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River Tame, West Midlands
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The River Tame is the main river of the West Midlands, and the most important tributary of the River Trent. The Tame is about 40km from source at Oldbury to its confluence with the Trent near Alrewas, but the main river length of the entire catchment, i.e the Tame and its main tributaries, is about 285 km.
name derives from the Celtic language, although it may have even earlier roots.
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Encyclopedia
The River Tame is the main river of the West Midlands, and the most important tributary of the River Trent. The Tame is about 40km from source at Oldbury to its confluence with the Trent near Alrewas, but the main river length of the entire catchment, i.e the Tame and its main tributaries, is about 285 km.
Etymology
The name derives from the Celtic language, although it may have even earlier roots. It is usually thought to mean "dark", by analogy with the Sanskrit word tamas, meaning darkness. Other possibilities are "slow moving", or "flowing" although the precise meaning is uncertain.
Course and catchment
The Tame is generally considered to have two main sources; Willenhall and Oldbury, West Midlands. The tributaries arising in these locations are known as the Willenhall arm and the Oldbury arm of the Tame. However, some of its tributary streams rise as far to the west and north as Wolverhampton. Much of the course of the river has been modified over the centuries and the urban sections now run mainly through culverts or canalised channels.
Both arms of the Tame flow through the Black Country. The shorter, Willenhall arm runs south from Willenhall, through Bentley, then turns south-east, following a realigned course alongside the M6 motorway. The Oldbury arm winds its way up through Great Bridge and Wednesbury meeting the Willenhall arm near Bescot, on the edge of Walsall.
The unified Tame then flows, partly through channels realigned to make way for the M6 motorway and its interchange with the M5 motorway, through Sandwell Valley and into north Birmingham. It passes through Hamstead to Perry Barr, through Witton and beneath Spaghetti Junction to Washwood Heath.
Skirting to the north of Castle Bromwich, it leaves Birmingham to the north east, passing Water Orton in Warwickshire. It then crosses into Staffordshire, past Tamworth (which takes its name from the river), before joining the River Trent near Alrewas. the eventual outflow is into the North Sea, via the Humber Estuary.
The catchment of the Tame covers an area of nearly 1500 kmē and contains a population of about 1.7 million people. Approximately 42% of the Tame basin is urbanised, making it the most heavily-urbanised river basin in the United Kingdom..
The traditional industries of Birmingham and the Black Country, based on coal, iron and steel, were heavily polluting, and the Tame is conducted through a series of purification lakes below Lea Marston, in Warwickshire, to remove pollutants, an arrangement unique in the UK. A large part of this lake area forms the Kingsbury Water Park. Clean-up operations in a notoriously polluted stretch of the river in the Witton area of Birmingham have meant that aquatic wildfowl such as ducks and swans have settled on that stretch of the river. Sandwell Valley has evolved over the last two decades into an important urban wildlife habitat.
The Tame is non-navigable throughout its course.
Flooding
There have been major flooding problems associated with the river. These result largely from the mainly urban character of the upper catchment. Rainfall runs off the roofs and hard surfaces, raising river levels very rapidly. Rapid house-building and commercial development may have exacerbated the problem in recent years. Another development contributing to worse flooding has been the general rise in groundwater levels in the upper catchment area. As traditional industries have declined and been replaced by light industries and services, far less water has been taken from the river and the underlying aquifer.
The river is susceptible to spectacular flooding at the village of Hopwas between Tamworth and Lichfield during periods of heavy autumnal rain. The long-term persistence of the problem is attested by the Anglo-Saxon meaning of the village's name:- hop - nook of land, was - watery. There is also a substantial bend in the course of the river between Hopwas and Elford, giving rise to the name Tamhorn for the area.
Flood Prevention
Flood prevention work was carried out on Sandwell Valley in the 1980s. Forge Mill Lake was created as a stormwater retention basin by enlarging an existing depression. The river was dredged to deepen it and the gravel used to construct an island in the lake. This evolved into part of a nature reserve, at present leased to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. At about the same time,a similar arrangement was constructed at Sheepwash Urban Park, utilising old brickworks excavations as a storm water basin to relieve flooding by the Oldbury Arm.
