Editing River Welland (section)

==Course==
{{River Welland map}}
The Welland [[source (river)|rises]] in the [[Hothorpe Hills]] in the parish of [[Sibbertoft]], Northamptonshire and it issues at Spring Croft, Church Street. Sibbertoft sits astride one of the principal [[Drainage divide|watershed]]s in England.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sibbertoft Village Design Statement |url=https://www.daventrydc.gov.uk/EasySiteWeb/GatewayLink.aspx?alId=11442 |website=Daventrydc.gov.uk |publisher=Daventry District Council |access-date=25 November 2018}}</ref> Within {{convert|2|mi|km}}, the small stream forms the border between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. It flows westwards, before looping round, passing through the grounds of [[Hothorpe Hall]] in [[Theddingworth]], now a conference centre, to flow generally eastwards through [[Lubenham]] to [[Market Harborough]].<ref name=osmap>Ordnance Survey, 1:25000 map</ref> One of the driveways to [[Thorpe Lubenham]] Hall is carried over the river by an early nineteenth century [[ashlar]] bridge which is a [[Grade II listed]] structure.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1287452 |desc=Bridge near Thorpe Lubenham Hall|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> To the east of Lubenham, the river passes Old Lubenham Hall, part of an H-plan house built in the late sixteenth century and modified in the early eighteenth century. [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]] is believed to have stayed there before the [[Battle of Naseby]].<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1360740 |desc=Old Lubenham Hall|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> Three arms of a square moat surround the house, and the site is a [[Scheduled monument|scheduled ancient monument]].<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1012566 |desc=Old Hall moated site|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref>

===Market Harborough to Stamford===
The county border leaves the river on the west side of Market Harborough, as the town is wholly in Leicestershire, and picks it up again on the east side. The [[River Jordan, Northamptonshire|River Jordan]] joins the Welland in the centre of Market Harborough, flowing northwards to the railway station. Langton Brook and Stonton Brook join from the west near [[Welham, Leicestershire|Welham]]. The county border meanders from side to side across relatively straight sections of the river, suggesting that the channel has been engineered.<ref name=osmap/> A three-arched bridge, built in 1881 of fine ashlar masonry, with a causeway to the south, carries the Welham to [[Weston by Welland]] road over the river,<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1061659 |desc=Bridge over River Welland|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> while a four-arched bridge dating from the early nineteenth century carries the [[Ashley, Northamptonshire|Ashley]] to [[Medbourne]] road.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1052134 |desc=Bridge in Ashley Civil Parish|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> [[Macmillan Way]], a long-distance footpath, crosses on its way from [[Abbotsbury]] in Dorset to [[Boston, Lincolnshire]]. Medbourne Brook joins from the north, after which the river approaches a dismantled railway and is joined by the Stoke Albany Brook, approaching from the south. The river remains on the south side of the railway, while the county border follows a meandering course to the north of it, but rejoins the river near the [[Bringhurst]] to [[Cottingham, Northamptonshire|Cottingham]] road.<ref name=osmap/> The bridge over the river is plain, but to the north of it is an eighteenth-century causeway, some {{convert|110|yd|m}} long, which is made of stone and pierced by seven large arches and numerous smaller arches for drainage pipes. The causeway has two large semi-circular passing places on its western side.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1294980 |desc=Causeway leading to River Welland bridge|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref>

