The Lam Brook is a stream in the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouce ...

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 ...

, which rises in a number of springs on the southern end of the

Cotswold Hills 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 ...

and runs in a generally southerly direction for approximately before joining the river Avon at Lambridge in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. The brook is mentioned in an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

charter of indeterminate date. There is evidence of

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 productio ...

s in the Swainswick valley but no working examples survive. The waters are relatively clean and support a variety of wildlife including the rare white-clawed crayfish.

Course

Streams from a number of springs issuing from the southern end of the Cotswold Hills at Lansdown Hill in Somerset, and Toghill and

Cold Ashton Cold Ashton is a village in South Gloucestershire, England. It is located north of Bath, near the junction between the A46 and A420 roads. The village church has a 14th-century tower and the rest of the church was rebuilt in the 16th century ...

in South Gloucestershire converge at Ashcombe Farm near

Langridge Langridge is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Albert Kent Langridge, known as A. K. Langridge (late 19th – early 20th centuries), English author, wrote about missions to South Seas islands * Chris Langridge (born 1985), Engl ...

, Somerset. The Lam Brook then runs in a generally southerly direction past

Ashcombe House Ashcombe House or Ashcombe Park may refer to several places in England: * Ashcombe House, East Sussex *Ashcombe House, Somerset, formerly occupied by Peter Gabriel *Ashcombe House, Wiltshire, occupied by Guy Ritchie, and previously by Sir Cecil Bea ...

and the villages of Upper Swainswick and Lower Swainswick. At Lambridge the stream is joined by an unnamed tributary on the right bank just before joining the Bristol Avon.

History

It is believed that the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia ( Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis (Bath), C ...

forded the brook near the present Lambridge. Lam Brook is mentioned in an

charter as forming part of the boundaries of the village of

Charlcombe Charlcombe is a civil parish and small village just north of Bath in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, England. The parish had a population of 422 in 2011, and includes the villages of Woolley and Langridge and the ham ...

. No date has yet been determined for this document. In common with many other local rivers,

s were constructed, especially in the Swainswick valley and at Lambridge. Mill Farm at Woolley survives but has been converted to other uses. A lease of 1275 refers to "two fulling mills with all appurtenances at Lambrugge ..." and a 1729 map records "Dead Mill" a little further upstream.

Natural history

Salmonidae Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefish ...

and

white-clawed crayfish ''Austropotamobius pallipes'' is an endangered European freshwater crayfish, and the only crayfish native to the British Isles. Its common names include white-clawed crayfish and Atlantic stream crayfish. Distribution It is found from the easter ...

have been identified in the waters of the Lam Brook. Every year a road in

is closed for seven weeks in February and March to allow newts, frogs and toads to safely travel down the road to reach a lake in the Charlcombe valley on an unnamed tributary of the Lam Brook. Toad patrol volunteer Helen Hobbs received an award from the

International Fund for Animal Welfare The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is one of the largest animal welfare and conservation charities in the world. The organization works to rescue individual animals, safeguard populations, preserve habitat, and advocate for greate ...

in 2010 for her work in saving around 4,500 amphibians.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Gloucestershire Rivers of Somerset Geography of Bath, Somerset 1Lam