The River Nidd is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or 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 drain the surrounding drainag ...

of the River Ouse in the English county of

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four cou ...

. In its first few miles it is dammed three times to create Angram Reservoir, Scar House Reservoir and Gouthwaite Reservoir, which attract a total of around 150,000 visitors a year. The Nidd can overflow the reservoirs, flooding the

caves A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

in the valley. In such cases the river overflows into the normally dry river bed past Lofthouse through to Gouthwaite Reservoir. The Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trus
YDRT
has a remit to conserve the ecological condition of the River Nidd from its headwaters to the

Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary betw ...

estuary. The upper river valley, Nidderdale, was designated as an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of th ...

in 1994.

Course

The Nidd rises in Nidderdale at Nidd Head Spring on the slopes of Great Whernside in the Yorkshire Dales. It flows east into Angram and Scar House reservoirs before turning south just downstream of Newhouses. In dry conditions the river disappears underground into the

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

known as Manchester Hole. If Scar House reservoir overflows, water flows past Manchester Hole to Goyden Pot, another sinkhole. In severe floods, the river flows past Goyden Pot down the valley. The water sinking into the Nidderdale caves reappears at the rising Nidd Head to the south of the village of Lofthouse. Below Lofthouse the river is joined by How Stean Beck, and turns south-south-east towards Ramsgill before flowing into Gouthwaite Reservoir. Continuing on the same heading, the first major settlement is reached at Pateley Bridge. Turning more south-easterly, it flows past Glasshouses and Summerbridge, where it turns south again past Dacre Banks. Passing by Darley, the river turns east before reaching Birstwith, where it flows south-east to Hampsthwaite. A series of large bends in the river take the flow north, east and then south, and east again, to enter Nidd Gorge. Below the gorge, the river meanders south-east through the town of Knaresborough, heading north and looping south again as it enters flatter terrain. Near Little Ribston it meanders south-easterly and easterly, crossing underneath the A1 and the A1(M) near the small village of

Cowthorpe Cowthorpe is a village in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated north of Wetherby, east of Harrogate, from Knaresborough and from York. History The name of Cowthorpe comes from Old Norse and is a combination of ...

. The river continues meandering past Cattal north-easterly towards Moor Monkton, towards its junction with the River Ouse at Nun Monkton.

Water levels

* Low and high water levels are an average figure.

Reservoirs

The two most northerly reservoirs on the course of the river were built to provide water to the Bradford area in the early 1900s by way of the Nidd Aqueduct. As of 2017, they are maintained by Yorkshire Water.

Angram Reservoir

The reservoir takes its name from Angram, a settlement in the township of

Stonebeck Up Stonebeck Up is a civil parish in Harrogate district, North Yorkshire, England. The only village in the parish is Middlesmoor. The population of the parish in the 2011 census was 119. The parish occupies the highest part of Nidderdale. It is ...

, submerged when the reservoir was built. Completed in 1919 with a dam height of covering 34 hectares with a volume of 1,041 million gallons and a depth of .

Scar House Reservoir

A temporary village was built at Scar House to house the workers building the reservoirs and some remains can still be seen. The old Village Hall was moved to Darley, where it now serves as the local Village Hall. The dam at Scar House was completed in 1936. The dam height is 71 m (233 ft) with the reservoir covering area 70 hectares and a depth of giving a volume of 2,200 million gallons. The reservoir is fed almost exclusively from the Angram dam.

Gouthwaite Reservoir

Gouthwaite reservoir is designated a Site for Special Scientific Interest. It provides a compensation release for the river. It covers an area of .

Geology

The head of the river is located on moorland and the river character is affected by the run-off levels from the three reservoirs. The upper valley is primarily millstone grit with fluvioglacial deposits. The overlying soil is prone to water-logging due to its slow permeability, being composed of loamy soils on top of clay with peat on the top layer. Around Lofthouse there are outcrops of Upper Yoredale limestone, which is more permeable than millstone grit and has created the Nidderdale Caves, where the river flows underground. Lower down on the flood plain, the nature of the underlying ground is

Magnesian Limestone The Magnesian Limestone is a suite of carbonate rocks in north-east England dating from the Permian period. The outcrop stretches from Nottingham northwards through Yorkshire and into County Durham where it is exposed along the coast between ...

over alluvium and terrace drift deposits. On top of this is a combination of slowly permeable and well drained fine loam over clay. Where the river passes through the Nidd Gorge, Carboniferous ( Namurian) and

Upper Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleozo ...

rock is exposed.

Etymology

The etymology of the name remains unknown but the name is either Celtic or

Pre-Celtic The pre-Celtic period in the prehistory of Central Europe and Western Europe occurred before the expansion of the Celts or their culture in Iron Age Europe and Anatolia (9th to 6th centuries BC), but after the emergence of the Proto-Celtic l ...

(as with most rivers in Western Europe). A derivation from Celtic meaning ''brilliant'' or ''shining'' has been suggested (as in

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writte ...

''níamda''), as has a link to the older Indo-European root ''*-nedi'', simply meaning river. The Nidd likely shares this etymology with the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

and

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

of Neath (Welsh ''Nedd'') in South Wales and the town of Stratton in Cornwall (originally named Strat-Neth).

Weatherhill, Craig Craig Weatherhill (1950 or 1951 – 18 or 19 July 2020) was a Cornish antiquarian, novelist and writer on the history, archaeology, place names and mythology of Cornwall. Weatherhill attended school in Falmouth, where his parents ran a sport ...

