River Welland
:''For other uses of the word, see
Welland |
The River Welland at Stamford |
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 near
Market Harborough in
Leicestershire, then flows eastwards to
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.
Tributaries of the River Welland:
*
Eye Brook*
River Chater*
River Gwash*
River Glen*River Jordan (through
Little Bowden)
*
Vernatt's Drain*
Rivers of the United Kingdom
