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

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.

Continuing southwards, it passes through Aldercarr Flash nature reserve, and 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 carried the line around 59 feet (18 m) above the river, and probably survived because of the difficulty of cutting up wrought iron at the time it was abandoned. It 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, is crossed by the A6005 raod bridge, and enters Attenborough Nature Reserve, from where it flows into the River Trent.

It 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 0-304-35385-X.
• Cameron, Kenneth (1996). English Place Names. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-7378-9.
• Gelling, Margaret (1984). Place-Names in the Landscape. J.M. dent. ISBN 0-460-86086-0.
• Hyde, Richard (23 February 2021). "Research: The River Erewash". Degree Project.
• Lawrence, D H (2007). The Rainbow. Penguin Classics.

External links

Media related to River Erewash at Wikimedia Commons