River Erewash

River Erewash
The River Erewash, Derbyshire
Etymology	wandering, marshy river
Location
Country	England
Counties	Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	south east of Kirkby-in-Ashfield
Mouth
• location	confluence with River Trent at Attenborough Nature Reserve

River Erewash
Source of the Erewash Portland Park source B6018 Park Lane bridge  M1  motorway culvert Railway bridge Pye Bridge railway bridge  B600  bridge Erewash Meadows nature reserve Aldercarr Flash nature reserve  A610  road bridge Nether Green Brook Bailey Brook Erewash Canal aqueduct Bennerley Viaduct (former railway) Railway bridge  A6096  road bridge Railway bridge Railway bridge  A609  road bridge Railway bridge  M1  motorway bridge Railway bridge  B5010  road bridge  A52  road bridge Railway bridge Relief channel  A6005  road bridge Attenborough nature reserve River Trent

The River Erewash /ˈɛrɪˌwɒʃ/ is a river in England, a tributary of the River Trent that flows roughly southwards through Derbyshire, close to its eastern border with Nottinghamshire.

Etymology

The approximate meaning of the name is not in doubt, but there is room for debate about the precise derivation and its connotations. Brewer gives the commonly accepted explanation that it comes from the Old English words irre ("wandering") and wisce ("wet meadow"). This is accepted by Kenneth Cameron, a leading placename expert and Derbyshire specialist, who interprets the name as "wandering, marshy river". Gelling, who specialises in seeking precise topographical equivalents for toponymic elements, confirms that wisce signifies a marshy meadow but gives only southern examples. She conjectures that there is an element, wæsse, perhaps Old English, that signifies very specifically "land by a meandering river which floods and drains quickly", and her examples are primarily Midland and northern. This seems to fit the Erewash perfectly. A good example of the meandering character of the river will be seen around Gallows Inn Playing Fields, Ilkeston, where rapid flooding and draining occur frequently. As it meanders through Toton and Long Eaton the river splits into two sections; the main course veers to the east and the relief channel flows over a low weir in a straight southerly direction. When there has been prolonged rainfall, the two waters are prone to bursting their banks and meet over the football pitches and the cricket pitch.

Course

The Erewash rises on the south side of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, close to a disused railway embankment to the south of Kirkby-in-Ashfield railway station. It flows to the south-west, and is joined by another stream which rises in Portland Park and flows to the north-west. It is culverted beneath another disused embankment, and turns westwards to the north of Kirkby Woodhouse. To the south of Bentinck Town it is crossed by the B6018 Park Lane, and is culverted Under the M1 motorway. It is joined by Maghole Brook, which is also culverted under the motorway, a little further to the north. Pinxton in Derbyshire is to the north and Selston in Nottinghamshire is to the south. The county boundary follows the course of the river from the M1 crossing to its mouth. After the motorway, it is crossed by a railway bridge, and turns to the south. At Pye Bridge the railway crosses back over the river, as does the B600 Alfreton Road. As it approaches Ironville, it is crossed by two railway embankments, and continues to the east of the disused Cromford Canal to reach Erewash Meadows Nature Reserve.

Erewash Meadows is a large area of floodplain grassland and wetland. It is jointly owned by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, and includes 0.75 miles (1.21 km) of the Cromford Canal which is in water to the north of the ponds which form the central section of the reserve, known as Brinsley Meadows. The river provides habitat for fish and invertebrates, as well as a significant number of water voles. During the spring and summer months, the ponds and the watered section of the canal are populated by grass snakes, amphibians and dragonflies. Butterflies thrive on the the wild flowers which inhabit the grasslands, and during the spring, the reserve is a haven for lapwings, beeding snipe, reed buntings and sedge warblers. Wading birds, wildfowl and hen harriers can be seen during the autumn months, and some of the wildfowl stay for the winter, including widgeon and teal. The site covers around 100 acres (42 ha). To the south is Aldercar Flash nature reserve, 22 acres (9 ha) of newly created ponds and reed beds, which house populations of little ringed plover, snipe, shelduck, reed warbler and water voles.

