River Bain
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The
River Bain is a
river in
Lincolnshire,
England, and a
tributary of the
River Witham.
The Bain rises in the
Lincolnshire Wolds at
Ludford, a
village on
The Viking Way long-distance
footpath, and flows through or past the villages of
Burgh on Bain,
Biscathorpe,
Donington on Bain,
Goulceby with Asterby and
Hemingby before reaching the town of
Horncastle where it is joined by the
River Waring.
After leaving Horncastle, the Bain flows through the villages of
Kirkby on Bain,
Coningsby and
Tattershall, and joins the Witham at
Dogdyke. In the late
eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries, and after protracted negotiation, a group of
venture capitalists canalized 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, and
naturalists.
The river contains significant populations of
Chub (
Leuciscus cephalus),
Roach,
Rudd and
Bream, as well as
Brown trout,
Pike,
Eel, and smaller species such as
Miller's Thumb (
Cottus gobio),
Gudgeon and
Stone Loach (
NÅ"macheilus barbatus). It is also home to the
threatened species of
crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes, though there are also populations of the introduced
American signal crayfish (
Pasifastacus leniusculus), which competes with the
native species for food.
