River Tonge
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The River Tonge is a short
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 ...
, splitting
Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...
from
contiguous Contiguity or contiguous may refer to: *Contiguous data storage, in computer science *Contiguity (probability theory) *Contiguity (psychology) *Contiguous distribution of species, in biogeography *Geographic contiguity Geographic contiguity is t ...
Tonge, both in
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
,
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 ...
. The Tonge is formed at the ''Meeting of the Waters'', where Astley Brook, from
Smithills Smithills is a mainly residential suburb of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. It is northwest of Bolton, south of Blackburn and northwest of Manchester. Smithills lies on the lower south facing slopes of the West Pennine Moors. Toponymy ...
in the west, meets the Eagley Brook drawing on more sources to the north. The Tonge meanders southwards, to the east of Bolton, past Springfield where it is joined by Bradshaw Brook, at the end of its route from the Jumbles and Wayoh reservoirs, close to Tonge Fold. The Tonge joins the smaller and thus counterintuitively superseding Croal at Darcy Lever, shortly before the Croal's confluence with the
River Irwell The River Irwell ( ) is a tributary of the River Mersey in north-west England. It rises at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, approximately north of Bacup and flows southwards for to meet the Mersey near Irlam Locks. The Irwell marks the bound ...
. Tonge Bridge section is a tract north of Tonge Bridge designated as a
site of special scientific interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
(SSSI). The site comprises the steep west
right bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...
of the river. It was designated an SSSI 1987 for its geological interest, principally the fluvial
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
which has yielded
pteridosperm Pteridospermatophyta, also called pteridosperms or seed ferns, are a polyphyletic grouping of extinct Spermatophyte, seed-producing plants. The earliest fossil evidence for plants of this type are the Lyginopteridales, lyginopterids of late Devon ...
seeds, known as '' Trigonocarpus''. The well preserved nature of the seeds make it of considerable sedimentological and palaeogeographic interest. It is one of only seven geological SSSIs in Greater Manchester. In 2017, invasive
walking catfish The walking catfish (''Clarias batrachus'') is a species of freshwater airbreathing catfish native to Southeast Asia. It is named for its ability to "walk" and wiggle across dry land, to find food or suitable environments. While it does not tr ...
''Clarias'' were recovered from the river.


Tributaries

* Bradshaw Brook (left bank) * Eagley Brook (left bank) * Astley Brook (right bank)


See also

Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal


References

{{authority control Tonge, River Tonge, River Tonge, River 1Tonge