River Lymn
Encyclopedia
The River Lymn is a river
in Lincolnshire
, England. It rises in the Wolds
on the eastern slope of Castcliffe Hill in Fulletby
parish. It flows south-eastwards to the Lincolnshire Marsh
, where it becomes known as the Steeping River on the boundary of Great Steeping
parish. The main channel is supplemented by the Wainfleet Relief Channel as it passes Wainfleet All Saints, and the relief channel is joined by the old course of the Lymn. Once the two channels rejoin, there are three flood defence structures to protect the region from flooding by the North Sea
.
and close to the 300 feet (91.4 m) contour. It flows to the south and then to the east to reach Tetford
, where there is a grade II listed water mill and mill house. It was built in the late eighteenth century, but shows evidence that it was built around an earlier structure. The much-repaired water wheel, dating from the seventeenth century, and the corn milling machinery are still intact. Beyond Tetford the river is joined by Double Dike, and flows south through woodland, passing to the west of Somersby
and Bag Enderby
. Here it is joined by a second stream, which rises on the eastern slope of Castcliffe Hill in Fulletby, close to the 280 feet (85.3 m) contour. It flows through a large lake and is joined by a stream from Holbeck Manor before passing through Salmonby
. By the time the two streams join, they are below the 130 feet (39.6 m) contour.
It continues to the south-east and has dropped by another 33 feet (10.1 m) by the time it reaches the millpond of Stockwith Mill, beyond which is Stockwith Mill Bridge. The A158 road
crosses at Aswardby Bridge, and the site of Aswardby Mill is below that. The next crossing is at Sausthorpe
Bridge, which carries a minor road towards Sausthorpe, and the river drops below the 65 feet (19.8 m) contour at this point. The course continues to the east, passing under the A16 road between Spilsby
and Partney
at Partney Bridge, by Mill Farm, where there is a weir with a footbridge over the top. Beyond Spilsby, it turns to the south, crossing under a minor road at Northorpe Bridge and the B1195 road at Halton Bridge, to the east of Halton Holegate
. Mill Bridge carries another minor road over the channel, but by the time the river reaches it, the river is in the Fens, the channel is embanked on both sides, and it crosses the 16 feet (5 m) contour. It is joined by another embanked channel, Lady Wath's Beck, as it passes between Great Steeping
to the north and Little Steeping
to the south, and takes the name Steeping River.
and Skegness
crosses to the north bank, and then follows the course of the river to below Wainfleet All Saints. The next bridge is Clough's Bridge, carrying a minor road over the main channel. Just before it, the old course of the Lymn leaves the straight channel of the Steeping River. It is no longer connected to the Steeping River, but is maintained as a drainage ditch by the Internal Drainage Board
(IDB). Warth's Bridge and Thorpe Culvert Bridge follow, both roads leading to Thorpe Culvert railway station
. Thorpe Culvert pumping station, owned by the IDB, is located just before the second bridge, and after it, the Wainfleet Relief Channel turns off, passing under the railway almost immediately. There are two more bridges as the main channel crosses Wainfleet Common, Bycroft's Bridge and Crow's Bridge. Crow's Bridge has an elliptical arch constructed of red bricks, and was designed by the engineer John Rennie in 1812. Salem Bridge carries the B1195 road to Wainfleet railway station
, and the A52 road crosses to the east of Wainfleet All Saints. The channel is now also called Wainfleet Haven, and both names are used to describe it until it reaches the sea.
The Wainfleet Relief Channel is also crossed by the B1195 road, and shortly afterwards, the Lymn joins it. Cowcroft Drain, which joins the Lymn from the north, and the Lymn below the junction are both designated as main rivers, and are the responsibility of the Environment Agency
, as is Croft Lane pumping station, which pumps the water from the Lymn into the relief channel. Croft Lane bridge is next, after which the A52 and the Boston to Skegness railway cross, and the relief channel rejoins Wainfleet Haven. The final section contains three flood defence structures. Haven House Sluice is first, after which the channel splits. Wainfleet Clough Outfall is on the western channel, which is tidal below the sluice. The Burgh Sluice Relief Channel is to the east, and Burgh Sluice protects it from the sea just before the two channels rejoin. Cow Bank Drain was excavated in 1812, as part of the last land reclamation scheme in the area. Cow Bank pumping station, owned by the IDB, pumps the drain into the outfall.