After the reserves, the river is crossed by the A610 road to pass between Langley Mill to the west and Eastwood to the east. It is joined by Nether Green Brook, which flows westwards to reach the Erewash's left bank. It is crossed by the A608 road to the east of Langley Mill railway station, loops around a sewage treatment works, and is joined by Bailey Brook on its right bank. To the south-west of Eastwood it is crossed by a Grade II listed aqueduct, built in 1779 by the engineer John Varley to carry the Erewash Canal over the river. It is constructed of sandstone, and has three segmental arches. Gill Brook joins the river on its left bank, and it is crossed by the Grade II* listed Bennerley Viaduct. It was built in the late 19th century, and is one of only two wrought iron viaducts that survive in England. It was completed in 1887, and continued in use until 1968. It is 1,421 feet (433 m) long and carried the line around 59 feet (18 m) above the river. It probably survived because of the difficulty of cutting up wrought iron at the time it was abandoned, and was extensively restored in 2022.

The river is crossed by a railway line to the north of Ilkeston railway station, by the A6096 road which runs westwards into Ilkeston, and then by the railway line again. There is a short section where the river has been straightened to accommodate the railway, before it crosses the river twice more, with the A609 road crossing between the two railway bridges. On the northern edge of Stapleford the M1 motorway crosses, and the river passes between Sandiacre to the west and Stapleford to the east. Three more bridges follow, carring the railway, the B5010 road, and the A52 Brian Clough Way. The river threads between the Erewash Canal and Toton Sidings, and is crossed by the railway for the final time to the north east of Long Eaton. It turns to the east to flow along the southern edge of Toton, and the main channel is supplemented by a relief channel to the south. Both are crossed by the A6005 road bridge, before they join together again and enter Attenborough Nature Reserve, from where the Erewash flows into the River Trent.

Attenborough Nature Reserve was first created in 1966, on land where CEMEX were extracting gravel, and the Attenborough Nature Centre was opened by David Attenborough in 2005. The site is noted for kingfishers, bitterns and otters. Gravel extraction ceased in 2019, and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust bought the site in December 2020. CEMEX had carried out extensive repairs to works bridge, which provides access to the eastern section of the site prior to the sale, but the bridge was deemed to be unsafe and beyond economic repair in 2023, with a replacement estimated to cost $0.5 million.

The river gives its name to the Erewash Valley, which has a rich industrial history, and the local government district and borough of Erewash, which was named after the river when the former borough of Ilkeston and urban district of Long Eaton were united with some of the surrounding rural areas in 1974.

Literary associations

For such a small river the Erewash has a high literary profile, owing almost entirely to D. H. Lawrence, who mentions it several times and centres a number of works in the Erewash valley. A reference at the beginning of The Rainbow is perhaps the most telling from the geographical point of view:

The Brangwens had lived for generations on the Marsh Farm, in the meadows where the Erewash twisted sluggishly through alder trees, separating Derbyshire from Nottinghamshire.

Water quality

The Environment Agency assesses the water quality within the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.

The water quality of the RIver Erewash system was as follows in 2019/2022.

Section	Ecological Status	Chemical Status	Length	Catchment
Erewash from Source to Nethergreen Brook	Poor	Fail	16.9 miles (27.2 km)	23.31 square miles (60.4 km2)
Erewash from Nethergreen Brook to Gilt	Poor	Fail	3.9 miles (6.3 km)	2.47 square miles (6.4 km2)
Erewash from Gilt Brook to Trent	Moderate	Fail	10.9 miles (17.5 km)	21.61 square miles (56.0 km2)

Like most rivers in the UK, the chemical status changed from good to fail in 2019, due to the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) and mercury compounds, none of which had previously been included in the assessment.

See also

• List of rivers in England

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Ayto, John; Crofton, Ian (2005). Brewer's Britain and Ireland. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-304-35385-9.
• Cameron, Kenneth (1996). English Place Names. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-7378-0.
• Gelling, Margaret (1984). Place-Names in the Landscape. J.M. dent. ISBN 978-0-460-86086-4.
• Hyde, Richard (23 February 2021). "Research: The River Erewash". Degree Project. Archived from the original on 15 June 2024.
• Lawrence, D H (2007). The Rainbow. Penguin Classics.

External links

Media related to River Erewash at Wikimedia Commons