The Welland passes to the north of [[Corby]] near [[Rockingham, Northamptonshire|Rockingham]], and then to the south of [[Caldecott, Rutland|Caldecott]], where it becomes the county border between Northamptonshire and [[Rutland]], and the [[Eye Brook]], which has been dammed to form the [[Eyebrook Reservoir]], joins from the north. As it flows past [[Harringworth]], the river forms two channels, with the county border following the smaller, northern channel. It is crossed by the {{convert|1275|yd|m|adj=on}} [[Welland Viaduct]], with its 82 brick arches, which was completed in 1879,<ref>{{NHLE |num=1264288 |desc=Welland Viaduct|access-date=9 January 2013}}</ref> and carries the [[Oakham to Kettering Line]] over the valley. Apart from viaducts carrying suburban lines into London, it is the longest railway viaduct to be built in Britain.{{sfn|Labrum|1994|p=213}} Uppingham Brook flows eastwards from [[Uppingham]] to join on the north bank, and the [[Jurassic Way]] long-distance footpath crosses the river at Turtle Bridge. This probably dates from the fourteenth century, although it was widened in 1793, and a parapet has been added subsequently.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1073976 |desc=Turtle Bridge|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> On the road from [[Barrowden]] to [[Wakerley]], there is a [[medieval]] bridge with five pointed arches, which was widened in the eighteenth century.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1073960 |desc=Bridge in Barrowden|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> Fineshade Brook flows from the south to join the river near [[Duddington]], where there is a well-known<ref>{{cite web|last=Badmin|first=Stanley Roy|title=The Mill, Duddington|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O596558/the-mill-duddington-recording-britain-watercolour-badmin/|work=Recording Britain|publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|access-date=25 May 2013|author-link=Stanley Roy Badmin|year=1940}}</ref> mill building of earliest known date 1664.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1040112 |desc=Duddington Mill|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> A limestone ashlar bridge with four arches crosses the river, dating from the fifteenth century but widened in 1919.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1040110 |desc=Duddington Bridge|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> After the river passes under a railway bridge at [[Ketton]], its flow is swelled by the [[River Chater]]. The county border again leaves the river to the west of [[Stamford, Lincolnshire|Stamford]] while below the town the river forms the border between Lincolnshire and [[Cambridgeshire]].<ref name=osmap/>

===Stamford to Spalding===
Just before Stamford, the [[A1 road (Great Britain)|Great North Road]], now labelled the A1, crosses the river, and a pumping station on the north bank at Stamford Meadows has pumped large quantities of water to the [[Rutland Water]] reservoir since its construction in 1975.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/biology/people/harper/the-welland-basin |title=The Welland Basin |author=Dr David Harper |publisher=University of Leicester |access-date=17 March 2011}}</ref> Stamford was the lowest point at which the river could be forded so the Roman [[Ermine Street]] crossed the Welland there. The [[A16 road (England)|A16 road]] crosses the river by a three-arched stone bridge designed by [[Edward Browning (architect)|Edward Browning]] in 1845.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1040110 |desc=St Martin's Bridge, Stamford|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> Below it, Albert Bridge is made of iron with stone piers, and was erected by Stamford Town Council in July 1881, to replace an earlier bridge which was washed away in a flood.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1359564 |desc=St Martin's Bridge, Stamford|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> Beyond Stamford, the river passes the site and ruins of the [[Benedictine]] [[St Leonard's Priory, Stamford|St Leonard's Priory]].<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1007690 |desc=Ruins and site of St Leonard's Priory|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> Hudd's Mill marks the point at which the [[Stamford Canal]] left the river. The present mill building dates from 1751 and 1771.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1261587 |desc=Hudd's Mill|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> The [[River Gwash]], which the canal crossed on the level, joins from the north, and the remains of the canal follow the river on its north bank. Below [[Uffington, Lincolnshire|Uffington]], the county border follows the old course of the river, first to the south to [[Tallington]] and then to the north, while the main course now flows along the Maxey Cut to [[Peakirk]]. The old course consists of two streams, fed by sluices from the Maxey Cut, which meander to [[The Deepings]]. The eastern stream supplied power to [[Lolham]] and Maxey mills, while the western stream did the same for Tallington Mill, which dates from around 1700,<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1062611 |desc=Tallington Mill|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> West Deeping mill, and Molecey's mill, which still retains its seventeenth-century undershot [[waterwheel]], modified in the 19th century to [[Poncelet wheel|Poncelet's improved design]], and the only surviving waterwheel of its type in Lincolnshire.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1062611 |desc=Molecey's Mill and Granary|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> At the western edge of Market Deeping the two streams join, and they are also joined by the Greatford Cut, which has carried the diverted waters of the West Glen river since the early 1950s.<ref name=osmap/>

