River Wensum

Wensum
The River Wensum inNorwich
Location of the river mouth within Norfolk
Location
Country	England
Counties	Norfolk
Towns	Sculthorpe,Fakenham,North Elmham,Lenwade,Norwich
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Whissonsett,Norfolk
• coordinates	52.7917°N 0.8464°E/52.7917; 0.8464
Mouth	River Yare
• location	Whitlingham,Norwich
• coordinates	52.6213°N 1.3230°E/52.6213; 1.3230
Discharge
• location	Costessey Mill
• average	4.05 m3/s (143 cu ft/s)
• minimum	0.36 m3/s (13 cu ft/s) 6 August 1991
• maximum	34.0 m3/s (1,200 cu ft/s) 29 January 1984
Discharge
• location	Swanton Morley
• average	2.76 m3/s (97 cu ft/s)
Discharge
• location	Fakenham
• average	0.87 m3/s (31 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	River Tat,River Ainse (or Eyn)
• right	River Tud

TheRiver Wensumis achalk riverinNorfolk,England and atributaryof theRiver Yare,despite being the larger of the two rivers. The river is a biologicalSite of Special Scientific InterestandSpecial Area of Conservation.

The Wensum is the principal river on which the city ofNorwichwas founded.The river passesCarrow Road,the home ofNorwich City F.C.;one end of the ground was originally namedThe River Endin its honour, a name that still persists among fans.

Etymology

The river receives its name from theOld Englishadjectivewandsumorwendsum,meaning "winding".

Course

The river viewed fromMarriott's Way,Costessey

Carrow Road,viewed from the river

Boys bathing on the River Wensum byJohn Crome

Modern Ordnance Survey Maps list the source of the Wensum as lying between the villages ofColkirkandWhissonsettin northwest Norfolk.The reasoning behind this claim is unknown given that other tributaries are further from the mouth; pre-modern maps and other written sources refer to the source to be inWest Rudhamfrom springs arising on the aptly named Wensum Farm. From the source the river flows close to the villages ofSouth Raynham,West RaynhamandEast Raynham,passingRaynham Hall,home of theMarquis Townshend.The Wensum then turns and flows north through a number of small villages until it reachesSculthorpe,where it turns east through the market town ofFakenham.The river then flows in a southeasterly direction through thePensthorpe Nature Reserveand the village ofGreat Ryburgh.

The Wensum continues through or close to the villages ofGuist,North Elmham,Worthing,Swanton Morley,Lyng,LenwadeandTaverhambefore entering the City ofNorwichfrom the north-west viaDrayton,CostesseyandHellesdon.At New Mills Yard, a former waterworks, the river becomes tidal and navigable by boat. Flowing through the city, the river forms a broad arc which would have influenced the site of the settlement for defensive reasons;remnants of boom towers can be seen near Wensum Park and Carrow Hill which formed part of the city wall and a large defensive tower can be seen on the bank near Barrack Street, calledCow Tower.This dates to the 12th century and was also used for collecting tolls.Evidence of the river's historical use as a means of transport for goods and trade from the continent is still visible: mills, quays and industrial remnants can be found near the station and along King Street, and a slipway atPulls Ferrymarks the start of a canal originally used to transportstone from Caenin Normandy, in the 13th Century, to buildNorwich Cathedral.This site was also a public house and used as a River Ferry until the 1950s.

The Wensum flows pastCarrow Roadfootball ground and then out of the city viaTrowsetoWhitlinghamand its confluence with the River Yare. The Wensum is navigable from New Mills Yard in the centre of Norwich.

Tributaries

• River Tat.Rises onSyderstoneCommon and merges with the Wensum west ofFakenham
• River Tud.Rises a little south ofEast Derehamand merges with the Wensum just belowHellesdonmill.
• River Ainse.Merges with the River Wensum at Lenwade.

