The River Great Ouse at King’s Lynn’s Bentinck Dock (Bob Jones/geograph)
There’s little to beat a walk along a river.
A grassy towpath meandering its unconcerned way alongside a stretch of water, the myriad sounds of the wildlife attracted to it, boats of all shapes and sizes, the occasional angler and, always a treat, a good riverside pub to amble into as part of your day.
I’ve strolled the Thames in many places, likewise the Wensum and the Arun, the latter being the 37 mile long river in Sussex that has its source on the chalky uplands of the Weald before continuing through the South Downs to Arundel and, finally, Littlehampton, where it flows onto the English Channel.
The River Arun flowing towards Arundel, the towns cathedral just visible on the top left of the photograph (Peter Trimming/geograph)
The River Ant masterfully adds to the mystique of How Hill on the Norfolk Broads and her sentinel wind pumps as well as the River Itchen that playfully splashes its way through the delightful city of Winchester, its floodplain dominated by the cathedral which floats atop its peaty surrounds.
Beauty, legend, atmosphere.
River’s boast the lot.
And then there’s the River Ouse.
But which one?
Therein lies a tale. For there are five different rivers in England that share that title, namely the River Great Ouse, the longest of the four that flows through five different counties before finally finding its way home into The Wash at King’s Lynn; the River Ouse in Orkney, a River Ouse in Yorkshire, yet another River Ouse in Sussex and, finally, the River Little Ouse (also known as the ‘Brandon River’), the shortest of the five that flows between Norfolk and Suffolk.
Yorkshire’s River Ouse, seen here at Moreby Ings (Christine Johnson/geograph)
All have their stories to be told, all are well met and highly regarded.
But it’s the River Great Ouse I want to briefly talk about today.
The word ‘Ouse’ is believed to have stemmed from the Celtic word Ūsa, which is in turn derived from the word Udso- meaning "water".
And, as stretches of water go, the River Great Ouse, the great water of the east, more than lives up to its name.
From its source at Syresham in Northamptonshire, the River Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and, finally, into Norfolk and The Wash in King’s Lynn.
A tiny stream in this meadow (by hedgerow) at Biddlesden is the very youthful beginnings of the River Great Ouse (David Hosking/geograph)
At around 160 miles in length, it is the fifth longest river in the UK, one that has become more well known for its links to commerce than its natural beauty as well as the valuable purpose its serves in helping to drain part of the low lying regions, the Fens, that it partially flows through as well as having a rather well known tributary in the River Cam which, of course, runs through Cambridge.
Much of the current river has been extensively modified but not only to aid passage for the commercial shipping that still uses it, but to reduce the threat of flooding along its course, something that happens frequently and, all too often, copiously, as residents who live along or near to its course will attest. This led, after particularly severe flooding in September 2020, to the Environment Agency investing around £30 million in flood defence schemes, repairs and improvements to the thousands of properties, private and business, that are constantly under threat, with at least twenty five different areas along that 160 mile length now regarded as ‘high risk’.
The River Great Ouse flowing through St Ives (MJ Richardson/geograph)
An infinite battle that, ultimately, will never be won for, as we have seen all too often, nature, ultimately, and however many setbacks it receives at the hands of man, never loses.
It always has its day.
King’s Lynn’s history as a port is down to the proximity of the River Great Ouse where remnants of the towns membership of the Hanseatic League can be seen via the two 15th century warehouses that line its banks in the town. However, by as early as the sixteenth century, the viability of the town as a trading hub was being affected by the river starting to silt up.
This was an issue that was only ever partially resolved, for, as things turned out, when the banks were ‘cut’ to allow for faster flowing water in 1821, the relative failure of that engineering scheme was later reflected in the action taken by King William IV in 1835 when the monarch sued the Ouse Bank Commissioners in lieu of the damage this work had done to the river as well as the future prospects of the port itself.
Low tide. The River Great Ouse at King’s Lynn (Richard Humphrey/geograph)
King’s Lynn port still functions to this day and keeps itself busy, primarily handling forest products and items that are to be recycled. The modern port covers an area of 97 acres and contains three docks, namely Alexandra, Bentinck and Riverside, with the port handling a little over 400,000 tonnes of cargo per year, a tribute, as much as anything or anyone else is concerned, to a river that has never had the cache of some of its more illustrious peers throughout the country, but remains, to this day, as important an artery into Eastern England as any road or airport.
Long may that continue to be the case.
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Harnser’s Blog will soon be joined by Harnser’s Vlog, a series of films I will be writing and making on a similar theme and subject matter to this blog, which has now been running since 2021.
More information soon but, as Vlogs can be expensive to launch, make and promote, any and all offers of assistance, support and feedback will be, you can be assured, greatly appreciated.
Thankyou. Please get in touch if you have any thoughts or would like to pledge some input or support.
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