River Leam
|
The River Leam near Offchurch Bury |
The
River Leam is a
river which flows through east and southern
Warwickshire. It is a small river about 25-30 miles long.
The River Leam springs near the
village of
Hellidon in
Northamptonshire on the north side of a range of low
ironstone hills which form the watershed between the systems feeding the
River Thames and the
River Severn. The Leam's source below Hellidon Hill is less than a mile from the source of the
River Cherwell, a tributary of the Thames.
Two miles from its source, the River Leam passes under the
A425 main road from
Daventry to
Southam. From here to the village of
Braunston it marks the boundary between Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. At Braunston, the river is crossed by a substantial
embankment carrying the
Grand Union Canal over the river on an
aqueduct.
West of Braunston, the River Leam opens into a broad flat valley and flows through open farmland passing the small village of
Grandborough where there was once a
water mill.
After passing the hamlet of
Kites Hardwick on the
A426 road, the river passes a large reservoir named
Draycote Water. It again enters farmland, its valley becoming narrower past the villages of
Leamington Hastings and
Birdingbury. At
Marton, it is bridged by the busy
A423 road - until the
1990s there were substantial floods here in wet weather until a new bridge was built to keep traffic well above river level, the medieval bridge remains alongside it. There were watermills at
Eathorpe and
Hunningham. After Hunningham, the river passes
Offchurch, traditionally the home of
King Offa, where the pedestrian footway is raised above road level as a counter to flooding.
Several
brooks are tributaries of the River Leam, including the
Rains Brook which joins it near Kites Hardwick and the
Warwickshire River Itchen which joins near Marton.
After Offchurch, the River Leam enters the outskirts of
Royal Leamington Spa beside the
Grand Union Canal - in fact, the canal has followed the river at various points from Braunston.
After passing an open area of grass and woodland called
Newbold Comyn, the river widens dramatically into
Jephson Gardens, the main municipal park in Leamington Spa. The widening is due to a
weir spanned by an ornate
Victorian iron footbridge - the resulting water space is used for
boating and
canoeing in the summer. The river water is cleaner here than in many urban water spaces because the River Leam mostly flows through agricultural land and has no industry on its banks.
Passing the
Georgian Pump Rooms in the centre of Leamington Spa, the River Leam flows a further two miles until it joins the
River Avon midway between
Warwick and Leamington.
*
Rivers of the United Kingdom