Below the outfall, Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve
is located to the east among the dunes and saltings. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI) and a Ramsar site
, which provides a diverse habitat for birds such as grey plover
and knot
, plants including brackish water crowfoot
and insects including the red-banded sand-wasp
, among others. Skegness Yacht Club is located at Gibraltar Point, and the east bank of the river channel is used for mooring yachts. Now called Wainfleet Harbour, the channel crosses sand and mudflats to reach Wainfleet Swatch, an area of water protected from the North Sea by the Inner Knock sandbank at low water. The area to the south of Wainfleet Harbour is called Wainfleet Sand and is a danger area. It has been used for artillery practice since at least 1890, but may have been used for cannon and musketry practice long before that. More recently, it was part of RAF Wainfleet
, and was used for weaponry practice by aircraft, until the closure of the range in December 2009.
rock beneath the whole of the catchment of the River Lymn, which is largely covered by a layer of chalk. The sandstone outcrops in only a few places, and where it does, the springs provide the base flow for the river. As the layers of rock continue to dip to the east, they are covered by boulder clay
, gravel
and alluvium
.
Flow on the upper river is measured by a gauging station at Partney Mill, consisting of a Crump weir with a 16 feet (5 m) crest. The catchment area of the river above this point is 23.8 square miles (61.6 km²), and this area received annual rainfall of 27.4 inches (696 mm) in the 1960s. This produces an average daily flow of 9.5
million gallons (43.2 Megalitres (Ml)), although a peak flow of 253M gallons (1149 Ml) was recorded in April 1981.
Discharge to the North Sea is along the Burgh Sluice Relief Channel during the winter and at times of high flow, but when flows in the river are low, Wainfleet Clough Sluice is used as the discharge point.
(29 September). The arrangement was ratified by the Court of Sewers in 1432 and 1501, and continued in operation until at least 1774. The original channel is the Lymn, while the southern channel has been straightened and enlarged to become the Steeping River.
Thorpe Culvert takes its name from a culvert which was built under the river to drain water into the Bell Water Drain. The area to the north of the culvert became part of the Witham Fourth District in 1818, and the culvert was built soon afterwards. Responsibility for the drain passed to the Witham and Steeping Catchment Board following the passing of the Land Drainage Act in 1930, and they commissioned a new pumping station to pump water from the drain into the Steeping in 1938. It contained two Ruston and Hornsby diesel engines, driving 36 inches (91.4 cm) Gwynnes centrifugal pumps, and could pump 322M gallons (1,460 Ml) per day when both were running.
Responsibility for the drain and pumping station then passed to the Anglian Water Authority, and they built a new electric pumping station, which was commissioned in 1983. The diesel station was retained, but its condition deteriorated, so that by the early 1990s, only one of the engines was operational. At the request of Lindsey Marsh IDB, a small team of volunteers began to restore the station and the engines in 1994, and the site is opened for visitors three times a year. The restoration has enabled the station to be used twice in 2000 and once in 2004, when power failure prevented the electric station from operating, and during the floods of 2007, both engines ran to assist the electric pumps. The team of volunteers was led by Dennis Quincey, and following his death in 2002, the Drainage Board renamed it Quinceys Pumping Station.
In the medieval period, Wainfleet was an important port, and had a thriving salt industry, extracting salt from sea water. The town was much closer to the sea at that time, but the gradual silting of the channel and the enclosure of land on both sides of it saw the demise of the port, with its function taken over by Boston
. The channel, known as Wainfleet Haven, was still used by shipping, although larger ships unloaded cargo into river barges close to Gibraltar Point, from where the barges travelled up the river to Wainfleet. Commerical use of the Haven by boats ceased in the 1920s.
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, England. It rises in the Wolds
Lincolnshire Wolds
The Lincolnshire Wolds is a range of hills in the county of Lincolnshire, England. It is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , and the highest area of land in eastern England between Yorkshire and Kent...
on the eastern slope of Castcliffe Hill in Fulletby
Fulletby
Fulletby is a village and a civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies in the Lincolnshire Wolds, northeast of Horncastle, south of Louth and northwest of Spilsby. The parish covers about .- History :...
parish. It flows south-eastwards to the Lincolnshire Marsh
Lincolnshire Marsh
The Lincolnshire Marsh is a belt of reclaimed salt marsh and sand dune in Lincolnshire, England and between the Lincolnshire Wolds and the North Sea coast. It is up to seven kilometres wide.-Geology:...
