The River Witham, from source to sea
Great Britain 1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster Mapping Extracts © Crown copyright Ordnance Survey. All Rights Reserved. Educational licence 100045616.
Contents
- A pictorial description of the River Witham's indirect route from its source:
- to the sea:
- The first few miles, flowing east to the sea
- The bend north, and up to Grantham and the Vale of Belvoir
- The bend west, into the Vale of Belvoir
- A bend north again, through the Vale of Belvoir to Lincoln
- The bend east, through the Lincoln Gap, and into the Fens
- The final bend south-east to Boston
- Boston
- The Haven, to the sea
- Selected References
A pictorial description of the River Witham's indirect route from its source:
to the sea:
The River Witham is about 86 miles long. After a first mile in Leicestershire, it runs entirely through Lincolnshire (not counting where it forms the Lincolnshire-Nottinghamshire border). According to Link
the origin of its name is uncertain; though an Anglo-Saxon origin from ‘Wye’ (= river) and ‘Ham’ (= farm/settlement) has been proposed. The river has a "famously erratic course", which is partly imposed by the region's bedrock geology, but especially influenced by the drainage patterns established by the glaciers and later copious meltwaters during Pleistocene timesThe first few miles, flowing east to the sea
Starting at its source:
This boggy ground on the low elevation watershed between Wymondham and South Witham is marked, on large scale OS maps, as 'Issues'; which I presume refers to springs. I regard this as the source of the Witham
The first mile is in Leicestershire
The river then crosses the Leicestershire-Lincolnshire border beneath Fosse Lane (aka 'The Drift', also see 'Sewstern Lane')
The Leicestershire-Lincolnshire border on Fosse Lane. The River Witham passes under the road where the concrete posts are
emerging in Lincolnshire (where it will remain), and continuing its easterly course through South Witham
The bend north, and up to Grantham and the Vale of Belvoir
There have been extensive studies of the changes imposed on the drainage patterns of the English Midlands by glaciation during the Pleistocene Link
LinkThese studies suggest that during an interglacial period, between about 420,000 and 370,000 years ago, there may have been a gap in the north-south band of hard Jurassic limestone at South Witham - the 'Witham Gap' - through which a river (a 'proto-Soar') drained west to east, directly towards the Wash. Later deposition of glacial tills then closed the gap. This resulted in the modern situation where the River Witham encounters a low, north-south ridge carrying 'Ermine Street' (aka the A1, Great North Road), and is forced to alter course by bending to the north.
The river now runs through the villages of North Witham, Colsterworth, and Great and Little Ponton. Its course is due north, being confined by low ridges of Jurassic rocks; especially, to the east, by the ridge of Lincolnshire Limestone carrying the Roman road Ermine Street.
The first water level gauging station, contributing to flood management decisions far downstream. Water level records and the current status may be found at Link
and enters its first town, Grantham
then continues north past Belton Park on the way to Barkston and the Vale of Belvoir
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licensed for re-use under a Creative Commons Licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/Great Britain 1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster Mapping Extracts © Crown copyright Ordnance Survey. All Rights Reserved. Educational licence 100045616.
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