River Thet

Last updated

Thet
River Thet at Brettenham - geograph.org.uk - 338080.jpg
River Thet at Brettenham
Norfolk UK relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Location of the river mouth within Norfolk
EtymologyFrom Thetford, in turn from 'Theodford' which is Anglo-Saxon for 'Peoples Ford'
Location
Country England
Region Norfolk
Physical characteristics
Source 
  location Deopham Green
  coordinates 52°33′03″N1°00′07″E / 52.5507°N 1.0019°E / 52.5507; 1.0019
  elevation53 m (174 ft)
Mouth River Little Ouse
  location
Thetford
  coordinates
52°24′41″N0°44′55″E / 52.4113°N 0.7485°E / 52.4113; 0.7485
  elevation
10 m (33 ft)
Length34.3 km (21.3 mi)
Basin size≈225km2
Basin features
River system River Little Ouse
Tributaries 
  leftWittle

Stream from Middle Harling Fen

Stream from Old Buckenham Fen
  rightStream from Roudham village Stream from Hockham

The River Thet is a river in Norfolk, England and is a tributary of the River Little Ouse.It rises in Breckland with sources in Deopham Green and Rockland All Saints [1] and joins the Little Ouse in Thetford after flowing approximately southwest.

[2] The primary sources for its various small tributaries include the calcareous valley fen SSSIs Swangey Fen, [3] Old Buckenham Fen, [4] Middle Harling Fen [5] and Kenninghall and Banham Fens with Quidenham Mere. [6] Carr woodland is also a prevalent habitat throughout the floodplain where open wetlands have been invaded by scrub. The underlying geology is clay/loam over chalk for the easternmost parts of the river's course and sand/gravel over chalk for the majority of the river.

Etymology, course and notable settlements nearby

The name actually comes from Thetford [7] rather than the other way around as Thetford was such an important settlement during the Anglo Saxon period from which the name is derived. The other most notable settlement along the Thet is East Harling [8] where the river has been forded for many centuries. [9] Now a brick and concrete bridge carries the B1111 road over the river. Beneath the bridge is a weir and a widened section of river with a gravel bed (elsewhere the riverbed is predominantly mud). Downstream the river passes over another weir at Bridgham where another bridge crosses it and then through the Shadwell Estate. Here it splits into two channels, reconverges and passes a large artificial lake. [10] When the river reaches Thetford it curves south then west again, meeting the Little Ouse just west of Butten Island in the centre of the town.

In the upper reaches of the Thet, there are a series of lakes including flooded gravel pits. These are situated at Snetterton [11] in a linear pattern along the floodplain and also near Attleborough. [12] All of these lakes are on private land and used for fishing. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Little Ouse</span> River in east England

The River Little Ouse, also known as the Brandon River, is a river in the east of England, a tributary of the River Great Ouse. For much of its length it defines the boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knettishall Heath</span> Nature reserve in Suffolk, England

Knettishall Heath is a 91.7-hectare (227-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Knettishall in Suffolk, England. A larger area of 176 hectares is the Knettishall Heath Nature Reserve, which is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isfield</span> Village and parish in East Sussex, England

Isfield is a small village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex in England, located north-east of Lewes.

Teffont Evias Quarry and Lane Cutting is a 3.6 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Teffont Evias in Wiltshire, England, notified in 1989. It consists of two parts, Teffont Evias Quarry, and Teffont Evias Lane Cutting. Forest trees are currently growing on both sites, but there are small accessible exposures on the sides of quarry and roadway cuttings.

Acres Farm Meadow is a 4.2 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Wiltshire, notified in 1989. It lies between the villages of Somerford Keynes and Minety. The SSSI is the former site of a mediaeval ridge and furrow system which lies on the Upper Jurassic Oxford Clay. The site is home to grasses, sedges and herbs. Trees such as oak, maple, English elm and hawthorn can be found in the hedgerows on the site, which provide nesting sites for lesser whitethroat, willow warbler, yellowhammer and bullfinch.

Baverstock Juniper Bank is a 2.6 hectare Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest to the north of the village of Baverstock in Wiltshire, England. Baverstock Juniper Bank is within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The ungrazed chalk grassland is home to over 500 bushes of the lowland juniper, Juniperus communis, subspecies communis. Their seeds attract flocks of finches and yellowhammers to the location as a feeding site in winter. Uncommon species such a horseshoe vetch and pyramidal orchid are to be found at the SSSI. Butterflies such as the brimstone, speckled wood and small heath have been seen visiting the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scratchbury and Cotley Hills SSSI</span>

Scratchbury & Cotley Hills SSSI is a 53.5 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Norton Bavant in Wiltshire, England, notified in 1951. The Iron Age hillfort of Scratchbury Camp occupies the summit of the hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Cocker, Lancashire</span> River in Lancashire, England

The River Cocker is a river in Lancashire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Thetford</span> Village in Cambridgeshire, England

Little Thetford is a small village in the civil parish of Thetford, 3 miles (5 km) south of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about 76 miles (122 km) by road from London. The village is built on a boulder clay island surrounded by flat fenland countryside, typical of settlements in this part of the East of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pickering Beck</span> River in North Yorkshire, England

Pickering Beck is a river that runs for over 18 miles (29 km) from its source in the North York Moors National Park through the town of Pickering and on to its confluence with Costa Beck at Kirby Misperton. It is a meandering river that is fed by numerous named and unnamed becks and streams which flow over sandstone and limestone beds and an alluvia of sand, clay silt and gravel. The beck is known for flooding and in recent times has been a beneficiary of funding and experimental flood protection schemes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hay-a-Park Gravel Pit</span> Site of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire, England