(2009) ''A Concise Dictionary of Cornish Place-names''. Westport, Co. Mayo: Evertype; p. 65

Leisure

Along the river valley can be found the

Nidderdale Museum Nidderdale Museum is a local and social history museum in the market town of Pateley Bridge in Nidderdale, one of the Yorkshire Dales, in North Yorkshire, England. The museum is housed in a former workhouse, and is normally open every day from 1. ...

, which is located in Pateley Bridge, and features sections about the traditional agriculture, industries, religion, transport and costume of Nidderdale. Lower down the river is the town of Knaresborough, which is home to Knaresborough Castle and Knaresborough Museum. There are many way-marked walking routes throughout the river valley, including the Nidderdale Way, a 53-mile circular walk whose usual starting point is Ripley.

Lists

Tributaries

Above Angram Reservoir

* Straight Dike * Craven Sike * Long Hill Sike * Crook Dike

Flowing into Angram Reservoir

* Stone Beck * Maiden Gill Beck * Haw Gill Sike * Wising Gill Sike

Flowing into Scar House Reservoir

* Wench Gill * Shaw Gill Sike * Stand Sike * Tops Gill * Scar House Gill

Between Scar House and Gouthwaite Reservoirs

*Woo Gill * Thornet Gill * Maddering Gill * Turnacar Gill * Foggyshaw Gill * Rough Close Gill * Limley Gill * How Gill * How Stean Beck * Blayshaw Gill * Blackstone Gill * Boggle Dike * Ramsgill Beck * Lul Beck

Flowing into Gouthwaite Reservoir

* Byerbeck Gill * Knott's Gill * Colt House Gill * Riddings Gill * Stubnooks Gill * Burn Gill

Below Gouthwaite Reservoir

* Dauber Gill * Foster Beck * Rash Dike * Fosse Dike * Byril Beck * Fell Beck * Loftshaw Gill * Smelt Maria Dike * Clough Gill * Darley Beck * Fringill Dike * Old Mill Race * Tang Beck * Cockhill Beck * Ripley Beck/Old Nidd * Newton Beck *

Oak Beck Oak Beck is a watercourse that flows eastwards across the northern part of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. The beck flows through a broad V-shaped valley, before emptying into the River Nidd at Bilton, just upstream from the Nidd Gorge ...

* Bilton Beck * Frogmire Dike * The Rampart * Gundrifs Beck * Crimple Beck/River Crimple * Broad Wath * Fleet Beck * Kirk Hammerton Beck * Pool Beck

Settlements

* Lofthouse * Ramsgill *

Wath Wath may refer to: Places in England * Wath, Cumbria, a U.K. location * Wath (near Ripon), a village in Harrogate district, North Yorkshire * Wath, Ryedale, a village in North Yorkshire * Wath-in-Nidderdale, a village near Pateley Bridge in Har ...

* Pateley Bridge * Bewerley * Glasshouses * Low Laithe *

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

* Summerbridge * Dacre Banks * Darley * Birstwith * Hampsthwaite * Clint * Killinghall * Knaresborough * Little Ribston * Walshford *

* Hunsingore * Cattal * Moor Monkton * Nun Monkton

Crossings

*Angram Reservoir dam (private road) *Scar House Reservoir dam * Woodale Bridge (private road to Low and Middle Woodale) * Newhouses Bridge (unclassified road to Newhouses, Newhouses Edge and Summerstone Estate) *Thrope Farm road (private) * Unclassified road at Lofthouse * West House Farm road (private) * Nidd Bridge, Ramsgill * Wath Bridge, Wath * B6265 at Pateley Bridge * Unnamed road near Glasshouses (private) * Glasshouses Bridge, Glasshouses * B6451, Summer Bridge, Summerbridge * Ross Bridge (Toll), near Birstwith * New Bridge (packhorse bridge), near Birstwith * Wreaks Bridge, Birstwith * Hampsthwaite Bridge, Hampsthwaite * A61, near Killinghall * Killinghall Bridge, Killinghall * Nidd Viaduct ( Nidderdale Greenway), Bilton * A59, High Bridge, Knaresborough * Knaresborough Viaduct (railway), Knaresborough * B6163, Low Bridge, Knaresborough * B6164, Grimbald Bridge, Knaresborough * A658, Knaresborough * Goldsbrough Mill Farm Road * A168, Walshford Bridge, Walshford * A1M near Walshford * Cattal Bridge, Cattal * Skip Bridge, York to Harrogate/Leeds Railway Line near Kirk Hammerton * A59, New Skip Bridge near Kirk Hammerton

Gallery

File:River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 650675.jpg, River Nidd less than 1 km from the source File:River Nidd at Lofthouse. - geograph.org.uk - 97847.jpg, River Nidd at Lofthouse File:River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 225547.jpg, River Nidd near West House Farm File:River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 974655.jpg, River Nidd near Pateley Bridge File:River Nidd at Glasshouses - geograph.org.uk - 289861.jpg, River Nidd at Glasshouses File:River Nidd below Dacre - geograph.org.uk - 652008.jpg, River Nidd below Dacre File:River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 1264857.jpg, River Nidd between Birstwith and Hampsthwaite File:River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 667173.jpg, River Nidd from Killinghall Bridge File:The River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 986426.jpg, The River Nidd at Knaresborough File:River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 290949.jpg, River Nidd near Tockwith Road

Sources

Ordnance Survey Maps * Lower Wharfedale & Upper Washburn Valley (297) * Nidderdale (298) * Yorkshire Dales - Northern & Central Areas (OL 30)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nidd Nidderdale Rivers of North Yorkshire 1Nidd