The River Anker is a river in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
that flows through the centre of
Nuneaton
Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton ...
. It is a major tributary of the
River Tame, which it joins in
Tamworth. The name of the river derives from an old British term for ''winding river''. From source to river mouth at Tamworth is .
Course
The river rises near Wolvey and flows in a north-westerly direction to pass between Bramcote and
Burton Hastings
Burton Hastings is a village and civil parish in the English county of Warwickshire.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) :
Location
The village is in the northernmost part of the Borough of Rugby, it is however more than n ...
, it is designated a
main river at
Stretton Baskerville
Stretton Baskerville is a deserted medieval village and civil parish in the English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''Eng ...
where it also forms the boundary between the boroughs of Rugby, Nuneaton and Bedworth. On the outskirts of Nuneaton it collects the Sketchley Brook, and then passes alongside the
Liberty Way sports stadium. At this point the river splits, with a flood relief channel to the north, and the main channel passing through the Nuneaton town centre.
[ The relief channel re-joins beyond the town at Weddington, where the river then continues in the same north-westerly direction to pass the village of Caldecote, then Mancetter (where it is crossed by ]Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main ...
) and Witherley, before reaching Atherstone
Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire w ...
where it is joined by the River Sence
The River Sence is a river which flows in Leicestershire, England. The tributaries of the Sence, including the Saint and Tweed, fan out over much of western Leicestershire from Charnwood Forest and Coalville in the north-east to Hinckley an ...
.[
Downstream of the confluence, it reaches Grendon and then flows through ]Polesworth
Polesworth is a large village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Polesworth is situated close to the northern tip of Warwickshire, adjacent to the border with Staffordshire. It is east of Tamworth, an ...
before passing beneath the M42 motorway
The M42 motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, passing Redditch, Solihull, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Tamworth on the way, serving the east of the Bi ...
. Beyond the motorway it passes through Alvecote Pools and meadows, a Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
(SSSI) and nature reserve. It continues past Amington Hall before turning south-westerly to flow through Tamworth and join the River Tame near Tamworth Castle.[
The Anker is popular with anglers and is known to contain some large pike and ]chub
Chub is a common fish name. It pertains to any one of a number of ray-finned fish in several families and genera. In the UK, the term ''chub'' usually refers to the species '' Squalius cephalus''. In addition, see sea chub.
In family Cyprinida ...
. Also there are barbel present with fish over 15 lb being reported.
Hydrology
The flow
Flow may refer to:
Science and technology
* Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid
* Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology
* Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set
* Flow (psyc ...
of the Anker has been measured at a gauging station in its lower reaches at Polesworth
Polesworth is a large village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Polesworth is situated close to the northern tip of Warwickshire, adjacent to the border with Staffordshire. It is east of Tamworth, an ...
since 1966. The catchment
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
to the station of yields an average flow of .Charnwood Forest
Charnwood Forest is a hilly tract in north-western Leicestershire, England, bounded by Leicester, Loughborough and Coalville. The area is undulating, rocky and picturesque, with barren areas. It also has some extensive tracts of woodland; ...
at the north-eastern edge of the basin.
Flooding
The River Anker has flooded Nuneaton town centre several times in the past, including 1968, prompting the construction of a flood relief channel
Flood control channels are large and empty basins which let water flow in and out (except during flooding) or dry channels that run below the street levels of some larger cities, so that if and when a flood occurs, the water will run into these ch ...
in Weddington in 1976.Nuneaton RFC
Nuneaton RFC is an English rugby union club. They were founded in 1879 and play at Liberty Way in Nuneaton. They currently play in the Midlands Premier, a fifth tier league in the English rugby union system.
History
Nuneaton R.F.C. was founde ...
to cancel matches while the river water drained away.
See also
*List of rivers of England
This is a list of rivers of England, organised geographically and taken anti-clockwise around the English coast where the various rivers discharge into the surrounding seas, from the Solway Firth on the Scottish border to the Welsh Dee on the W ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anker, River
Rivers of Staffordshire
Rivers of Warwickshire
1Anker