Hay-a-Park Gravel Pit is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, adjacent to the east side of the town of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England. Having been a disused and flooded quarry since the 1970s, it now consists of the large Hay-a-Park Lake and three smaller ponds, besides associated reedbeds, scrub, woodland and grassland. It was designated as a SSSI in 1995 because it supports a number of wintering birds, including a large flock of goosander. This site is "one of the most northerly inland breeding populations of reed warbler in Britain." Hay-a-Park was once part of a royal park, an early landowner being Edward II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quarry Moor</span> Site of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire, England

Quarry Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, at the south edge of Ripon, North Yorkshire, England, and adjacent to the A61 road. It contains an outcrop of Magnesian Limestone, exposed by former quarrying. 255 million years ago this limestone was the peripheral sediment of a tropical sea. The land was donated in 1945 to the people of Ripon by the town's mayor, Alderman Thomas Fowler Spence, a varnish manufacturer. The land was notified as an SSSI in 1986 because its calcareous grassland supported a large diversity of plant species. The site features a Schedule 8 protected plant, thistle broomrape. The land is protected as a nature reserve, and it is also managed as a recreational area. Therefore, its calcareous grass area is fenced off for protection and study, but it also contains a car park, information signs, a children's play area, accessible paths, benches, and dog waste bins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farnham Mires</span> Site of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire, England

Farnham Mires is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, to the west of the village of Farnham, North Yorkshire, England. It consists of a spring-fed marshy fen or mire with reeds and sedge, and drier calcareous grassland containing a diverse range of flora. It has a history of poaching and fox hunting, but since the late 19th century, the attention of botanists has been drawn to its large variety of flowering plants. It has received some consideration on this account since 1944, and from 1954 it was designated SSSI status. This site has no facilities, and is not open to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cow Myers (wetland)</span> Site of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire, England

Cow Myers is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) located in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), near Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. The site was designated in 1984 for its fen and alder carr habitat, which supports a diversity of wetland plant life. Of particular interest are the bird's eye primrose which is scarce in Yorkshire, and early marsh orchid. There is no public access to this site, no vehicular access, and no public facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bishop Monkton Ings</span> Site of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire, England

Bishop Monkton Ings is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, situated east of Bishop Monkton village in North Yorkshire, England. It consists mostly of marshy, calcareous grassland, with some broadleaved woodland, and some fen alongside the two watercourses which run through the site. This varied wetland forms a habitat for a variety of plants, including the semi-parasitic marsh lousewort (Pedicularis palustris).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mar Field Fen</span> Site of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire, England

Mar Field Fen is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, north of Masham, North Yorkshire, England, in a rural area known as Marfield. It is situated on land containing woodland carr, fen, spring-fed marshy grassland and drier calcareous grassland, between the River Ure to the east and Marfield Wetland nature reserve to the west. As "one of the best examples of fen habitat in the Vale of York," it is a protected habitat for a variety of plants, including the common butterwort, a carnivorous plant. There is no public access to this site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hack Fall Wood</span> Site of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire, England

Hack Fall Wood, otherwise known as Hackfall, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, of 44.8687 hectares, lying north-east of the village of Grewelthorpe, North Yorkshire, England. During the 18th century it was landscaped in the picturesque style by landowner William Aislabie, who created views by engineering streams and pools, planting trees and building follies. J. M. W. Turner and William Sawrey Gilpin painted it, and pictures of it featured on Catherine the Great's 1773 Wedgwood dinner service. Some 19th century writers called it "one of the most beautiful woods in the country."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ripon Parks</span> Site of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire, England

Ripon Parks is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, situated north of Ripon, to the west of the River Ure and to the east of the village of North Stainley, in North Yorkshire, England. It was once part of the land held since the Middle Ages as a deer park by the archbishops of York and the canons of Ripon. The site was designated as an SSSI in 1983, because its varied habitats are valued for their breeding birds, amphibians and varied flora. The woods here are "of note" for the parasitic flowers of common toothwort and yellow star-of-Bethlehem. A small part of the site is accessible via public footpaths; there are no public facilities or dedicated car parks. The site incorporates the High Batts Nature Reserve, which is privately run for training, recording and educational purposes, and accessible to members only, except for its annual open day. Ripon Parks is now owned by the Ministry of Defence, and parts of the site are used as military training areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirk Deighton SSSI</span> Site of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire, England

Kirk Deighton SSSI is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Alton's Field, Kirk Deighton, North Yorkshire, England. This site has been recognised as having one of the largest known breeding populations of great crested newts in the United Kingdom. It is a Special Area of Conservation, and is listed for protection under a number of directives. This ordinary-looking grassland field, with a couple of ponds in it, is ideal habitat for the newts, which use the grassland for foraging, the ponds for breeding, and surrounding walls, hedges and woodpiles for hibernation. The site is not accessible to the public, and it is not permissible to survey the ponds without a licence.

References

  1. TM003940
  2. TL870828
  3. https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/PDFsForWeb/Citation/1000134.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  4. https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/PDFsForWeb/Citation/1003600.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  5. https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/PDFsForWeb/Citation/1000696.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  6. https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/PDFsForWeb/Citation/1000583.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  7. Trudgill, Peter (4 August 2016). Dialect Matters: Respecting Vernacular Language. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9781316552896.
  8. "Grid Reference Finder". gridreferencefinder.com.
  9. "Norfolk Parishes". Harling Parish Council. 8 February 2017.
  10. "SHADWELL PARK, Brettenham - 1001019 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk.
  11. "Grid Reference Finder". gridreferencefinder.com.
  12. "Grid Reference Finder". gridreferencefinder.com.
  13. https://snetterton-fishing-lakes.business.site/