Mearley Brook is a minor

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is approximately long and has a

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land in which 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, th ...

area of . The stream rises on

Pendle Hill Pendle Hill is in the east of Lancashire, England, near the towns of Burnley, Nelson, Colne, Brierfield, Clitheroe and Padiham. Its summit is above mean sea level. It gives its name to the Borough of Pendle. It is an isolated hill in the Pe ...

and heads northwest, descending through Mearley Clough, passing Little Mearley Hall and crossing under the A59 Clitheroe Bypass. Close to Upbrooks Farm it is met by Worston Brook and turns to the southeast. Nearby it met by a small brook from Bracken Hey and the

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...

of another at the Waterloo Bridge, as it enters the centre of

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for to ...

. At the Shaw Bridge it is joined by Shaw Brook and continues to the east of the hill topped by

Clitheroe Castle Clitheroe Castle is a ruined early medieval castle in Clitheroe in the Ribble Valley, Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. It was the ''Caput baroniae, caput'' of the Honour of Clitheroe, a vast estate stretching along the western side ...

. In the south of the town, the river flows into the

mill lodge Mill may refer to: Science and technology * Factory * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Paper mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * Sugarcane mill * Textile mill * List of types of mill * Mill, the ar ...

of the old Primrose Mill and then into Pendleton Brook nearby at Lower Standen Hey, just before that river joins the

River Ribble The River Ribble runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It starts close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, and is one of the few that start in the Yorkshire Dales and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea (t ...

. Mearley (also the name of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

where the river begins) is thought to be from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

, meaning the meadow or clearing at the boundary. Brook (OE ) is a common name for a stream, most often found in southern and central England.Ekwall, p8.

References

Notes Citations Rivers of Ribble Valley 2Mearley {{England-river-stub