River Flit
| River Flit | |
|---|---|
 River Flit in Flitwick Moor | |
  Location within Bedfordshire  Location within the United Kingdom | |
| Location | |
| Country | England |
| County | Bedfordshire |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | East of Chalton |
| • coordinates | 51°55′35.64″N 0°29′38.9″W / 51.9265667°N 0.494139°W |
| Mouth | River Ivel |
• location | Langford |
• coordinates | 52°02′19″N 0°20′50″W / 52.03855°N 0.34727°W |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • right | River Hit |
The River Flit is a short river in Bedfordshire, England.[1] Its name is not ancient, but rather a back formation from Flitton which originally meant that the river was spelt as Flitt rather than Flit.[2]
Course
[edit]The river rises as a small pool beneath Carters Hill, a few metres to the east of the M1 motorway and just to the east of the village of Chalton, Bedfordshire.
Flowing north, it reaches Flitwick, then north east past Greenfield and Flitton, then through Clophill, Chicksands, and Shefford, where it is joined by the River Hit, then past Stanford, before meeting the River Ivel at Langford.[3]
Below its junction with the River Hit, the 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) of its course was largely incorporated into a canal, known as the Shefford Canal or River Ivel Navigation. Completed in 1823, the canal connected Shefford with the North Sea allowing barges of coal to be brought to the town. The canal fell into decline over the following decades and in 1876 a dam was installed on the Ivel at Sandy, closing the Shefford section for good.[4] Today, sections of the canal near Shefford are dry or have been filled in.[5]
Water quality
[edit]The Environment Agency measures the 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 invertebrates, angiosperms and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.[6]
The water quality of the River Flit system was as follows in 2022.
| Water body | Water body type | Ecological status | Length | Hydromorphological designation | Catchment size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flit Water Body[7] | River | Moderate | 8.227 km (5.112 mi) | Heavily Modified | 23.647 km2 (9.130 sq mi) |
| Flit and Ivel Navigation d/s of Shefford Water Body[8] | River | Moderate | 22.601 km (14.044 mi) | Heavily Modified | 41.315 km2 (15.952 sq mi) |
| Flit tributary Water Body[9] | River | Good | 1.167 km (0.725 mi) | Not designated ‘artificial’ or ‘heavily modified’ | 21.126 km2 (8.157 sq mi) |
The reasons for the quality being less than good include sewage discharge and physical modification of the channel.
The River Flit is part of the Ivel Operational Catchment, which has 20 bodies.[10]
References
[edit]- ↑ "River Flit photos, maps, books, memories - Francis Frith". Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ↑ Ekwall, Eilert (1960). The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names (4 ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 182. ISBN 0-19-869103-3.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ↑ Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom
- ↑ "The Shefford Canal". Visit Shefford. Archived from the original on 24 December 2016.
- ↑ "The River Ivel and Shefford Canal". East Anglian Waterways Association.
- ↑ "Glossary (see Biological quality element; Chemical status; and Ecological status)". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
- ↑ "Flit | Catchment Data Explorer | Catchment Data Explorer". environment.data.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
- ↑ "Flit and Ivel Navigation d/s of Shefford | Catchment Data Explorer | Catchment Data Explorer". environment.data.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
- ↑ "Flit tributary | Catchment Data Explorer | Catchment Data Explorer". environment.data.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
- ↑ "Ivel Operational Catchment | Catchment Data Explorer". environment.data.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
External links
[edit]
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