Editing River Great Ouse (section)

==Course==
The river has several sources close to the villages of Syresham and [[Wappenham]] in [[West Northamptonshire]]. It flows through [[Brackley]], provides the [[Oxfordshire]]/Northamptonshire border, then into Buckinghamshire where it flows through [[Buckingham]], the [[Milton Keynes urban area]] (at [[Stony Stratford]] and [[Newport Pagnell]]) and [[Olney, Buckinghamshire|Olney]], then [[Kempston]] in Bedfordshire, which is the current head of navigation.

[[File:Huntingdon Old Bridge.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|The Great Ouse at Huntingdon]]

Passing through [[Bedford, Bedfordshire|Bedford]], it flows on into Cambridgeshire through [[St Neots]], [[Godmanchester]], [[Huntingdon]], [[Hemingford Grey]] and [[St Ives, Cambridgeshire|St Ives]], reaching [[Earith]]. Here, the river enters a short tidal section before branching in two. The artificial, very straight [[Old Bedford River]] and [[New Bedford River]], which remain tidal, provide a direct link north-east towards the lower river at [[Denver, Norfolk|Denver]] in Norfolk.

The river previously ran through Hermitage Lock into the Old West River, then joined the Cam near [[Little Thetford]] before passing [[Ely, Cambridgeshire|Ely]] and [[Littleport, England|Littleport]] to reach the Denver sluice. Below this point, the river is tidal and continues past [[Downham Market]] to enter the Wash at King's Lynn. It is navigable from the Wash to Kempston Mill near Bedford, a distance of {{cvt|72|mi|km}} which contains 17 locks.<ref>{{harvnb |Blair |2006 |p=7}}</ref> It has a catchment area of {{cvt|8380|km2|mi2|order=flip}}<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/142/m142p273.pdf |last1=Nedwell |first1=D.B. |last2=Trimmer |first2=M.T. |year=1996 |title=Nitrogen fluxes through the upper estuary of the Great Ouse, England: the role of the bottom sediments. |journal=Marine Ecology Progress Series |volume=142 |pages=273–286 |publisher=Inter Research Science |doi=10.3354/meps142273 |bibcode=1996MEPS..142..273N |doi-access=free |access-date=27 January 2020 |archive-date=30 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030135613/https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/142/m142p273.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> and a mean flow of {{cvt|15.5|m3/s|cuft/s}} as measured at Denver Sluice.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nrfa.ceh.ac.uk/data/station/meanflow/33035/ |title=NRFA Station Mean Flow Data for 33035 - Ely Ouse at Denver Complex |website=nrfa.ceh.ac.uk |access-date=5 January 2024 }}</ref>

[[File:cam-ouse 19.3.05.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|The confluence of the Great Ouse with the Cam, on the left]]

Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded modification in 1236, as a result of flooding. During the 1600s, the Old Bedford and New Bedford rivers were built to provide a quicker route for the water to reach the sea. In the 20th century, construction of the [[Cut-off Channel|Cut-Off Channel]] and the '''Great Ouse Relief Channel''' have further altered water flows in the region, and helped to reduce flooding.

Improvements to assist navigation began in 1618, with the construction of sluices and locks. Bedford could be reached by river from 1689. A major feature was the sluice at Denver, which failed in 1713, but was rebuilt by 1750 after the problem of flooding returned. Kings Lynn, at the mouth of the river, developed as a port, with civil engineering input from many of the great engineers of the time. With the coming of the railways the state of the river declined so that it was unsuitable either for navigation or for drainage. The navigation was declared to be derelict in the 1870s.

A repeated problem was the number of authorities responsible for different aspects of the river. The drainage board created in 1918 had no powers to address navigation issues, and there were six bodies responsible for the river below Denver in 1913. When the Great Ouse Catchment Board was created under the powers of the [[Land Drainage Act 1930]], effective action could at last be taken. There was significant [[sugar beet]] cargo traffic on the river between 1925 and 1959, with the last known commercial traffic sailing in 1974. Leisure boating had been popular since 1904, and the post-war period saw the creation of the Great Ouse Restoration Society in 1951, who campaigned for complete renovation of the river navigation. Until 1989, the river was in the care of the [[Anglian Water Authority]] until [[water privatisation]], when the [[Environment Agency]] became the drainage and ecology authority as well as being the [[navigation authority]].

The [[Ouse Washes]] are an internationally important area for wildlife. Sandwiched between the Old Bedford and New Bedford rivers, they consist of washland which is used as pasture during the summer but which floods in the winter, and are the largest area of such land in the United Kingdom. They act as breeding grounds for lapwings, redshanks and snipe in spring, and are home to varieties of ducks and swans during the winter months.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/o/ousewashes/ |title=The RSPB: Ouse Washes |work=The RSPB |access-date=19 April 2009 |archive-date=10 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210061203/http://rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/o/ousewashes/ |url-status=live }}</ref>