draught to West Deeping Bridge. The lock around the weir there is not usable. The traditional head of navigation was Wharf Road in Stamford.^[2]

The river is important to the Welland and Deepings Internal Drainage Board,^[3] for whom it provides the final conduit to the sea for pumped water.

[edit] Etymology

The river name is from Celtic, and may mean something like "good river" (equivalent to Humber. An undated record of the name refers to the place as Weolud.

The current spelling of the name is a corruption of the Celtic, and appears to have been influenced by "well land", implying fertile land for pastures.

[edit] Wildlife

The river, in its upper reaches, supports a wild brown trout population. Chub and perch dominate the middle reaches around Stamford, with pike, perch and zander inhabiting the lower lengths around Spalding.

Large numbers of swans and geese use the river around Crowland, and out to sea. Smaller populations of each can be seen around the Stamford Meadows, and further upstream.

[edit] Loss of Crown Jewels

King John of England lost the crown jewels is what appears to have been a Tsunami in 1216 in the estuary of the River Welland. Astronomical study permits a reconstruction of the tide tables of the relevant day and it seems most likely, given travel in the usual daylight hours, that the loss was incurred in crossing the Welland estuary at Fosdyke.

[edit] Tributaries of the River Welland

• Eye Brook
• River Chater
• River Gwash
• River Glen
• River Jordan, Northamptonshire
• Vernatt's Drain

A pumping station at the head of the Stamford Meadows extracts large quantities of water for the resevoir at Rutland Water.

[edit] See also

• List of rivers of England

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Photographs of Glen and Welland

Coordinates: 52°52′N 0°03′W / 52.867°N 0.05°W / 52.867; -0.05