Watermills

Bintree Mill, 2005 (photo by Mark Boyer)

Lenwade mill

The river belowHellesdonmill

There were a succession ofwater millson the Wensum, some of which are still standing and working. From the source these are

• SculthorpeMill. The 18th century water mill which bridges the river was converted into a hotel and restaurant in 2003.
• HemptonMill. The mill became derelict and was demolished in 1954 by the Drainage Board to improve control of the river levels.
• FakenhamMill. The 18th Century water mill bridging the river was in use until 1979. It was converted into homes in 1982.
• Great RyburghMill
• GuistMill
• Bintry Millceased operation in 1980, but the building is still extant. It was used as the location for a film ofGeorge Eliot'sThe Mill on the Flossin 1996.
• North ElmhamMill, known locally as Grint Mill, had two breastshot waterwheels until the early twentieth century when they were replaced by two turbines. By the 1970s the milling machinery was driven by mains electricity while the turbines were used to drive a sack hoist and two mixing machines. The mill continued to produce animal feed into the late twentieth century.
• Swanton MorleyMill was demolished in the 1840s.
• ElsingMill ceased operation in 1970. The building is still extant.
• LyngMill was demolished in 1868.
• LenwadeMill. TheGrade II listed buildingwas at risk in the 1990s, but was sympathetically converted into apartments in 2000.
• TaverhamMill. In the 19th century Taverham was a major producer of paper. Some of the paper which was produced at Taverham Mill was used in producingThe Timesand theOxford English Dictionary.It also served the University Press at Cambridge. The paper mill closed in 1899.
• CostesseyMill was destroyed by a fire in 1924.
• HellesdonMill was demolished for building materials in 1920.
• NorwichNew Mills. A corn mill was built in 1430 by public subscription. In 1710, it was rebuilt to grind corn and supply water to the city. In 1897, it became an air compressor station, with three electric and two water powered compressors. The compressed air was used to pump sewage out of the city. Operation ceased in 1972, when the only otherShone Ejectorpumps in the country were those under theHouses of Parliament.Plans for it to become a working museum failed, but all the machinery is still intact. The sluice is now computer operated to control water levels.

Other mills close on tributaries are

• Great WitchinghamMill
• GressenhallMill
• WorthingMill
• FelthorpeMill

River Wensum bridges

River Wensum
Source Wissonsett A1065 Bridge River Tat Sculthorpe Mill (extant) A1065 Bridge Site of Hempton Mill (d.1954) Fakenham Mill (extant) Site of Gt Ryburgh Mill (d.1925) B1110 Bridge, Guist Bintree Mill (extant) North Elmham Mill (extant) B1145 Bridge, Billingford Site of Swanton Morley Mill (d.~1840) B1147 Bridge, Swanton Morley Elsing Mill (extant) Site of Lyng Mill (d.1868) Lenwade Mill (extant) A1067 Bridge River Ainse (or Eyn) A1067 bridge, Attlebridge Site of Taverham Mill (d.1899) Site of Costessey Mill (d.1924) Site of Hellesdon Mill (d.1920) River Tud A140 Bridge A1024 Bridge A147 Barn Road Bridge (Inner ring road) New Mills Compressor Station New Mill Yard Bridge New Mills yard Coslany Street Bridge Duke Street Bridge St Georges Bridge Fye Bridge Whitefriars Bridge Jarrold Bridge Bishopgate Bridge Foundry Bridge,Norwich Lady Julian Bridge Novi Sad Friendship Bridge A147 Carrow Bridge (Inner ring road) Junction withRiver Yare River Yare

Bishops Bridgeis one of fivemedievalbridges which span the River Wensum. Built in 1345 it formed part of the defensive structure along the river, with a gatehouse on the city side of bridge which was demolished in 1791. It is positioned on the site of a Roman Ford.

Jarrold Bridgeis a footbridge linking the St James Place business park to Bishopgate.

Fye Bridgeis arguably the oldest river crossing in Norwich and is the gate to the North of the City known as "Norwich Over the Water"this bridge was also the site of acucking stoolfor ducking lawbreakers and undesirables.

