West End Brook
West End Brook | |
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Location | |
Country | England |
Counties | , Hampshire |
Towns | Tadley, Mortimer West End |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Tadley |
• location | Hampshire, United Kingdom |
• coordinates | 51°21′36″N 1°08′43″W / 51.359924°N 1.145153°W |
• elevation | 103 m (338 ft) |
Mouth | Foudry Brook |
• location | Hampshire, United Kingdom |
• coordinates | 51°21′44″N 1°03′11″W / 51.362296°N 1.053164°W |
• elevation | 59 m (194 ft) |
Discharge | |
• location | Foudry Brook, south of Mortimer Common, Berkshire |
West End Brook is a small stream in southern England. It rises near the Hampshire village of Tadley. Its name is probably related to the parish, and village, it passes through for some of its course: Mortimer West End.
Route
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The source of West End Brook is from springs near Strawberry Farm, to the north of Tadley and south of the Atomic Weapons Establishment at the former airfield of RAF Aldermaston. The springs are just above the 330-foot (100 m) contour, to the north of the Hampshire county boundary in Berkshire,[1] and very close to West's Meadow, Aldermaston Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), 2.96 acres (1.20 ha) of unimproved meadows which are unusual, as the well-drained sandy soils remain damp, probably due to a layer of clay material beneath them. The meadows provide habitat for over 80 species of grassland plants, which for a small meadow is quite a high number.[2] The stream travels east in a wooded corridor, passing through Upper Moor's Gulley to the south of AWE Aldermaston. A tributary joins the stream on its left bank, flowing south from Decoy Pond, a large pond within the AWE site. This particular area, identified on maps as Roundwood Copse, is also an SSSI, known as Decoy Pit, Pools and Woods, which covers an area of 50.08 acres (20.27 ha) and consists of multiple habitats, including grassland, heathland, woodland and small waterbodies. It is notable because it contains more species of breeding dragonfly and damselfly than anywhere else in Berkshire, and also includes rare Alder woodland.[3]
Further east the stream is joined by another small stream on its right bank, rising from springs in Roundwood Gulley, and passes under Soke Road, which at that point briefly follows the course of a Roman road. It also crosses the county boundary into Hampshire at this location. The river continues through the woodland of Benyon's Inclosure, and enters Kiln Pond.
A stream flowing from two springs on Benyon's Inclosure joins on the left bank as it passes under Church Road, at which point it has already descended to 240 feet (73 m)
Water quality
The Environment Agency measure water quality of 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
The water quality of West End Brook was as follows in 2019.
Section | Ecological Status |
Chemical Status |
Overall Status |
Length | Catchment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
West End Brook (tributary of Foudry Brook)[8] | Poor | Fail | Poor | 1.1 miles (1.8 km) | 4.27 square miles (11.1 km2) |
Water quality on West End Brook dropped from moderate to bad in 2015, and the reasons for it not being good are mainly to do with physical modification of the channel, which prevents fish freely moving around the system, and the presence of the invasive species, the North American signal crayfish.
References
- ^ a b c Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 map
- ^ "West's Meadow, Aldermaston" (PDF). Natural England. 1986.
- ^ "Decoy Pit, Pools and Wood" (PDF). Natural England. 1993.
- ^ Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 map, 1872 and 1896
- ^ Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 map, 1969
- ^ Historic England. "Hillfort south-west of Pond Farm, near Silchester (1008726)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
- ^ "Glossary (see Biological quality element; Chemical status; and Ecological status)". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency. 17 February 2016. Text was copied from this source, which is available under an Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.
- ^ "West End Brook (tributary of Foudry Brook)". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.