This section is crossed by [[King Street (Roman road)|King Street]], which follows the course of a [[Roman road]]. Where it crosses the Maxey Cut, to the south of the original channels, there are a series of 14 arches which comprise Lolham Bridges. They are grouped into five structures to cross the channels in the area, and were funded by the County of Northamptonshire in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The longest span is {{convert|16|ft|m}}, and the cutwaters carry inscribed stones recording the county's involvement.{{sfn|Labrum|1994|p=74}} To the north, an early nineteenth-century stone rubble arched bridge carries the road over a drainage ditch near Lolham Mill,<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1126721 |desc=Bridge over ditch by Lolham Mill|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> while an eighteenth-century bridge, probably rebuilt in the following century, crosses the mill stream.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1165282 |desc=Bridge over Mill Stream, Lolham Mill|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> Another pair of early nineteenth-century bridges, built of coursed limestone with ashlar dressings, carry the road over the northernmost channel.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1317148 |desc=Pair of bridges over River Welland|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref>

The bridge at Deeping Gate carries the date 1651, and is a Grade II* listed stone structure with three round arches.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1309230 |desc=Deeping Gate Bridge|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> After the remains of Deeping High lock and Deeping Low lock, there is a junction where the old course, the Maxey Cut, the South Drain and the Folly River, also a drain, meet. The river is officially navigable below this point.<ref name=jane/> Through [[Crowland]] and [[Cowbit]] to the edge of [[Spalding, Lincolnshire|Spalding]], the river is laid out with [[washland]]s,<ref>{{harvnb|Wheeler|Batty|1896|p=291}}</ref> which were historically used as pasture, because the river was allowed to flood the land when tidal levels prevented the water discharging into the sea. The river is bounded on the north and west by a bank, while the [[New River (Fens)|New River]], a drainage channel to the south and east of it, is bounded by another bank. The land between the channels forms Crowland High Wash, Crowland Fodder Lots and Cowbit Wash. The southern bank is variously named Corporation Bank, Wash Bank and Barrier Bank. These washlands were designed to be flooded ''in extremis'', although the building of the Coronation flood relief channel has made this purpose obsolete.

===Spalding to Fosdyke Bridge ===
[[File:Marsh Road Sluice, Spalding - geograph.org.uk - 188936.jpg|thumb|left|The Coronation Channel and Marsh Road Sluice, Spalding]]
[[File:Fosdyke Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 1436287.jpg |thumb|left|The last bridge over the Welland which carries the [[A17 road (England)|A17]] before it goes out into the Wash at [[Fosdyke]]]]
Beyond the river banks, much of the fertile [[arable land]] is composed of marine [[silt]], which suits the bulb-growing for which Spalding is famous. The commercial growing of bulbs was pioneered in the 1880s, with the first large-scale tulip fields introduced by Sam Culpin in 1907. At its peak in 1939, there were {{convert|10000|acre|ha}} of bulb fields, and 3000 tons of flowers were exported through [[Spalding railway station]]. Tulips were grown on around {{convert|3000|acre|ha}} in 1965, but this had reduced to less than {{convert|1000|acre|ha}} by 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.spaldingtoday.co.uk/sites/history/bulbs.html |title=Blooming industry |publisher=Historic Spalding |access-date=2 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323123810/http://www2.spaldingtoday.co.uk/sites/history/bulbs.html |archive-date=23 March 2012}}</ref>

