The River Ivel is a north-flowing river in the western part of east of England. It is primarily in Bedfordshire; it is a tributary of the River Great Ouse and has sources including in the Barton Hills.
The River Ivel is a north-flowing river in the western part of east of England. It is primarily in Bedfordshire; it is a tributary of the River Great Ouse and has sources including in the Barton Hills.
The river Ivel has four headwaters of equivalent size. By settled convention its name is given frequently to the lower part of the Flit in the south-west and all of its separate south-east headwater which rises in the north of the parish of Baldock in the far north of Hertfordshire. The rest of its course and catchment area is in Bedfordshire. It flows through the parishes of Stotfold, Arlesey, Henlow, Langford, Biggleswade, Sandy and Blunham. It joins the Great Ouse at Tempsford. The total length is about 16 miles (26 km).
The watercourse suddenly develops a low gradient. From the Flit confluence to Blunham lakes near its discharge, including parts of the town of Sandy the adjoining land is designated as a Flood Warning Area. The updated map of which area is, using computer flood-risk models and factors such as latest prevention measures, published by the Environment Agency. [1]
The Kingfisher Way is a nature trail of 21 miles (34 km), which mostly follows the valley floor from the source at Ivel Springs in Baldock through to its confluence with the River Great Ouse at Tempsford. [2]
Plans for a canal for the River Ivel were first announced in 1756. Locks were built in 1758 at Tempsford, Blunham, South Mills and Sandy. Tolls were initially lower than advertised leaving construction capital creditors including members of its maintenance committee in debt. Trade increased rapidly and such loans were redeemed in 1780. The canal was extended to Shefford, with locks at Biggleswade, Holme, Stanford and Clifton; reaching Shefford in 1823.
| Ivel Navigation (Abandonment) Act 1876 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to provide for the closing of the Ivel Navigation; the extinction of the Commission; and for other purposes. |
| Citation | 39 & 40 Vict. c. cxiv |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 13 July 1876 |
The canal was abandoned in 1876 when a dam was built across it at Sandy, the relevant Private Act of Parliament (39 & 40 Vict. c. cxiv) being passed in the same year.
A wall of the former wharf at Shefford is beside a bridge over the Flit (tributary).
A maintained towpath adjoins the canalized river. After crossing the footbridge over the River Hit, the path continues straight ahead for some way until the river returns. The canal, made from the river, used to run immediately to the left of the path, but was filled in after World War II as it was considered dangerous. The present course of the river there was originally the millstream for Shefford Mill, close to the remains of the tower mill still visible.
Further on, to the east of the village of Stanford a wooden footbridge crosses the river at the site of Stanford Lock, one of the best preserved on the old canal. [3]
At Radwell, Hertfordshire, an old manor house and mill are situated on the river Ivel, which date back to Edward the Confessor. The Mill was documented in the Doomesday Book of 1086, and declared as worth 6s. 8d. (the equivalent to 48 days' pay of a skilled tradesman). [4]
The Ivel is no longer navigable to barges and is too narrow in many places along its length for single sculling. It can be canoed with care or punted in good conditions for 11 km between Biggleswade upriver to the junction with the Ouse which can equally be canoed, at Tempsford. [5]
Its fishing rights are owned by a mixture of:
The Ivel has good condition and large fish when in suitable waters for maturity including barbel (10-17+ lbs), perch to (4 lbs+), chub (7 lbs+), roach to 3lb, carp and pike to 20 lb, and bream to 10lb. [6]
Biggleswade is a market town and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the River Ivel, 11 miles (18 km) south-east of Bedford. Its population was 16,551 in the 2011 United Kingdom census, and its estimated population in mid-2019 had increased to 21,700, its growth encouraged by good road and rail links to London. The King's Reach development, begun in 2010, will provide 2,000 new homes to the east of the town.
Sandy is a town and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England. It lies 8 miles (13 km) to the east of Bedford, 18 miles (29 km) to the south west of Cambridge and 43 miles (69 km) north of Central London. It had a population of 12,171 at the 2021 census.
Biggleswade was a historic 'hundred' of English county of Bedfordshire. The hundred consisted of the town of Biggleswade and its surrounding area. The name Biggleswade comes from a concatenation of the Anglo Saxon words 'Biceil' and 'Waed'.
Mid Bedfordshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Alistair Strathern of the Labour Party since a 2023 by-election.
North East Bedfordshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 2019 by Richard Fuller, of the Conservative Party.
Shefford is a town and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. At the 2021 census it had a population of 7,311. It lies 10 miles (16 km) south-east of Bedford. The town gives its name to Shefford, Quebec.
Blunham is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, about 6 miles (10 km) east of Bedford town centre. At the 2011 census date its population was 946. The River Ivel forms the parish's eastern boundary in places and the River Great Ouse its western and northern boundaries. The village is just over 0.6 miles (1 km) to the west of the A1 road, and Route 51 of the National Cycle Network passes to the south.
The River Flit is a short river in Bedfordshire, England. Its name is not ancient, but rather a back formation from Flitton which originally meant that the river was spelt with as Flitt rather than Flit.
Biggleswade was a rural district in Bedfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. As initially created the district entirely surrounded but did not include Biggleswade, which was an urban district in its own right. In 1927 the parish of Sandy, which bordered Biggleswade, also became an urban district, leaving an island of two urban districts surrounded by the rural district.
The South Midlands League was a football league covering Bedfordshire and some adjoining counties in England. It was founded in 1922 as the Bedfordshire County League and merged with the Spartan League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League.
Langford is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England about 10 miles (16 km) south-east of the county town of Bedford. The 2011 census gives the population as 3,091.
Stanford is a hamlet in the civil parish of Southill, in the Central Bedfordshire district of the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is about 8.5 miles (14 km) south-east of the county town of Bedford. In 1870–72 it had a population of 385.
Tempsford is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about 7 miles (11 km) east north-east of the county town of Bedford.
Central Bedfordshire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created in 2009.
The Riddy is an 8.4 hectare flood meadow and Local Nature Reserve located in Sandy, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, bordering the River Ivel. Owned by Sandy Town Council but managed by both the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity, the 7.7 hectares site gains its name from a small stream which flows through the eastern end of the reserve. The different habitats in the Riddy support a diverse range of species, including a multiplicity of grasses and flowering plants in the meadows, aquatic plants and water voles which inhabit the ditches, ponds and stream, and birds which feed and hunt across the reserve.
Henlow Common and Langford Meadows is a 18.4-hectare (45-acre) Local Nature Reserve on the west side of the River Ivel in Langford. It is owned and managed by Central Bedfordshire Council. Henlow Common is common land.
The 2011 Central Bedfordshire Council electionfor the Central Bedfordshire Council were held on 5 May 2011, along with other United Kingdom local elections. The whole council was up for election following boundary changes, with each successful candidate serving a four-year term of office, expiring in 2015.