, where it becomes known as the Steeping River on the boundary of Great Steeping
Great Steeping
Great Steeping is a village and civil parish about from Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Monksthorpe.There are two churches dedicated to All Saints, one being redundant and now known as Old All Saints....
parish. The main channel is supplemented by the Wainfleet Relief Channel as it passes Wainfleet All Saints, and the relief channel is joined by the old course of the Lymn. Once the two channels rejoin, there are three flood defence structures to protect the region from flooding by the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
.
Route
The river rises on the southern slope of Beltchford Hill, to the east of BelchfordBelchford
Belchford is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, about 11 km north of Horncastle and just to the east of the A153 road...
and close to the 300 feet (91.4 m) contour. It flows to the south and then to the east to reach Tetford
Tetford
Tetford is both a village and a parish in the Lincolnshire Wolds, northeast of Horncastle, south of Louth and northwest of Spilsby. It is in a shallow valley, situated at the bottom of a 98 m high ridge on which runs the Bluestone Heath Road...
, where there is a grade II listed water mill and mill house. It was built in the late eighteenth century, but shows evidence that it was built around an earlier structure. The much-repaired water wheel, dating from the seventeenth century, and the corn milling machinery are still intact. Beyond Tetford the river is joined by Double Dike, and flows south through woodland, passing to the west of Somersby
Somersby
Somersby may refer to:*Somersby, Lincolnshire, England*Somersby, New South Wales, Australia...
and Bag Enderby
Bag Enderby
Bag Enderby, a settlement in the civil parish of Greetham with Somersby, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village lies just north of the A158 between Horncastle and Partney....
. Here it is joined by a second stream, which rises on the eastern slope of Castcliffe Hill in Fulletby, close to the 280 feet (85.3 m) contour. It flows through a large lake and is joined by a stream from Holbeck Manor before passing through Salmonby
Salmonby
Salmonby is a village in the Lincolnshire Wolds, northeast of Horncastle, south of Louth and northwest of Spilsby. Tetford parish lies to the northeast and Somersby parish to the south. The parish covers only about ....
. By the time the two streams join, they are below the 130 feet (39.6 m) contour.
It continues to the south-east and has dropped by another 33 feet (10.1 m) by the time it reaches the millpond of Stockwith Mill, beyond which is Stockwith Mill Bridge. The A158 road
A158 road
The A158 road is a major tourist route that heads from Lincoln in the west to Skegness on the east coast. The road is located entirely in the county of Lincolnshire and is single carriageway for almost its entirety. The road is approximately long...
crosses at Aswardby Bridge, and the site of Aswardby Mill is below that. The next crossing is at Sausthorpe
Sausthorpe
Sausthorpe is a village in the valley of the River Lymn in the Lincolnshire Wolds, England. It is situated north west of the town of Spilsby....
Bridge, which carries a minor road towards Sausthorpe, and the river drops below the 65 feet (19.8 m) contour at this point. The course continues to the east, passing under the A16 road between Spilsby
Spilsby
Spilsby is a market town and civil parish in Lincolnshire. England. The town is situated adjacent to the main A16 Trunk Road at the southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds north of the Fenlands, east of the county town of Lincoln, north east of Boston and north west from Skegness.The town has...
and Partney
Partney
Partney is a small village, around 3 miles north of Spilsby in the Lincolnshire Wolds. This village was the birth place of Henry Stubbe, the noted seventeenth century thinker.-Transport links:...
at Partney Bridge, by Mill Farm, where there is a weir with a footbridge over the top. Beyond Spilsby, it turns to the south, crossing under a minor road at Northorpe Bridge and the B1195 road at Halton Bridge, to the east of Halton Holegate
Halton Holegate
Halton Holegate is a small village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies east of Spilsby.The village Anglican church is Grade II listed and dedicated to St Andrew...
. Mill Bridge carries another minor road over the channel, but by the time the river reaches it, the river is in the Fens, the channel is embanked on both sides, and it crosses the 16 feet (5 m) contour. It is joined by another embanked channel, Lady Wath's Beck, as it passes between Great Steeping
Great Steeping
Great Steeping is a village and civil parish about from Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Monksthorpe.There are two churches dedicated to All Saints, one being redundant and now known as Old All Saints....
to the north and Little Steeping
Little Steeping
Little Steeping is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district, about three miles from the town of Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England.The parish church is dedicated to Saint Andrew, and is a Grade II* listed building...
to the south, and takes the name Steeping River.
