A winterbourne is a stream or river that is dry during the summer months, a special case of an intermittent stream. ''Winterbourne'' is a British term derived from the Old English ("winter stream"). A winterbourne is sometimes simply called a '' bourne'', from the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

word for a stream flowing from a spring, although this term can also be used for all-year watercourses. Winterbournes generally form in areas where there is

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

(or other porous rock) downland adjacent to

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

s or

vale A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municip ...

s. When it rains, the porous chalk holds water in its

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...

and releases the water at a steady rate. During the dry season, the

water table The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...

can fall below the level of the stream bed, causing it to dry up. The use of chalk aquifers as a domestic water source in Britain has had the effect of turning many streams and rivers into artificial winterbournes. This effect is controversial, and local campaigns have often been successful in reducing aquifer abstraction and reversing the effect. For an example, see the River Pang in Berkshire.

Examples

Winterbournes occasionally give their name to settlements. Many of the United Kingdom's 'Winterbournes' are villages in

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, such as Winterbourne Abbas, Winterborne Monkton, Winterborne St Martin, Winterborne Zelston, Winterborne Houghton and Winterborne Whitechurch. In northern

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, north of Avebury, there are the villages of Winterbourne Monkton and Winterbourne Bassett, and in south Wiltshire, north-east of

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

, Winterbourne Dauntsey, Winterbourne Earls and Winterbourne Gunner. In

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Kingswood, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern p ...

there are the villages of Winterbourne and Winterbourne Down. There is a winterbourne stream in a suburb of

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

, East Sussex. The area is also known as Winterbourne. The stream runs from the foot of the South Downs through a park, a housing estate and a public garden, ending at the Railway Land Nature Reserve where it joins the River Ouse. It is a clear and verdant stream, often visited by waterfowl. Another winterbourne stream is the River Lavant found in Chichester, West Sussex.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winterbourne (Stream) Bodies of water Dry or seasonal streams Rivers Rivers of England

Examples

See also

References