The location of the terminus of the Bourne Eau Navigation at Bourne
Specifications
Length
3.5 miles (5.6 km)
Original number of locks
2
Status
Unnavigable
History
Original owner
Bourne Eau trustees
Date of act
1781
Date closed
1860s
Geography
Start point
St Peters Pool, Bourne
End point
Tongue End
Connects to
River Glen, Lincolnshire
Bourne Eau is a short river which rises from an artesian spring in the town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, England, and flows in an easterly direction to join the River Glen at Tongue End. Within the town, it once powered three water mills, one of which is now a heritage centre. At Eastgate, it becomes much wider as it was navigable in the 18th and 19th centuries, and this was the location of the terminal basin. Below the town it is an embanked river, as its normal level is higher than that of the surrounding Fens. Navigation ceased in the 1860s and the river now forms an important part of the drainage system that enables the surrounding fen land to be used for agriculture.
The artesian spring is fed by a limestone aquifer, which has been extensively used to supply drinking water to the locality and to Spalding. After a period of low rainfall in the late 1980s, the spring and hence the upper river dried up completely. A remediation project was implemented in 1992/93 to repair wild boreholes, where artesian water was uncontrollably running to waste. 30 boreholes were plugged or repaired, and water returned to the spring and river.
The river divides North Fen from South Fen. Both were enclosed in the 1770s, and surplus water from the North Fen was fed to the South Forty-Foot Drain. Steam pumping was introduced in 1845, and the drainage is the responsibility of the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board (IDB). To drain the South Fen Gilbert Heathcote's tunnel was constructed to take water under the River Glen to the Counter Drain. Various engines were used to pump water through the tunnel, but after the failure of a gas engine in 1942, a new pumping station was built, to pump water into the River Glen. Drainage in the South Fen is now the responsibility of the Welland and Deepings IDB.
BourneEau is a short river which rises from an artesian spring in the town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, England, and flows in an easterly direction to...
jurisdictions. Bourne Fen and Deeping Fen lie in the southern most parts of Lincolnshire, between the Rivers Welland and the BourneEau with the River...
English county of Wiltshire River Bourne, Berkshire, a tributary of the River Pang in the English county of Berkshire BourneEau, a tributary of the River Welland...
another scheduled section. At Bourne the dyke makes right-angled turns to the east and then the south, to join BourneEau, which continues westwards to...
and the BourneEau. Track near Tongue End. Bridge over the Counter Drain BourneEau Counter Drain railway station "The villages around Bourne, Lincolnshire...
Holbeach River(R) Moulton River (L) Whaplode River (L) Risegate Eau (L) River Glen (L) BourneEau (L) West Glen River (Rs) East Glen River (Ls) (also known...
tributaries are Northorpe Beck, Manton Sewer and Dar Beck. Barlings EauBourneEau Great Eau "WFD Surface Water Classification Status and Objectives 2012 csv...
has media related to Long Eau. "Steeping, Great Eau and Long Eau CAMS area overview" (PDF). The Steeping, Great Eau and Long Eau Catchment Abstraction Management...
Drain South Drove Drain River Glen West Glen River East Glen River BourneEau Risegate Eau Boston Haven South Forty-Foot Drain Hammond Beck North Forty Foot...
Fossdyke Navigation, a canalisation of the lower River Till Barlings Eau River Bain Kyme Eau, the fenland part of the River Slea The following flow into The...
Barlings Eau is a small river near Barlings, Lincolnshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Witham, joining it near Short Ferry. It acts as the...
The Great Eau is a river in Lincolnshire, England, rising from the Chalk Streams of the Lincolnshire Wolds and running to Saltfleet Haven on the coast...
of the enclosed mound and inner and outer moats (forming part of the BourneEau) are all that now survive, although a resistivity survey by Charles Hobbit...
stations for Sea Dike and Lords Drain, and the outfalls of the Risegate Eau and Five Towns drainage channels before the final bridge at Fosdyke is reached...
Haverholme and runs down through South Kyme where it is known as the Kyme Eau to join the River Witham at Chapel Hill. The River Slea was made navigable...
other streams/drains Blue Gowt Drain Pode Hole River Glen, Surfleet BourneEauBourne River Glen, Tongue End River Brant 23 138 Gelston 60 River Witham...
of waterway. EAWA also actively supports related projects, such as the BourneEau restoration, the Stamford Canal, and Clay Dike, in partnership with the...
Lincolnshire for approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) to a confluence with Barlings Eau near Reasby, which goes on to join the River Witham. The beck is fed from...
To meet these needs in many dry times water is transferred from Barlings Eau, near the Witham, by the Trent-Witham-Ancholme transfer scheme, commissioned...
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