The River Bain is a

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 ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

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 ...

, and a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''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 into which they ...

of the

River Witham The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversi ...

.
The Bain rises in the

Lincolnshire Wolds The Lincolnshire Wolds which also includes the Lincolnshire Wolds National Landscape are a range of low hills in the county of Lincolnshire, England which runs roughly parallel with the North Sea coast, from the Humber Estuary just west of the t ...

at Ludford,J. N. Clarke, (1990), ''The Horncastle and Tattershall Canal'', Oakwood Press, a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

on The

Viking Way The Viking Way is a long distance trail in England running between the Humber Bridge in North Lincolnshire and Oakham in Rutland. History The route was officially opened on 5 September 1976 at Tealby, by the Deputy Chairman of Lincolnshire C ...

long-distance

footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as Motor vehicle, motorized vehicles, bicycles and horseback, horses. They ...

, and flows through or past the villages of Burgh on Bain, Biscathorpe,

Donington on Bain Donington on Bain is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is approximately south-west from Louth and north from Horncastle, and is on the east bank of the River Bain, and in the Li ...

Goulceby Goulceby ( ) is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey Non-metropolitan district, district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated south-west from the market town of Louth, Lincolnshire, Louth, and lies in the Lincolnshire Wolds, an Ar ...

, Asterby and Hemingby before reaching the town of

Horncastle Horncastle is a market town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England. It is east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls rema ...

where it is joined by the

River Waring The River Waring is a small river in Lincolnshire, England, and a tributary of the River Bain. The Waring rises in the parish of Belchford and runs through Belchford village, passing between the villages of Fulletby, West Ashby and Low Toynton b ...

, which rises at

Belchford Belchford is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated approximately north of Horncastle and just to the east of the A153 road, A153. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 cens ...

, to the north east of Horncastle. After leaving Horncastle, the Bain flows through the villages of Kirkby on Bain,

Coningsby Coningsby is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Lindsey Non-metropolitan district, district in Lincolnshire, England, it is situated on the A153 road, adjoining Tattershall on its western side, north west of Bost ...

and

Tattershall Tattershall is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A153 road, A153 Horncastle to Sleaford road, east from the point where that road crosses the Rive ...

, and joins the Witham at Dogdyke. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and after protracted negotiation, a group of

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

ists led by Sir

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

ized the Bain between Horncastle and the Witham. The

Horncastle Canal The Horncastle Canal was a broad canal which ran from the River Witham to Horncastle, Lincolnshire, Horncastle in Lincolnshire, England, through twelve canal lock, locks largely following the course of the River Bain. The canal opened in 1802, ...

opened in 1802 and was an important goods route before the coming of the railway. It is no longer navigable, but is used extensively by anglers,

canoeists A canoe is a lightweight, narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles. In British English, the term ''canoe'' ca ...

, and

naturalists Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

. The river contains significant populations of

chub Chub is a common fish name. It pertains to any one of a number of ray-finned fish in several families and general. In the UK, the term ''chub'' usually refers to the species '' Squalius cephalus''. In addition, see sea chub. In family Cyprinid ...

(''Leuciscus cephalus''),

bream Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...

, roach and

rudd ''Scardinius'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related species. The fishes in this genus are commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without ...

, as well as

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

, and smaller species such as miller's thumb (''Cottus gobio''),

gudgeon A gudgeon is a socket-like, cylindrical (i.e., ''female'') fitting attached to one component to enable a pivoting or hinging connection to a second component. The second component carries a pintle fitting, the male counterpart to the gudgeon, ...

and

stone loach The stone loach (''Barbatula barbatula'') is a European species of fresh water ray-finned fish in the family Nemacheilidae. It is one of nineteen species in the genus '' Barbatula''. Stone loaches live amongst the gravel and stones of fast flowi ...

(''Nœmacheilus barbatus''). It is also home to the

threatened species A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...

Austropotamobius pallipes ''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 ...

'', though there are also populations of the introduced American signal crayfish (''Pasifastacus leniusculus''), which competes with the native species for food. The Bain valley was formed by a

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

in the most recent

ice-age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

and, although small, is very obvious. The River Bain is very susceptible to flooding and many floods have occurred during its history, about once every 30–50 years, one of the most recent being the

2007 United Kingdom floods A series of large floods occurred in parts of the United Kingdom during the summer of 2007. The worst of the flooding occurred across parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland on 14 June; East Riding of Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and English Midlan ...

, when the river overtopped its banks all along its course. Horncastle was particularly badly hit.Horncastle News, (23 July 2007), ''Floods return to Horncastle''
/ref> The river once again broke its banks in Horncastle during Storm Babet 20th October 2023. Settlements in the valley include

, Kirkby on Bain, Haltham, Roughton,

, Hemingby, Goulceby with Asterby,

, Burgh on Bain and Ludford.

Crossings of the River Bain/Horncastle Canal

''This list is incomplete.'' ''This list is incomplete.''

References

{{authority control Bain