Steeping River
The railway line between BostonBoston railway station
Boston railway station serves the town of Boston in Lincolnshire, England. Services are operated by East Midlands Trains.-History:The station has declined in importance since the 1960s. In its heyday the station employed over 50 staff and had two through tracks and cover over the platform tracks...
and Skegness
Skegness railway station
Skegness railway station serves the seaside resort of Skegness in Lincolnshire, England.Services are operated by East Midlands Trains which run to and from Nottingham, where services originate or terminate.-History:...
crosses to the north bank, and then follows the course of the river to below Wainfleet All Saints. The next bridge is Clough's Bridge, carrying a minor road over the main channel. Just before it, the old course of the Lymn leaves the straight channel of the Steeping River. It is no longer connected to the Steeping River, but is maintained as a drainage ditch by the Internal Drainage Board
Internal Drainage Board
An internal drainage board is a type of operating authority which is established in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales with permissive powers to undertake work to secure clean water drainage and water level management within drainage districts...
(IDB). Warth's Bridge and Thorpe Culvert Bridge follow, both roads leading to Thorpe Culvert railway station
Thorpe Culvert railway station
Thorpe Culvert railway station serves the village of Thorpe St Peter in Lincolnshire, England. It is situated from Skegness and from Boston. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by East Midlands Trains.-Services:...
. Thorpe Culvert pumping station, owned by the IDB, is located just before the second bridge, and after it, the Wainfleet Relief Channel turns off, passing under the railway almost immediately. There are two more bridges as the main channel crosses Wainfleet Common, Bycroft's Bridge and Crow's Bridge. Crow's Bridge has an elliptical arch constructed of red bricks, and was designed by the engineer John Rennie in 1812. Salem Bridge carries the B1195 road to Wainfleet railway station
Wainfleet railway station
Wainfleet railway station serves the town of Wainfleet in Lincolnshire, England. The station is west of Skegness on the Skegness - Grantham - Nottingham Line.The station and all rail services that serve Wainfleet are operated by East Midlands Trains....
, and the A52 road crosses to the east of Wainfleet All Saints. The channel is now also called Wainfleet Haven, and both names are used to describe it until it reaches the sea.
The Wainfleet Relief Channel is also crossed by the B1195 road, and shortly afterwards, the Lymn joins it. Cowcroft Drain, which joins the Lymn from the north, and the Lymn below the junction are both designated as main rivers, and are the responsibility of the Environment Agency
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
, as is Croft Lane pumping station, which pumps the water from the Lymn into the relief channel. Croft Lane bridge is next, after which the A52 and the Boston to Skegness railway cross, and the relief channel rejoins Wainfleet Haven. The final section contains three flood defence structures. Haven House Sluice is first, after which the channel splits. Wainfleet Clough Outfall is on the western channel, which is tidal below the sluice. The Burgh Sluice Relief Channel is to the east, and Burgh Sluice protects it from the sea just before the two channels rejoin. Cow Bank Drain was excavated in 1812, as part of the last land reclamation scheme in the area. Cow Bank pumping station, owned by the IDB, pumps the drain into the outfall.
Below the outfall, Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve
National Nature Reserve
For details of National nature reserves in the United Kingdom see:*National Nature Reserves in England*National Nature Reserves in Northern Ireland*National Nature Reserves in Scotland*National Nature Reserves in Wales...
is located to the east among the dunes and saltings. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI) and a Ramsar site
Ramsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural,...
, which provides a diverse habitat for birds such as grey plover
Grey Plover
The Grey Plover , known as the Black-bellied Plover in North America, is a medium-sized plover breeding in arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding....
and knot
Calidrid
The calidrids or typical waders are a group of Arctic-breeding, strongly migratory wading birds. These birds form huge mixed flocks on coasts and estuaries in winter. They are the typical "sandpipers", small to medium-sized, long-winged and relatively short-billed.Their bills have sensitive tips...
, plants including brackish water crowfoot
Ranunculus
Ranunculus is a large genus of about 600 species of plants in the Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus include the buttercups, spearworts, water crowfoots and the lesser celandine....
and insects including the red-banded sand-wasp
Sand wasp
The Bembicini, or Sand wasps, are a large tribe of crabronid wasps, comprising 20 genera. Bembicines are predators on various groups of insects. The type of prey captured tends to be rather consistent within each genus, with flies being the most common type of prey taken...
