About the River Beane
The River Beane is a globally rare chalk stream river. There are only around 250 chalk streams in the world, over 200 of which are in the south and east of England (the others are in northern France).
Chalk streams are so-called, not because they have chalk riverbeds (generally they don’t) but because they start or ‘rise’ from springs in the chalk hills at the heads of these rivers.
The River Beane is around 30km (20miles) in length and can be divided into three distinct sections, starting at its northern, upstream end.
Read more about The Winterbourne section, the Upper Beane and the Lower Beane in turn.
The Winterborne section:
The Beane begins life as flow from various chalk springs near the North Hertfordshire hamlet of Roe Green, Sandon, a little way southwest of Royston at the eastern end of the Chiltern Hills. From here the river runs more or less due south until it reaches Hertford where it flows into the River Lea. Along its initial southward journey the river is joined by various tributaries, including the Weston Tributary and the Cottered and Ardeley Brooks as well as various unnamed smaller channels.
The first 10km or so from the source to just north of Walkern is a ‘winterbourne’, meaning that flow tends only seen here during the winter months when groundwater levels and rainfall are at their highest. It can though appear at other times and indeed has tended to flood local roads after cloudbursts. This northern section passes through a sparsely populated mostly agricultural area, and as a result is prone to being affected by run-off from farmland. There are two small sewage treatment works in this upper section, each of which are served by ‘combined sewers’ – systems where rainwater and foul water from buildings share the same pipes to the sewage works. This means that after prolonged heavy rain or periods of high groundwater, the ‘combined sewer overflow’ or CSOs at these works can (and do) discharge some untreated waste. A programme of improvements to the storm tank capacity at these works is underway and will see these overflows become less frequent and eventually stop, but this is a long term project which has already cost in excess of £2million (in 2024) and is due for completion by 2035. There are no other sewage works along the Beane, as they were replaced by a major trunk sewer built during the creation of Stevenage New Town from the 1950s onwards, which carries all the foul waste away to a treatment works at Rye Meads, near Hoddesdon.
Back to the overview … [link to ‘The River’ intro page (above)].
The Upper Beane
From Walkern southwards the Beane becomes much more influenced by the actions of human activity and flows across much ‘flatter’ ground. Generally the river flows all year round from here south, but the channel has been extensively modified and even moved completely over recent centuries, in many cases to power watermills or to dry out surrounding farmland. At the southern end of Walkern there is a substantial former flour mill which was altered several times in its life and extensively rebuilt in 1826. A combination of dwindling water levels in the late 19th century and the introduction of ‘harder’ American wheat for bread flour saw it converted to steam power in 1881 and the mill ceased working in 1933. It is now a listed building.
The Beane continues its southward journey in a wide gently sloped valley until it reaches the confluence with the Stevenage Brook just to the north of Watton at Stone. This section of the river has been greatly affected by water abstraction from the chalk aquifer beneath it, especially from the late 1950s onwards as the water demands from the new town of Stevenage grew. As much as 18,000,000 litres of water a day was being abstracted at the Whitehall pumping station and this led to the river at the surface drying out completely in most summers. It was concern about the effects of this unsustainable abstraction that led to the formation of the RBRA in 1991. Since 2017 nearly all this abstraction has ceased, and the river is showing signs of recovery. The section between Aston and Whitehall can still dry out in periods of drought, but flow is seen both up- and downstream of here, suggesting its running beneath the surface in between.
Back to the overview … [link to ‘The River’ intro page (above)].
The Lower Beane
Once joined by the Stevenage Brook (which flows continuously all year round) the river south of this confluence is referred to as the Lower Beane, all the way to Hertford. From this point, just to the north of Watton at Stone, it runs through more populated areas and has seen further modification over the centuries, again to power mills but also owing to landscaping within formal parkland. The river runs through Watton, where it used to power a large mill. As the Beane leaves the southern end of Watton it turns briefly east and then south again into the parkland of the Woodhall Estate. Around 1780 a significant weir was formed across the river within Woodhall Park, creating the Broad Water lake behind it. This structure, and the surrounding parkland is listed by Historic England. Further weirs within Woodhall Park added to the impounding effect that led to excess siltation of the river through being slowed by these weirs, also preventing the upstream passage of fish. Another channel, the Dane End Tributary joins the Beane here, although this stream is dry for much of the time.
Since 2017, the Woodhall Estate has worked in partnership with Affinity Water to carry out extensive restoration projects to the River Beane as is passes through Woodhall Park, including bypassing these large weirs and ‘rewiggling’ the channel to recreate a much more natural river profile or morphology, and reconnect the river to its floodplain. Read more about this work from the Woodhall Estate website.
South of Woodhall Park the river has in the past been artificially deepened and straightened, to dry out the valuable grazing land between it and the parallel Stapleford Marsh Ditch, and possibly to power a long-lost mill at Bulls Mill. Further restoration work is underway here, again carried out by the Woodhall Estate and partners, to put the rer back nearer its original course and profile and to allow it to flood the land alongside.
At Waterford, the river and ditch combine again shortly after the site of the former Waterford mill, which burned down in 1870. One of the most attractive stretches of the Beane is in Waterford, where a public path runs alongside it across Waterford Marsh. Recent river improvement works have been carried out here by the Environment Agency and the Countryside and Rights of Way Service of Hertfordshire County Council.
Continuing its southward journey the river ducks beneath the main Hertford Road and into the parkland of the Goldings Estate. Here, as at Woodhall, extensive changes were made in the 19th century to alter the river to form a lake, confusingly called the Goldings Canal. The river ducks back under the main road again and across broad flood meadows before running alongside the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust’s Beane Marshes reserve, then flows over another substantial weir at Cedar Close as it enters Hertford. The presence of these various weirs and obstructions along its length is one reason for the River Beane being graded as ‘poor’ under the Water Framework Directive as they lead to impoundment, siltation and prevent fish passage. Work to provide a fish bypass to the Cedar Close mill is due to start in late 2024.
In Hertford itself the river shows signs of significant alteration as it passes the former Sele Mill and runs through the town in a series of often brick or concrete lined channels. As it leaves Hertford the River Beane runs along the north side of Hartham Common and by this time is a wide, deep and majestic sight. The River Rib (another of Hertfordshire’s chalk rivers) joins the Beane here, just 300 metres or so before the Beane itself flows into the River Lea at the end of its 30km journey.
Back to the overview … [link to ‘The River’ intro page (above)].