The River Dean rises at
Longclough in
Macclesfield Forest on the western edge of the
Peak District
The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...
foothills above the village of
Rainow in north east
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
,
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 ...
.
Together with a number of tributary streams it is impounded by the dam at
Lamaload. The river flows on to and passes through the village of Rainow, the town of
Bollington, through the fields between
Whiteley Green and
Butley Town,
Prestbury, on through the grounds of
Adlington Hall, thence to
Deanwater,
Handforth, and finally it joins the
River Bollin between
Wilmslow
Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is south of Manchester. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the parish had a population of 26,213 and the built up area had a p ...
and
Styal.
Below the dam there is a waterworks owned and managed by
United Utilities
United Utilities Group plc (UU) is the United Kingdom's largest listed water company. It was founded in 1995 as a result of the merger of North West Water and NORWEB. The group manages the regulated water and waste water network in North West En ...
. The water saved in
Lamaload Reservoir is used to supply Rainow, Bollington and other places. Next to the road bridge in Rainow village can be seen the early twentieth century waterworks built by
Bollington Urban District Council. Shortly after passing Rainow the river flows north down the two mile long
Ingersley Vale with
Kerridge Hill to its western side. It is very quickly joined by the stream from Hayles Clough which rises to the east above Ginclough. From Ingersley Vale the river finds its way through Bollington, out of the hills and into the
Cheshire Plain
The Cheshire Plain is a relatively flat expanse of lowland within the county of Cheshire in North West England but extending south into Shropshire. It extends from the Mersey Valley in the north to the Shropshire Hills in the south, bounded by t ...
at Lowerhouse (part of Bollington).
The historically notable section of these streams is between Ginclough and Lowerhouse. This length supported many early
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 mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...
s and is recognised as one of the earliest developments in the English
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
on the western side of the
Pennines
The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...
. Some of the mills are described on the
Bollington page.
References
* ''The Industrial Revolution in East Cheshire'', George Longden, Groundwork Trust, 1988
External links
Bollington
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dean
Rivers of Cheshire
Rivers and valleys of the Peak District
1Dean