In 2005, the river's alignment through Perry Hall Park in Perry Barr, Birmingham, just downstream of Sandwell Valley, was remodelled to slow the flow, alleviate flooding and create improved habitats for wildlife, as part of the SMURF (Sustainable Management of Urban Rivers and Floodplains) project.
Nonetheless, in June 2007, after heavy rain, the river burst its banks in the Witton area of Birmingham (just downstream of Perry Barr) and at Kingsbury Water Park.
Features
Gallery
Image:Sheepwash Urban Park Tame bank.JPG|Oldbury Arm of the Tame close to its entrance to the Sheepwash Urban Park, between Great Bridge and West Bromwich. At this point it is still only 1-2 metres wide if not in flood.
Image:Sheepwash Urban Park island.JPG|Largest of the lakes in Sheepwash Urban Park. This is a storm water retention basin, fed by the Oldbury Arm, providing an important urban habitat.
Image:Sheepwash Urban Park canalised Tame.JPG|Canalised channel of the Tame. Sluices feeding the Sheepwash lakes are visible on both sides.
Image:Tame Oldbury Arm at Tame Bridge.JPG|The Oldbury Arm at Tame Bridge, just south of Great Bridge.
Image:Tame at Great Bridge south.JPG|Steadily widening, the Oldbury Arm approaches Great Bridge, near Tipton.
Image:Tame near Hill Top Wednesbury.JPG|The Oldbury Arm near Hill Top, Wednesbury. This section is heavily industrial, with very little public access, and the river often passing under warehouses and factories.
Image:Tame at Willenhall.JPG|The Willenhall Arm, close to the source, among residential areas near Shepwell Green. The river is disclosed by the tiny area of reflection in the centre of the photograph - a small stream between overgrown banks, and almost inaccessible, although it forms the town's boundary.
Image:Tame at Bentley Creen1.JPG|The Willenhall Arm at Bentley Green, Walsall, just after passing under the Black Country Route. Despite the appearance at this point it here enters an area of heavy industry.
Image:Tame at Axletree Way.JPG|The Willenhall Arm passes a large retail development at Axletree Way, Wednesbury, formerly a heavy industrial site. The Tame is completely screened from the road and pedestrian ways at this point, though only a few metres away.
Image:Tame Confluence.JPG|Confluence of the Oldbury Arm (left) and the Willenhall Arm (right), close to Bescot Stadium railway station, under the M6 Motorway.
Image:Tame Valley Aqueduct.JPG|Aqueduct carrying the Tame Valley Canal over the River Tame at Ray Hall.
Image:Tame at Ray Hall.JPG|The Tame at Ray Hall sewage works, from the Tame Valley Canal aqueduct, with the Charlemont area of West Bromwich on the right.
Image:Tame at M5 Interchange.JPG|The Tame flowing under the M5 motorway interchange with the M6 motorway northbound, after which it enters Sandwell Valley.
Image:Tame banks upper Sandwell Valley.JPG|Steep, eroded banks of the Tame in upper part of Sandwell Valley.
Image:Tame Sandwell canalised.JPG|A canalised section of the Tame in Sandwell Valley, showing Forge Mill Lake to the right, separated from the river by a steep embankment.
Image:Forge Mill sluices.JPG|Sluices controlling the flow of water into Forge Mill Lake, a storm water retention basin.
Image:Tame Sandwell bridge.JPG|Bridge over the canalised section, linking the lake to Forge Mill Farm
Image:Tame Sandwell riverbed.JPG|Bed and banks of the river, which is usually shallow and fast-flowing at this point.
Image:Tame Sandwell Forge Mill.JPG|Forge Mill Lake. The RSPB reserve's bird hide is visible across the lake, in the centre of the photograph.
Image:Tame Arboretum.JPG|The Tame at the edge of the National Memorial Arboretum, with Croxall Lakes to the left.
Image:Lower Tame pillbox.JPG|Pillbox on the west bank of the Tame, one of many defences constructed along the Midlands rivers during World War II.
Image:Tame Trent confluence.JPG|Confluence of the Tame (right) with the River Trent (left), at the northern edge of the National Memorial Arboretum.
Tributaries
- See tributary
See also
External links
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