River Ebble

File:River Ebble at Coombe Bisset.jpg

The River Ebble at Coombe Bissett

The River Ebble is a river in Britain. It is one of the five rivers of the English city of Salisbury. Rising at Alvediston 12 miles to the west it joins the River Avon at Bodenham, after flowing through Ebbesbourne Wake, Fifield Bavant, Little London, Knapp, Mount Sorrel, Broad Chalke, Stoke Farthing, Bishopstone, Stratford Tony, Coombe Bissett, Odstock and Nunton.

Description

The river Ebble rises at Alvediston 12 miles to the west it joins the River Avon 2 miles south of Salisbury at Bodenham , after flowing through Ebbesbourne Wake, Fifield Bavant, Little London, Knapp, Mount Sorrel, Broad Chalke, Stoke Farthing, Bishopstone, Stratford Tony, Coombe Bissett, Odstock and Nunton.

The River Chalke is the most significant tributary, rising in Bowerchalke and flowing through the Chalke Valley to join the Ebble at Mount Sorrel in Broad Chalke, after running through and trout farms. The Chalke also provides a steady, year round flow so that the winterbourne section of the Ebble is only from Alvediston to Knapp.

The flow of the Ebble is augmented at Little London by multiple pumped bore holes that feed the extensive commercial watercress farm at Knapp before the confluence with the Chalke.

Origin of the name

In the book Ebbesbourne Wake Through The Ages historian Peter Meers surmised that the land and the bourne (river) was once owned by a man called Ebbel. He also identified that from Saxon times until 1166 there were two villages called Ebblesborne, one of which then became known as Bishopstone. Note that the word "bourne" is derived from the Old English "brunna".

Further reading

• Howard Phipps, Ebble Valley (2007. Whittington Press) [limited edition, illus. by author]

References

Sources

• Wiltshire.gov.uk - Chalk River Valleys

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons