River Wye, Buckinghamshire

Last updated

Wye
River Wye Wooburn.jpg
River Wye near Wooburn Industrial Estate
Location
Country England
Counties Buckinghamshire
Towns High Wycombe, Bourne End
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • location West Wycombe, Chiltern Hills
 • coordinates 51°38′52″N0°48′45″W / 51.64778°N 0.81250°W / 51.64778; -0.81250
 • elevation94m
Mouth River Thames
 • location
 Bourne End
 • coordinates
 51°34′13″N0°42′40″W / 51.57028°N 0.71111°W / 51.57028; -0.71111
 • elevation
26m
Length17 km (11 mi)
Discharge 
 • location Hedsor
 • average1.00 m3/s (35 cu ft/s)
 • minimum0.25 m3/s (8.8 cu ft/s)25 December 1973
 • maximum4.40 m3/s (155 cu ft/s)25 September 1981
Discharge 
 • location High Wycombe
 • average0.31 m3/s (11 cu ft/s)

The River Wye is a river in Buckinghamshire, England. It takes its name from the town of High Wycombe through which it flows, rather than the town being named after the river, as is more commonly the case. [1]

Contents

Around 10.5 miles (16.9 km) in length, [2] the Wye rises close to West Wycombe village in the Chiltern Hills and flows through High Wycombe, where it is fed from other tributataries such as Hughenden Stream, [3] before emptying into the River Thames at Bourne End, on the reach above Cookham Lock. In particularly wet years, the source can temporarily change and effectively extend the river by another mile, due to a chalk spring rising above the ground in a field further up the same valley. The River Wye now runs in underground culverts through the centre of High Wycombe. [4] Pann Mill watermill, at the eastern end of Wycombe, is the last remaining watermill on the river. [5]

History

There is a long history of water-mills being operated in the Wye Valley which drops about 220 feet (67 m) in its 10.5-mile (16.9 km) course. The Domesday Book records eighteen of them in the nine miles between West Wycombe and the Thames. [6] By the seventeenth century there were fulling mills as well as corn mills. A Court of Survey in 1627 lists six mills running upstream from the boundary with Wooburn Parish: the paper mill, Tredway, Loudwater, Bassetsbury, Chalfonts (Rye) and Bridge. There were by this time at least two paper mills: Glory in Wooburn Green and Hedge in Loudwater. By 1636 another paper mill had been established in the parish of West Wycombe and by 1656 another at Marsh, below Wycombe. At this time paper was made from rags and by the end of the eighteenth century more than 150 men were recorded as papermakers in the valley. In 1816 there were 32 paper mills (some of which also milled corn), four which only milled corn and one which was also a saw mill. This was when paper making reached its peak in the valley. However, the introduction of the Fourdrinier machine at the nearby Frogmore Paper Mill, which produced a continuous roll of paper, led to widespread unemployment and many families went to the cotton mills of Lancashire. In 1830 there were riots when machine wreckers broke the machines at Ash, Marsh Green and Loudwater. Twenty men were punished by penal transportation to Tasmania. [7]

Papermaking continued at the Soho and Glory mills till the end of the twentieth century, though the water-mills gave way to steam in the mid-nineteenth century. The Soho mill in Wooburn was the prime supplier of high-grade colour paper till its demise in 1984. [8]

Mills

Shown in order from highest to lowest. Note that Marsh Green to Treadway are on an extra cut parallel to Pan to Loudwater Mills. The number is that given by registration in the eighteenth century.

Name [9] RecordedLast recordNoTypeOS Ref
West Wycombe Mill13111900~sawmill (18thC) SU 8373 9415
Upper, Francis or Little Mill16811903423paper SU 8443 9400
Lower, Mill End or Fryer's Mill15051915422Corn & paper SU 8490 9384
Lord, Frog or Ball Mill17171883421Corn & paper SU 8550 9363
Ash or Lane's Mill (Broughton/Wynkle's) (2)15961895419, 420paper SU 8600 9339
Temple Mill (Gosenham)12271895corn SU 8631 9315
Bridge Mill11851932corn SU 8653 9290
Pann Mill11851967corn SU 8705 9276
Rye Mill (Bradshaw's, Sale's, Bowler's, New)13461931411paper SU 8746 9260
Bassetbury Mill14111931corn SU 8771 9240
Bowden Mill (2)12351939415, 416Corn & paper SU 8830 9220
Wycombe Marsh Mill (Lower Marsh)11331993414paper SU 8880 9195
King's Mill (New)17251939417paper SU 8746 9260
Loudwater Mill (2)14831939430, 431paper SU 9014 9079
Snakely or Ford's Mill17671970428paper SU 9027 9036
Hedge Mill12351970427Corn & paper SU 9042 9012
Marsh Green or Upper Marsh Mill17501816412Corn & paper SU 8790 9212
Beech Mill17401900413paper SU 8881 9155
Treadway Mill (Overshot's)16821854418Corn & paper SU 8999 9056
Clapton Mill14921922429, 509Corn, metal & paper SU 9100 8997
Glory Mill (2)12352000426Corn & paper SU 9130 8950
Lower Glory Mill16311907425Corn & paper SU 9160 8895
Soho Mill17051988424Corn & paper SU 9080 8770
Prince's Mill (Egham Green) (3)17301865287, 288, 289Corn & paper SU 9009 8736
Gunpowder Mill (Jackson's)17051980286Corn & paper SU 8978 8717
Hedsor Mill14921980285Corn & paper SU 8962 8670
Lower Bourne End Mill17191895284Corn & paper SU 8948 8643

See also

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References

  1. ↑ High Wycombe#History
  2. ↑ "About the Wye | Revive the Wye".
  3. ↑ "The Rye and Holywell Mead (High Wycombe)" . Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  4. ↑ Bucks Free Press River Clean-up Project gets Underway 1 October 2008
  5. ↑ Pann Mill Watermill
  6. ↑ L. John Mayes (1985). "Paper in the Wye Valley". In G T Mandl (ed.). Three Hundred Years in Paper. London:G T Mandl.
  7. ↑ "Brief History of High Wycombe". Buckinghamshire County Council. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  8. ↑ "Wooburn and Bourne End Parish Council" . Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  9. ↑ Alan Mead (1999), Days of Glory, Far Out Publications
Next confluence upstream River Thames Next confluence downstream
Hennerton Backwater River Wye, Buckinghamshire York Stream (south)
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