The River Keekle 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 ...

running through the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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 ...

. The

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute ...

of the Keekle is to be found at Keekle Head Farm on High Park between Gilgarran and Asby. From there, the river moves gradually southwards via former

open cast mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or ro ...

between

Frizington Frizington is a village in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It lies to the north-west of the Lake District National Park. Historically, it was a collection of farms and houses, but became a unified village as a result of the mining ...

and

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

, past the hamlet of

Keekle Keekle is a hamlet in Cumbria, England. It is located just to the northeast of Goose Butts (which is approximately from Cockermouth) along the B5295 road. The River Keekle flows past the eastern edge of the settlement. Keekle Viaduct has not ca ...

, to

Cleator Cleator is a village in the civil parish of Cleator Moor, in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Cleator is located on the edge of the Lake District, with Dent Fell on the skyline to the south east. It is included in many nature in ...

, where it becomes subsumed by the

River Ehen The River Ehen is a river in Cumbria, England. The river's source is at the west end of Ennerdale Water: it runs west through Ennerdale Bridge where it is joined by Croasdale Beck (flowing from Banna Fell). Ennerdale Water itself is fed by the ...

. The river is noted for its occasional abundance of

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

. Oatlands Pit was sunk at Keekle Head in 1880 by The Moresby Coal Company which also built the pit terraces of Pica Village. The pit was sunk approx 500 yards south east of Pica. It was served by the Rowrah Branch of the Cleator to Workington railway. Production at Oatlands was suspended in 1930 with closure in 1932 and final abandonment in 1934. In the 1980s, Oatlands became part of the extensive open cast coal mining operation working from Keekle Head. The River Keekle valley was an open cast coal mining site and the site was later used to bury mine spoil and other waste. In 2010, there was lobbying against plans for dumping of low-level nuclear waste at the former open cast site at Keekle Head.Protesters argue against the burial of low-level N-waste
11 August 2010 ''www.whitehavennews.co.uk'', accessed 15 November 2021 In 2012, Cumbria County Council rejected proposals by Endecom (owned by recycling and waste management company Sita) to build a repository for low level and very low level radioactive waste on the site of the former coal mine at Keekle Head. The council said the plan would have an "unacceptable impact" on the surrounding landscape. Endecom appealed against the rejection, triggering a two-week-long public inquiry, held in Kendal. There was strong opposition to the proposal to put radioactive waste in the site of the former open cast mine from Radiation Free Lakeland and others. In 2013, a fresh inquiry was held. In the 1990s, a 2.5 km stretch of the river was lined with plastic to protect it from potential mine water contamination and because of fears that possible future erosion could expose deeply buried mine waste underneath. Over the years, this plastic liner began to degrade and break up, with pieces being washed downstream, creating blockages, localised flooding and

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

in the River Keekle, as well as posing a threat to the downstream River Ehen – a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. During 2019 and 2020, the West Cumbria Rivers Trust carried out a £1.5 million project to remove the plastic liner and restore the riverbed with funding from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development's Water Environment Grant and the Environment Agency's River Restoration Programme. Around 150 tonnes of plastic was removed, with the sheets shredded, cleaned and recycled. Some of the plastic has been made into a bench and picnic table at Walkmill Community Woodland car park to mark the project's success. The river is re-naturalising itself and evidence of natural gravel, cobbles and sediment deposition can now be seen. The stretch of river has the potential to become a great habitat for people and wildlife.Saving Cumbria's plastic-lined river
''www.bbc.co.uk'', accessed 15 November 2021

References

External links

{{authority control Keekle, River 1Keekle