, among others. Skegness Yacht Club is located at Gibraltar Point, and the east bank of the river channel is used for mooring yachts. Now called Wainfleet Harbour, the channel crosses sand and mudflats to reach Wainfleet Swatch, an area of water protected from the North Sea by the Inner Knock sandbank at low water. The area to the south of Wainfleet Harbour is called Wainfleet Sand and is a danger area. It has been used for artillery practice since at least 1890, but may have been used for cannon and musketry practice long before that. More recently, it was part of RAF Wainfleet
RAF Wainfleet
RAF Wainfleet was a Royal Air Force weapons range on The Wash on the east coast of England near Wainfleet, in the civil parish of Friskney, although the north-east part of the range was in Wainfleet St Mary. Other ranges nearby include RAF Holbeach, also on The Wash, and Donna Nook. It was also...
, and was used for weaponry practice by aircraft, until the closure of the range in December 2009.
Hydrology
There is a layer of sandstoneSandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
rock beneath the whole of the catchment of the River Lymn, which is largely covered by a layer of chalk. The sandstone outcrops in only a few places, and where it does, the springs provide the base flow for the river. As the layers of rock continue to dip to the east, they are covered by boulder clay
Boulder clay
Boulder clay, in geology, is a deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed in and beneath glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found, but is in a special sense the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and North America...
, gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
and alluvium
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
.
Flow on the upper river is measured by a gauging station at Partney Mill, consisting of a Crump weir with a 16 feet (5 m) crest. The catchment area of the river above this point is 23.8 square miles (61.6 km²), and this area received annual rainfall of 27.4 inches (696 mm) in the 1960s. This produces an average daily flow of 9.5
million gallons (43.2 Megalitres (Ml)), although a peak flow of 253M gallons (1149 Ml) was recorded in April 1981.
Discharge to the North Sea is along the Burgh Sluice Relief Channel during the winter and at times of high flow, but when flows in the river are low, Wainfleet Clough Sluice is used as the discharge point.
History
The manipulation of the river channel has a long history, dating back to at least the thirteenth century, when the river was diverted to the south at Firsby Clough and then to the east at White Cross Clough, creating two channels. Because the old channel ran through the manor of Croft, and was used to supply drinking water for cattle, an agreement for its management was reached in 1240. The flow was diverted along the old channel for the first three weeks after Easter, and then along the new channel for three weeks. This six-week cycle was repeated until MichaelmasMichaelmas
Michaelmas, the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel is a day in the Western Christian calendar which occurs on 29 September...
(29 September). The arrangement was ratified by the Court of Sewers in 1432 and 1501, and continued in operation until at least 1774. The original channel is the Lymn, while the southern channel has been straightened and enlarged to become the Steeping River.
Thorpe Culvert takes its name from a culvert which was built under the river to drain water into the Bell Water Drain. The area to the north of the culvert became part of the Witham Fourth District in 1818, and the culvert was built soon afterwards. Responsibility for the drain passed to the Witham and Steeping Catchment Board following the passing of the Land Drainage Act in 1930, and they commissioned a new pumping station to pump water from the drain into the Steeping in 1938. It contained two Ruston and Hornsby diesel engines, driving 36 inches (91.4 cm) Gwynnes centrifugal pumps, and could pump 322M gallons (1,460 Ml) per day when both were running.
Responsibility for the drain and pumping station then passed to the Anglian Water Authority, and they built a new electric pumping station, which was commissioned in 1983. The diesel station was retained, but its condition deteriorated, so that by the early 1990s, only one of the engines was operational. At the request of Lindsey Marsh IDB, a small team of volunteers began to restore the station and the engines in 1994, and the site is opened for visitors three times a year. The restoration has enabled the station to be used twice in 2000 and once in 2004, when power failure prevented the electric station from operating, and during the floods of 2007, both engines ran to assist the electric pumps. The team of volunteers was led by Dennis Quincey, and following his death in 2002, the Drainage Board renamed it Quinceys Pumping Station.
In the medieval period, Wainfleet was an important port, and had a thriving salt industry, extracting salt from sea water. The town was much closer to the sea at that time, but the gradual silting of the channel and the enclosure of land on both sides of it saw the demise of the port, with its function taken over by Boston
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
. The channel, known as Wainfleet Haven, was still used by shipping, although larger ships unloaded cargo into river barges close to Gibraltar Point, from where the barges travelled up the river to Wainfleet. Commerical use of the Haven by boats ceased in the 1920s.