Wootton Brook is a tributary of the

River Nene The River Nene ( or : see below) is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in Northamptonshire.OS Explorer Map sheet 223, Northampton & Market Harborough, Brixworth & Pitsford Water. The river is about long, about of w ...

which runs through

Northamptonshire, England Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is k ...

.Ordnance Survey OS Explorer Map sheet 223, Northampton & Market Harborough, Brixworth & Pitsford Water. The brook has two sources, one rises at Salcey Lawn in the middle of

Salcey Forest Salcey Forest is a fragment of a former medieval hunting forest east of the village of Hartwell, between Northampton and Newport Pagnell in Northamptonshire. It is managed by Forestry England and to promote biodiversity, and is also commercially ...

and flows northerly, the other rises at

Yardley Chase Yardley Chase is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, mostly in Northamptonshire, with a small area in the south of the site in Buckinghamshire. It is in two areas of woodland, pasture and parkland, south-west of Yardley Hastings ...

and flows in a southerly direction, both converging in a marshy field southeast of Horton. It then takes a westerly direction, passing under the B526 ( Northampton Newport Pagnell road, once the A50 trunk road), and takes a meandering course between

Hackleton Hackleton is a village located in West Northamptonshire, just north of Buckinghamshire. It is south of Northampton town centre, and by road to the M1 London to Yorkshire motorway junction 15 and north of junction 14. London is south via jun ...

on its north bank and Piddington on its south bank, continuing through Preston Deanery. It runs on between Wootton (northbank) the village that gives it its name and Grange Park (southbank) passing under the Quinton Road and continuing on to pass under the A45, into Blackymoor. Here it is used to provide man-made lakes for

Collingtree Collingtree is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England. It is part of the Northampton built-up area. Location and context The village is about from Northampton town centre, close to the ...

golf course and

balancing lake A balancing lake (also flood basin or Sustainable urban drainage scheme) is a term used in the U.K. describing an element of an urban drainage system used to control flooding by temporarily storing flood waters. The term balancing pond is also ...

s to take the runoff from East Hunsbury. It then passes under the Northampton Euston railway line and the old Northampton Towcester Road (long since bypassed by the A43 dual carriageway), at Ladybridge Park, which takes its name from the 19th-century name of the brook, Lady Brook, with the Counties Crematorium on its south bank. Passing now to the south of West Hunsbury, into Rothersthorpe Vale, through Ladybridge Park, another lake has been created at Shelfleys, the south bank of which is the old course of the brook, passing over a weir as it continues on its course to pass under the

A4123 A41 may refer to: * A41, War Office Inventions Branch * ''A41'' (album), a studio album by All-4-One * Queen's Pawn Game, Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings code * Samsung Galaxy A41, a smartphone * Vultee XA-41, an American World War II attack prot ...

(M1 M40 link road). It then passes under the Northampton Arm of the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...

, which is carried over it by an aqueduct. Turning now in a northerly direction it passes under a humpback bridge on the Northampton Rothersthorpe Road, once the old drovers track known as the Banbury Lane. It then passes through Swan Valley and Pineham where there are further man-made balancing lakes for the industrial estates here. Turning easterly sweeping around the western end of Hunsbury Hill it enters the River Nene at Upton Mill. From source at Horton to the Nene, the brook runs approximately .

References

Rivers of Northamptonshire {{England-river-stub