Our rivers are arguably one of our most important natural features. Not only do they help make the British landscape so picturesque and vibrant, but they have also been crucial for the growth of our towns and cities, providing fresh water for drinking and farming, and for our business and transport over centuries. Some of our most beautiful rivers are ‘chalk streams’. Their pure, clear, constant water from underground chalk aquifers and springs, flowing across flinty gravel beds, make them perfect sources of clean water – and ideal for lots of wild creatures to breed and thrive.
Chalk streams are rare and of global ecological importance. England has 85% of the world’s total, about 225 and one of these flows through Orwell. The village owes its location of the chalk springs along the bottom of the chalk hillside. Old wells and handpumps can be seen in a number of places in the village, notably along the High Street, Town Green Road and Stocks Lane and there is a chalk spring which can be visited in the Chapel Orchard.
This map produced especially by Ordnance Survey shows the eight chalk streams in the Rhee Valley including Orwell River which runs from the Wimpole Estate to join the Rhee near Malton Farm. See link to Pure Clean:
Download or view a larger (21Mb) PNG file of the map.
For more information visit the World Wildlife Fund website.
