The River Belah is a river in the county of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

in England. Its name derives 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 ...

word and means the "Roaring River". The Belah is formed by the confluence of several small streams or ''sikes'' draining most of north and south

Stainmore Stainmore is a remote geographic area in the Pennines on the border of Cumbria, County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name is used for a civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness of Cumbria, England, including the villages of North Stainmor ...

close to the border with

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. It flows north west off the hillside as Bleaberry Beck and tumbles over many waterfalls before meeting the Stow Gill Becks and becoming the Belah. It then flows in a north westerly direction past Oxenthwaite where the river is swollen by Argill Beck at Field Head and the Powbrand Beck near Thorney Scale. Having washed by Brough Sowerby, the Belah combines its waters with those of the River Eden near to the village of Great Musgrave. The Stainmore Railway crossed the river on the huge iron-girder lattice

Belah Viaduct The Belah Viaduct was a railway viaduct on the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway, crossing the River Belah, in Cumbria, England, about south of the village of Barras, Cumbria, Barras and east north east of Kirkby Stephen. It was c ...

, before it was demolished in 1964. It was the highest bridge in England,The Crumlin Viaduct in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

was a few feet taller, at at high.

Ecology

The Belah is designated as having a moderate ecological status by the environment agency. The flow of the river has been sped up by dredging and widening and the river is prone to siltation and bank erosion.

Notes

References

Belah, River Westmorland Regionally Important Geological / Geomorphological Sites (RIGS) in Cumbria 1Belah {{England-river-stub