River Foulness


The River Foulness is a river in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Its name is derived from Old English fūle ēa, meaning “dirty water”. Maintenance responsibilities for the river transferred from the Environment Agency to the Market Weighton Drainage Board on 1 October 2011. Market Weighton Drainage Board subsequently amalgamated with the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board on 1 April 2012 to create the Ouse and Humber Drainage Board. The river discharges into the Humber Estuary via Market Weighton Canal. Water levels within the river, its tributaries and the canal are managed and controlled by the Environment Agency. The river lies in an area known as the Humberhead Levels.

Course

The river rises in the fields north-west of the village of Shiptonthorpe which is close to the town of Market Weighton. It flows south through the village and then heads west south-west towards Holme-on-Spalding-Moor. Circumnavigating the town, the river then turns back in a south-easterly direction until it joins the Market Weighton Canal just north of the M62.

Natural history

The majority of the area is farmland with large rectangular fields bounded by hedgerow, mainly hawthorn with blackthorn; dog rose; elder and
hazel, with very few areas of woodland. This area would have been marshland before the introduction of the drainage system and the Market Weighton Canal. Wildlife surveys of the river show evidence of European water vole, European otter, freshwater mussel and many amphibians.

Geology

The river flows over several soil types including Loam, Sand and Alluvium. There are over of drainage ditches that feed into the river, but few natural tributaries.

History

The river valley has been populated since Palaeolithic times with many artefacts from that age being unearthed by archeologists. Remains from Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman times have also been found by various digs in the area.

Economy

The area surrounding the river is almost totally agricultural.

Leisure

There are very few Public Rights of Way in the river valley. It is not crossed by many roads and there are few major settlements; therefore, leisure activity is limited mainly to angling.

Lists

Tributaries