The River Leach is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

to the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

, in England which runs mostly in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

. It is approximately 18 miles (29 km) long, springing from the limestone uplands of the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of J ...

. In parts of its course it becomes a seasonal bourn, only running above ground when there is sufficient rainfall. Despite its small size it gives its name to two towns and a pair of villages.

Sources

The source of the Leach is in the village of Hampnett, about ten miles east of

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

just south of the

A40 road A4 most often refers to: *A4 paper, a paper size defined by the ISO 216 standard, measuring 210 × 297 mm A4 and variants may also refer to: Science and mathematics * British NVC community A4 (''Hydrocharis morsus-ranae - Stratiotes aloide ...

. The source spring is enclosed by stonework and pours from a pipe. It seems likely that this spring in a sheltered valley on the Cotswold uplands was the original reason for the existence of the village of Hampnett. According to residents, this section runs all year round.

Early stream

After running a mile down its limestone valley, the Leach reaches

Northleach Northleach is a market town and former civil parish, now in parish Northleach with Eastington, in the Cotswold district, in Gloucestershire, England. The town is in the valley of the River Leach in the Cotswolds, about northeast of Cirenceste ...

, the first settlement to which it gives its name. The river enters Northleach to the south west, where it gushes out of a Victorian conduit just below the Fosse Way. At this point it is also known as the Seven Springs. The site of the first

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...

on the river is in a part of Northleach called Mill End. A section of the river is confined into mill race type stonework, close to the churchyard and runs behind houses marking the town boundary. The river can next be seen at a road bridge at the end of the town. It is still little more than ditch-sized, and as such continues down the valley to the hamlet of Eastington running alongside a lane before passing through a culvert and away through grazing land.

Seasonal bourn

The river runs behind Lodge Park, a

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

property, and through Larkethill Wood, where it flows under another lane, before passing Kilkenny Farm. The Leach valley shows as a substantial dip in the B4425

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

Burford Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeast of Che ...

road. The river has an embankment at the bottom of the valley, but has not increased in size. Through all this section the river is often nearly invisible under summer vegetation. It then passes Swyre Farm with another road crossing, then Dean Farm, before reaching a very picturesque winding valley, crossed by the Westwell-Hatherop road. This section is notably a bourn in an unremarkable depression, which normally runs in the winter, but often disappears in the summer. (In recent dry winters - writing at summer 2007 - this section remained dry. Even more unusually, as of July 2007, it was running which has not happened during the summer for many years. The bourn section had been running continuously for long enough to have taken on the appearance of a river, with a scoured bed and water plants.)

River

Between this road crossing and the paired villages of Eastleach Martin and Eastleach Turville is the point at which the bourn becomes an all year river. Here it is crossed by a stone slab

clapper bridge A clapper bridge is an ancient form of bridge found on the moors of the English West Country (Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor and Exmoor) and in other upland areas of the United Kingdom including Snowdonia and Anglesey, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, La ...

on a footpath close to a wide marshy area. A small spring rises close to the bridge. By the time the river passes between the Eastleach villages, each with their parish churches just a few hundred yards apart, the Leach has become a "proper" river, several yards (metres) wide. Between the villages a road bridge and another "clapper" footbridge cross the river. It passes another old mill between the Eastleaches and

Southrop Southrop is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is situated on the River Leach. The Grade I listed St Peter's Church dates from the 12th century. Nearby villages include Eastleach Turville, Eastleach Martin, Little Fari ...

(pronounced "Suth-er-op") then skirts the hamlet of Fyfield. At the bridge at Southrop it divides into several channels, making a very attractive effect. From Southrop, the Leach forms the border between Gloucestershire and

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

Final section and confluence

There are three large watermills (none working) on the river in fairly quick succession, firstly at

Little Faringdon Little Faringdon is a village and civil parish in West Oxfordshire, about north of Lechlade in neighbouring Gloucestershire. The 2001 Census recorded its population as 63. Manor In the late Anglo-Saxon era Little Faringdon was part of a la ...

close to

Lechlade Lechlade () is a town at the southern edge of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England, south of Birmingham and west of London. It is the highest point at which the River Thames is navigable, although there is a right of navigation that contin ...

the second town named after the river, then at Lechlade Mill, and finally Priory Mill which is situated on the

Kelmscott Kelmscott is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in West Oxfordshire, about east of Lechlade in neighbouring Gloucestershire. Since 2001 it has absorbed Little Faringdon, which had been a separate civil parish. The 2011 Census rec ...

road. A few hundred yards (metres) later the Leach discharges from the northern bank into the Thames on the reach above

Buscot Lock Buscot Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, near the village of Buscot, Oxfordshire. The lock was built of stone by the Thames Navigation Commission in 1790 and is the smallest on the River Thames. Like most of the Upper Thames Locks ...

. It joins at the corner of the camping field behind The Trout Inn.

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

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chorda ...

angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants ...

s and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright. Water quality of the River Leach in 2019:

References

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Leach Leach may refer to: * Leach (surname) * Leach, Oklahoma, an unincorporated community, United States * Leach, Tennessee, an unincorporated community, United States * Leach Highway, Western Australia * Leach orchid * Leach phenotype, a mutatio ...

Cotswolds 1Leach