The River Quin is a small watercourse which rises near

Barkway Barkway is a village and civil parish in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England, about five miles south-east of Royston, 35 miles from London and 15 miles from the centre of Cambridge. The Greenwich Prime Meridian passes a ...

in north east

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, England, and flows into the

River Rib The River Rib is a tributary of the River Lea, which runs from Buckland in Hertfordshire, England. It flows into the River Lea to the east of Hertford. Course The River Rib originates near the East Hertfordshire village of Buckland, Hertfords ...

, which is a tributary of the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in the East of England and Greater London. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Cr ...

Course

The river is fed by a number of sources including

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

s from Biggin Moor, Great Hormead Brook, Little Hormead Brook and various field ditches, including the Braughing Bourne - the site of a former

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

from the Ice Age. It flows south, close to the B1368 road to the southwest of

Braughing Braughing is a village and civil parish, between the rivers Quin and Rib, in the non-metropolitan district of East Hertfordshire, part of the English county of Hertfordshire. Braughing gave its name to a county division in Hertfordshire, kno ...

where it joins the

at Gatesbury. This area was the site of a former Roman settlement. Until recently the river was diverted at this point to irrigate

watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Eurasia. It is one of the oldest known leaf vegetabl ...

beds before flowing into the Rib. The Quin Valley also includes the villages of Hare Street and

Great Hormead Great Hormead is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Hormead in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It stands near the River Quin, on the B1038 road. The village of Little Hormea ...

as well as the smaller settlements of Hay Street and Dassels. The valley is shallow around the river with gently sloping sides at the northern end, becoming slightly narrower with steeper sides at the southern end of the area. Its sides are dominated by open arable

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

in small to medium fields with some occasional large fields particularly at the northern end. There is an absence of

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

and few mature trees grow alongside the river.Landscape Assessment of North Hertfordshire. URL accessed 9 June 2007.
/ref> In Braughing, there are two

ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

crossings, one at Sheeps Lane and the other at Maltings Lane. The river is prone to severe flooding after heavy rain, rendering the fords impassable, particularly in the autumn and winter months. In 1922, a donkey and cart were swept away when its owner tried in vain to cross Sheeps Lane Ford. The animal was drowned.

References

External Links

Rivers Rib and Quin - River Lea Catchment Partnership
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quin Rivers of Hertfordshire Quin 2Quin