The River Chater is a river in the
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...
of
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 a tributary of the
River Welland, and is about long.
Course
It rises near Whatborough Hill in
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
, and then flows east, past
Sauvey Castle and
Launde Abbey, before crossing into
Rutland
Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town.
Rutland has a ...
.
Chater Valley is a biological
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
north of
Loddington, Leicestershire.
The river continues east, to the north of
Ridlington,
Preston, and then to the south of
Manton and the north of
Wing
A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...
. North-east of
South Luffenham, it is joined by the
Morcott Brook. It continues north-east, going under the
A6121 road at Foster's Bridge and through
Ketton, before meeting the River Welland near
Tinwell.
The river drains an area of that is mostly clay, but with limestone and sandstone in certain areas. The catchment is rural, with mixed farming and woodland in its lower reaches. Originally, the project for the massive reservoir of
Rutland Water
Rutland Water is a reservoir in Rutland, England, east of Rutland's county town, Oakham. It is filled by pumping from the River Nene and River Welland, and provides water to the East Midlands. By surface area it is the largest reservoir in E ...
considered damming the valley of the Chater, but the underlying geology was not conducive for this. Additionally, the available land space would have made the reservoir smaller than the eventual site of Rutland Water.
Wildlife
The river holds a variety of fish species, including roach, dace and chub. White-clawed crayfish are known to be in the river, which puts them at risk, as invasive species of crayfish are known to be in the Welland.
History
Mills used the river to power waterwheels, usually for grinding corn. The last watermill operating on the river was at
South Luffenham in 1948, when the
leat was damaged and never repaired.
Etymology
Chater is a pre-English river name of uncertain
etymology
Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...
.
Eilert Ekwall
Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall (8 January 1877 in Vallsjö – 23 November 1964 in Lund) was a Swedish academic, Professor of English at Sweden's Lund University from 1909 to 1942 and one of the outstanding scholars of the English language in the firs ...
suggests it derives from
Brittonic ''ceto-dubron'' meaning forest stream.
, a village that the river flows past, takes its name from the Chater.
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chater, River
Chater
Chater