Passing through Spalding, where most of the flow is diverted through the Coronation channel, the town is protected by Marsh Road sluice and a sea lock to the east. Below the town, it is approached by Vernatt's Drain, which runs parallel to the river carrying water pumped from Deeping Fen, and is crossed by the [[A16 road (England)|A16 road]] bridge. Nearby is [[Pinchbeck Engine|Pinchbeck Marsh Pumping Station]], which houses the last beam engine and scoop wheel to be used in the Fens for land drainage. It was built in 1833, and ran until 1952, when it was replaced by electric pumps. It now forms part of a museum of land drainage run by the Welland and Deepings Internal Drainage Board, in partnership with South Holland District Council.{{sfn|Labrum|1994|p=83}} Vernatt's Drain passes through a sluice to join the river, while the sluice that protects the entrance to the [[River Glen, Lincolnshire|River Glen]] is navigable, to allow boats to reach Tongue End, some {{convert|11.5|mi|km}} upstream from its mouth.{{sfn|Cumberlidge|2009|pp=124–125}} There are pumping stations for Sea Dike and Lords Drain, and the outfalls of the [[Risegate]] Eau and Five Towns drainage channels before the final bridge at [[Fosdyke]] is reached.

===Fosdyke Wash===
{{Seealso|The Wash}}
[[File:Salt marsh along the River Welland - geograph.org.uk - 3580262.jpg|thumb|300px|The River Welland at the start of the Fosdyke Wash area of salt marshes where the river becomes a tidal outflow before entering [[The Wash]]]]
After passing [[Fosdyke Bridge]] the river passes into [[Moulton, Lincolnshire|Moulton Marsh]] where it is joined by the Holbeach River, the river from this point then enters a area of extensive salt marshes with estuary like features which make up what is known as 'The Fosdyke Wash' at the very south-western edge of [[The Wash]] where the salt marshes becomes indistinguishable from the sea and from here the river quickly loses the traditional characteristics of being a river as the main river banks move away from the river itself at this point to become the main sea embankments and this leaves the river without a distinguishable mouth as it merely becomes a deep tidal channel known as the “Welland Outfall”, where it finally flows into The Wash itself in a area known as the 'Boston Deeps' at Tabs Head, where it also meets the mouth of [[The Haven, Boston|The Haven]] close to the [[RSPB]] nature reserve at [[Frampton Marsh]].<ref name=FWgam/><ref name=osmap/>

===Points on course===
{{geoGroup}}{{PoIgb start|type=collapsed}}
{{PoIgb|Source at Sibbertoft|52.4399|-1.0098|SP674828}}
{{PoIgb|Jn with River Jordan|52.4716|-0.9165|SP737865|Market Harborough}}
{{PoIgb|Jn with Medbourne Brook|52.5164|-0.8164|SP804916}}
{{PoIgb|Jn with Eye Brook|52.5299|-0.7090|SP876932}}
{{PoIgb|Welland Viaduct|52.5689|-0.6536|SP913976}}
{{PoIgb|Jn with River Chater|52.6407|-0.5218|TF001057}}
{{PoIgb|Roman Ford, Stamford|52.6457|-0.4865|TF025064}}
{{PoIgb|Site of Stamford Wharf|52.6503|-0.4772|TF031069}}
{{PoIgb|Start of Stamford Canal|52.6539|-0.4640|TF040073}}
{{PoIgb|Jn with River Gwash|52.6539|-0.4509|TF048073}}
{{PoIgb|Start of Maxey Cut|52.6558|-0.3804|TF096076}}
{{PoIgb|Jn with Greatford Cut|52.6751|-0.3350|TF126098}}
{{PoIgb|End of Stamford Canal|52.6749|-0.3180|TF138099}}
{{PoIgb|End of Maxey Cut|52.6515|-0.2617|TF176073}}
{{PoIgb|B1166 bridge, Crowland|52.6795|-0.1830|TF229106}}
{{PoIgb|End of New River, Little London|52.7723|-0.1604 |TF242210|End of Welland Washes}}
{{PoIgb|Start of Coronation Channel|52.7786|-0.1554|TF245217|Spalding}}
{{PoIgb|Spalding Lock|52.7997|-0.1350|TF258240}}
{{PoIgb|Jn with River Glen|52.8472|-0.0970|TF282294|Surfleet}}
{{PoIgb|Fosdyke Bridge|52.8713|-0.0423|TF318322|Drains called 'Five towns drain'}}
{{PoIgb|Mouth at The Wash|52.8983|0.0308|TF366353}}
{{PoIgb end}}