Old Bedford River facts for kids

The Old Bedford River is a special waterway in Cambridgeshire, England. It's not a natural river but was built by people to help drain the Fens, a large area of low-lying wetlands. This river helps control the water from the River Great Ouse, especially when there's a lot of rain.

The river is named after the fourth Earl of Bedford. He was a nobleman who started a big project in 1630 to drain the Fens. The idea for a river like this, running from Earith to Denver, wasn't new. An engineer named John Hunt had suggested it back in 1604. The Old Bedford River was built between 1630 and 1636, paid for by the Earl of Bedford and other investors.

Why the Old Bedford River Was Built

The Fens are very flat and often flooded. To stop this, engineers needed to move water away from the land. There are two main ways to drain wetlands:

• Stop water from higher areas from flowing into the low areas.
• Pump out water that does get in.

The Old Bedford River was built using the first method. It was designed to carry most of the water from the River Great Ouse directly to the sea. This stopped the river from spreading out and flooding the Fens.

The Bedford Rivers and the Ouse Washes

Today, the River Great Ouse is still used for boats and fishing. But when there's too much water, the extra flow is sent into two special rivers: the Old Bedford River and the New Bedford River. These two rivers run side-by-side.

Between the Old and New Bedford Rivers is an area called the Ouse Washes. This is a huge flood plain. When the rivers get too full, the extra water flows into the Ouse Washes. It stays there until the tide is low enough at The Wash (the large bay where the rivers meet the sea) or until flood levels elsewhere go down. This prevents the nearby farmland from flooding.

Both the Old and New Bedford Rivers have raised banks, like small walls, to keep the water inside. The outer banks are built higher. This means that if the water level rises too much, it will flood the Ouse Washes between the rivers, but not the farms outside the banks.

The River Delph

To help drain the Ouse Washes, there's another waterway called the River Delph. It runs alongside the Old Bedford River. The River Delph helps move water out of the Ouse Washes. It flows into the New Bedford River about 2 to 3 kilometers (1 to 2 miles) south of Denver Sluice.

At a place called Welches Dam, the Old Bedford River changes a bit. The River Delph actually becomes part of the Old Bedford River's path. This happened a long time ago when another drain, called the Forty Foot Drain, was built. A dam was put in the Old Bedford River to stop water from flowing backward. But this caused flooding in the Ouse Washes. So, a new channel, the River Delph, was dug to connect the Old Bedford River to the New Bedford River further upstream. A flood bank was also built to protect the Ouse Washes.

Images for kids

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  An 1892 map showing the Old Bedford River and the River Delph at Welches Dam. You can see the flood bank.

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  This pumping station at Welches Dam helps move extra water into the River Delph when the Old Bedford River is too full.

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  The Old Bedford Sluice. Boats use this sluice to get from the Old Bedford River to the River Great Ouse.