River Ver west of St Albans, from Bluehouse Hill

The Ver is a long chalk stream in Hertfordshire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is a tributary of the River Colne.

Course

The source is in the grounds of Lynch Lodge, Kensworth Lynch on the west side of the A5 trunk road and stays on the west side for some half mile or so. It then crosses through a culvert into Markyate Cell, afterwards crosses under the A5 in culvert and runs through Markyate. The river exits above ground at the southern end of Markyate, and on through Flamstead, Redbourn,

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roma ...

and Park Street, finally joining the River Colne at

Bricket Wood Bricket Wood is a village in the county of Hertfordshire, England, south of St Albans and north-northeast of Watford. History The area of Bricket Wood was mostly occupied by farmers until Bricket Wood railway station was built in 1861. In 1 ...

. The Ver is a chalk stream, which is partly a seasonal winterbourne north of Redbourn. However, many of its natural features have been compromised as a result of being

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface fl ...

ised during the construction of the artificial lakes at Verulamium Park in

in the 1930s following the

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...

excavations of Verulamium by Sir Mortimer Wheeler and his wife

Tessa Tessa is a feminine given name, sometimes a shortened form of Theresa. It may refer to: People * Tessa Albertson (born 1996), American actress * Tessa Balfour, Countess of Balfour (born 1950), British aristocrat * Tessa Blanchard (born 1994), ...

. During the 1960s and 1970s it suffered serious problems as a result of water extraction upstream. Although these abated temporarily after the closure of one of the pumping stations, the upstream part of the river dries up completely during the summer, and the rest of the river may suffer the same fate within a few years; compare the current situation with the "great flow of water" that was reported to exist in 1885, with a depth of at Dolittle Mill on the Redbourn Road . In 2004 a proposal for remedial work was being developed for the St Albans lakes.

Notable buildings

The Romans built the city of

Verulamium Verulamium was a town in Roman Britain. It was sited southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, England. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, though much has been built u ...

alongside the Ver at a time when it was navigable, expressing their preference for building in

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

s rather than on hills. The bridge in St Michael's Street, adjacent to Kingsbury Mill, dates from 1765 and is believed to be the oldest extant bridge in Hertfordshire. It is Grade II listed. According to a contemporary account of the

Second Battle of St Albans The Second Battle of St Albans was fought on 17 February 1461 during the Wars of the Roses in England. It took place at St Albans in Hertfordshire, the first battle having been fought in 1455. The army of the Yorkist faction under the Earl of ...

in 1461, another bridge existed on this site previously (recorded in 1505 as ''Pons de la Maltemyll'' - Malt Mill Bridge). It is thought that the Romans had built a bridge here by the 3rd century AD. The ford alongside the current bridge, which is known to have existed for 2,000 years and is traditionally believed to be Alban's crossing point on his way to his execution, was substantially restored in 2001 by local residents' associations. '' Ye Olde Fighting Cocks'' public house in St Albans, which claims to be the oldest pub in England, was moved in the early 1600s to the side of the Ver next to the Abbey Mill at the bottom of the Abbey Orchard, and remains in this location today.

Industry

The river south of Redbourn has been the site of several

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the productio ...

s down the centuries, mainly for grinding corn but also put to such diverse uses as paper making, fulling cloth, silk spinning and diamond lapping. Eleven mills are known to have existed, of which a number can still be seen today, either as mills (working or otherwise), or converted (for example into private homes or parts of public houses). Particularly worthy of note are: :*Dolittle Mill. Closed in 1927 and since demolished. It is reputed to have been the site of a miracle. The early 15th century chronicler

Thomas Walsingham Thomas Walsingham (died c. 1422) was an English chronicler, and is the source of much of the knowledge of the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, and the careers of John Wycliff and Wat Tyler. Walsingham was a Benedictine monk who sp ...

, a monk at

St Albans Abbey St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban but often referred to locally as "the Abbey", is a Church of England cathedral in St Albans, England. Much of its architecture dates from Norman times. It ceased to be ...

, records that a child fell into the

mill race A mill race, millrace or millrun, mill lade (Scotland) or mill leat (Southwest England) is the current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel (sluice) conducting water to or from a water wheel. Compared with the broad waters of a mi ...

and was thrown out by the wheel, apparently dead. The child's mother prayed to

Saint Alban Saint Alban (; la, Albanus) is venerated as the first-recorded British Christian martyr, for which reason he is considered to be the British protomartyr. Along with fellow Saints Julius and Aaron, Alban is one of three named martyrs recor ...

, offering money if the child's life were restored, and her prayer was answered. :*

Redbournbury Mill Redbournbury Mill, is a Grade II* listed flour mill in Redbournbury, Hertfordshire, England, which is thought to have been first built in the early 11th Century. Having operated as a watermill on the River Ver, the mill is now powered by a dies ...

, between Redbourn and St Albans. A recently restored

flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

, still producing flour commercially, is periodically open to the public. However, these days it is powered by a vintage Crossley diesel engine. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

. :* Kingsbury Watermill. A 16th century mill in St Albans which was previously a malt mill belonging to

. Its origins are known to go back to at least 1194; indeed, it may be one of the three mills in St Albans recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

(1086). Today it is restored and open as a museum. It is another Grade II* listed building. :*Moor Mill, in Smug Oak Lane, Bricket Wood. Now a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

and

conference centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

. The water wheel and other workings can still be seen inside during normal opening hours. :*Shafford Mill, a 19th century mill on the Redbourn Road, is now a private house. It is a Grade II listed building. Disused

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 Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf ve ...

beds can be seen at various points along the river's length (most notably in the unspoilt stretch between Redbourn and St Albans): the entire Ver valley was a national centre for the watercress growing industry. The poplar and

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist ...

plantations around Pre Mill and the former Pre Hotel on the A5183 (just west of St Albans on the edge of the Gorhambury Estate), which are a significant feature of the landscape, indicate a more modern industry: that of

cricket bat A cricket bat is a specialised piece of equipment used by batters in the sport of cricket to hit the ball, typically consisting of a cane handle attached to a flat-fronted willow-wood blade. It may also be used by a batter who is making ground ...

manufacturing.

Water quality

The Environment Agency measure water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of br ...

s and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail. Water quality of the River Ver in 2019:

References

External links

Ver Valley Society''Discover the River Ver'' on Countryside Management Service's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ver, River 1Ver Rivers of Hertfordshire St Albans