Whitefriars BridgeNamed after a formerCarmelite(White Friars) monastery. The remains of which can still be seen in a small section of medieval wall and archway.

Foundry BridgeNear the railway station and the Yacht station on Riverside named after a foundry nearby, purported to have been built to take a railway line.

Lady Julian Bridgeis a footbridge named afterJulian of Norwichthat links Riverside to King Street.

Carrow BridgenearCarrow Roadfootball ground is a more recent cantileveredswing bridge,which can still be opened to allow large or high vessels through. It is positioned in close proximity to the Boom towers which originally had a chain suspended between them and would have been used as part of the city's defences and as a method of collecting tolls on goods travelling up river from Great Yarmouth.

Novi Sad Friendship Bridgeis a cable stayed swingfootbridgewhich spans the River Wensum inNorwich.The structure is named in recognition of thetwinningties between Norwich andNovi Sadin Serbia. The bridge was designed byBuro Happoldand commissioned byNorfolkCounty Council.

There are further bridges at Barn Road, Anchor Quay, Duke Street and St. Georges Street.

Conservation

See also:River Wensum SSSI

After many years of decline a survey was commissioned byNatural Englandin 2002. It showed that the ecological condition of the river had declined. The principal reasons for this werewater qualityandsiltation.Water quality has been addressed and was improving, but the physical character of the river needs to be restored. In 2008, a partnership known as theRiver Wensum Restoration Strategy(RWRS) was formed between;Environment Agency;Water Management Alliance and Natural Englandto restore the physical functioning of the Wensum. The 2002 report found that fourteen redundantwater millsalong the Wensum as having the most significant factor affectingmorphologyof the river channel, with 67% of the river backed up behind these structures. As a priority, the strategy recommended the lowering, removal or bypassing of these structures to allow more of the river to function naturally.Since 2008, the (RWRS) has made several improvements to the river. Theholisticwhole riverapproach with co-operation from land owners, fisheries managers and other organisations has seen ongoing projects ranging from restoring gravel glides to removing silt.

The Norfolk Anglers Conservation Association (NACA) carried out a successful river habitat restoration at their Sayers Meadow fishery atLyngin the early 1980s.After dredging and a majorabstractionpipeline had a detrimental effect on theCostesseyPoint fishery, the association has taken action to restore this well known water. The ongoing work will be used as a blueprint for future river conservation projects.

The Demonstration Test Catchment (DTC) project is a joint initiative between the Environment Agency,(Defra),and theWelsh Assembly Governmentworking in three UKcatchments;Hampshire Avon;River Eden, Cumbria;Wensum, Norfolk to evaluate the extent to which on-farm mitigation measures can cost-effectively reduce the impacts of diffuse water pollution on river ecology while still maintaining food production capacity (Wensum Alliance, 2014).

Angling

Between 1940 and the 1970s the river had a national reputation as aroachfishery with specimens exceeding 3 pounds (1.4 kg) being reported.As the river declined through the effects ofabstraction,dredgingand modern farming methods these fish largely died out.After an earlier introduction of a small amount ofbarbel– a fish not thought to be indigenous to the Wensum – the local river authority stocked the Wensum with over 150 fish in 1971 below Costessey Mill.and subsequently stocked more fish at suitable sections of the Upper Wensum. The fish became established albeit in small numbers at a few favourable locations. Specimens in excess of 20 pounds (9.1 kg) have been caught.

Today (2011), much of the Wensum's upper reaches are privately owned or controlled by syndicates. However, opportunities for individual anglers can be found and as the river passes through the City of Norwich free fishing is available where accessible.

See also

• List of rivers in England

Further reading

• Where to Fish in Norfolk and SuffolkbyJohn WilsonISBN0-7117-0183-0

External links

• River Wensum Literary Links
• BBC Norfolk: Watch a film about the River Wensum at Pensthorpe
• Otter predation