The River Smite, a tributary of the River Devon, flows for through

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 south-east

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, England. The source is near the hamlet of Holwell, Leicestershire and it joins the Devon near Shelton, Nottinghamshire. The Smite and its tributaries, such as the River Whipling, the Stroom Dyke, and the Dalby Brook, drain an area of of farmland in the

Vale of Belvoir The Vale of Belvoir ( ) is in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, England. The name is from the Norman-French for "beautiful view". Extent and geology The vale is a tract of low ground rising east-north-east, drained by the ...

Name

In the 17th century the river was known as the Snite. This and the modern spelling are thought to derive from the Old English ''smita'', denoting a foul or miry place. This links with another Old English word ''smitan'', which means to daub or pollute. It implies that the Smite was a dirty, miry stream.

Sources

The river draws from several springs near Holwell, along a spring line where the local permeable

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be c ...

meets the lower mudstones on the flank of the Bleak Hills, which form part of the Belvoir Ridge. However, the source of the Smite is also attributed to another spring 1 km to the north called Holwell Mouth, a

chalybeate Chalybeate () waters, also known as Iron oxide, ferruginous waters, are mineral spring waters containing salts of iron. Name The word ''chalybeate'' is derived from the Latin word for steel, , which follows from the Ancient Greek, Greek word ...

mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage un ...

in a wooded ravine to the north of Holwell. The spring is now disused, but in the 17th and 18th centuries was thought to have healing properties and had stone seating for those taking the waters. It contains

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

salts that give it a reddish colour and ostensibly a sulphurous taste. The name Holwell, of Saxon origin, means "spring or stream in a hollow".

Course

Various tributaries that descend from the Bleak Hills join the Smite as it flows in a north-westerly direction, before turning north-east at the bottom of the escarpment, into the lower-lying Vale of Belvoir. It is spanned by an aqueduct of the

Grantham Canal The Grantham Canal ran 33 miles (53 km) from Grantham through 18 locks to West Bridgford, where it joined the River Trent. It was built primarily for the transportation of coal to Grantham. It opened in 1797 and its profitability steadil ...

, then continues in a north-westerly direction to meet Dalby Brook. This tributary drains the south-west of the catchment, rising near Old Dalby, then flowing between Upper and Nether Broughton and past Hickling to the junction with the Smite. Beyond this confluence the river flows through

Colston Bassett Colston Bassett is an English village in the Vale of Belvoir, in the Rushcliffe district of southeast Nottinghamshire, close to its border with Leicestershire. It lies by the River Smite. The population in 2001 of 225, including Wiverton Hall ...

and beside Wiverton Hall, where it is joined by the Stroom Dyke. It continues through farmland, until it reaches the A52, where it passes between the villages of

Whatton-in-the-Vale Whatton-in-the-Vale is a village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Belvoir, with the River Smite to the west and a subsidiary, the River Whipling to the east, mainly ...

and

Aslockton Aslockton is an English village and civil parish east of Nottingham and east of Bingham, on the north bank of the River Smite opposite Whatton-in-the-Vale. The parish is also adjacent to Scarrington, Thoroton and Orston and within the Ru ...

. It is joined by the River Whipling as it flows past the remains of the

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy ...

Aslockton Castle Aslockton Castle is a ruined fortification, a motte-and-bailey castle, in the village of Aslockton, Nottinghamshire. () The original name of the settlement was Aslachetone, which suggests a possible Norse origin; it was mentioned in the Domesday ...

. The river continues north-east, beside the villages of

Orston Orston is an English village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire, 15 miles (24 km) east of Nottingham. It borders the parishes of Scarrington, Thoroton, Flawborough, Bottesford and Elton on the Hill. The population ...

Thoroton Thoroton is a small English village and civil parish in the borough of Rushcliffe, and the county of Nottinghamshire, with a population of 112 at the 2011 census, and increasing to 130 at the 2021 census. The village has conservation area sta ...

, Flawborough and Shelton, where it meets the River Devon.

River Whipling

The River Whipling is the main tributary of the Smite and long. Its source is the confluence of two tributaries, the Rundle Beck and the Grimmer, which meet near Granby. The Whipling then flows around the village, before taking a north-easterly course to join the Smite near Whatton. The Whipling and tributaries drain some of the Vale of Belvoir, contributing about a quarter of the Smite's catchment area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smite Rivers of Nottinghamshire Rivers of Leicestershire 2Smite